Ganton. malleiu^n|a?lfegeilaena. jBumbefioEi blo;vybocMtespon-
dent to;
>wateh,the progress lof time;■ ass iridicated by some* of the
methodsljhst described. ^ They, have1 not -characters;, in-
! tl^iendently -of tho^iin their-TGommon ,’languageldlo^hx-
press- humhersdnn an>abbreviated. manner, suchdafehe
Arabic figures' used by ithe Europeans, who vwer© ledvto
th€ add|)dSn of'themi; fitomHhe inconvenienceof t/vritiii^
them^ebustantly injalphabetic letters.: d Without the««#
•of A-rabie^f similarly, abridged-figures, it mukibe difficult
and ^tedious, if practicable ) Jtw perform tlretdpetal-
tions o f arithmeii&i which require partiimiaT'positiohsNMf
single; signs; • The;Chine^e indeed' have- less occasion for
such, as those,'operations ’are performed by them, with>
out wrijtingt* by the-means bf .tfie* swan-pa[ii: ’ When,
however, they have occasion to express numbqrsdftjEfcr
writings they have recourse to their own characters,#afih
p f which signifies a wholenumberv'ihdependehtlyrofeiiis
relative position; a method- less tedious than thepSpr^-
^ n f t^ fh e same .numbers by the letters, of?alphabetic
writings; but which ;by no means equals thekpmsise
view of the same quantity; in Arabic-figures.- : The: uni-
versal multiplication and subdivision of all quantities
among the Ghihese/by decimal proportionsyfecM®tes
their calfeulations, and prevents the-necessity p£-search.-
ing for methods to abridge them.
In the' early stages' of society, when the pressing
wants1 of men ste^plb invention for their supply, no
IScah^cifbffifistanils1 fbrb£#i‘Upbn the |BKineSnf the.oblb
glfi6n,’c|p^'9rfsidering with attention the,nature of lines
and-'-surfaces'; idl^wffl|i^&,'sfequencerstfrom the cohsidefa
tidn'Y or co'rnbinatiomoffth eiri pro pertlesfe' Th e inundations
"of-1 the’^Chirtdsesi'i^ers^iMeithCr-aarerse ifioTsaibliK a
height, bof*bbntimhecl upom tHid a’dpbiningtigffiounds; for
shell a^peribd^'als H0 require calculatigfes^ia^ber.made'>of
thei-r-feMihf^oPdep^^iwhieh i&dfasisGibedSto have been the
- uasePin Egypt, v^h-eie-gCometry'i's^supposed to- HWbtaken
its-' rise.^NtelthbF’in- ancifent-i®l’£‘M®’d©Mtite®^ffhais|d^fch>e1 •
Chinbse'hadj-like^ other nations^isuch a ’nattm iinieatioto
with th'©®5?Cst ofpnankindy as*tb imitate thdtrlexamples^,
t-hdin diSobYeKi^t Instanobsh-areiirhen-r
t’iolleChbf princes Or ‘CliMabfe^ing madeil/ 'b^msideraMe
^oficienYyti-HJmathematiGal'knl%l!^g^fundeiSte)issi6na-
4®ipinf the Service b f t thtf 'equity: but neither [the, ppfey
ofl’gbYilsnaent-, nor th it bfi 1?Seirnissionarie's themselv®
bYbrl if their relig'ib“us,'a1VocatiqnS’had nottempl'oyed'’most
'ihomentS of their'time, would probablySpermit Ehe.extepr
Mbn df' such instrucfcio&p-to the/public^v^if© might-aba^
Jsbmewhat: of thC{^dmi‘it3tibn 'towards! their« i m>ler<s,r dor
their-“Stilemn, prediction of bdipfes-, whenl the.;seienbe
which furnished thett^hanstof doing .-sdnrfi<@uld be generally
known, and whe#,^eokspquently, the want of sfihe
missidnaries for the construction of their almanacstGoulel
be supplied'by the natives, i
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