CHAPTER XXXVI.

AGREEABLE RECOLLECTIONS.

In the course of this volume I have mentioned, under other heads, many agreeable circumstances, and many others remain unwritten. I shall now confine myself to two.

On one occasion when I was engaged in my workshop in arranging some machinery for experiments on a difficult part of the Analytical Engine, an intimate friend called, and I went into the library to see him. An unopened letter lying on the table, he asked whether I usually treated my letters in that way. I looked at the letter, which appeared to be a printed one. When my friend had left me, I opened it, and found that it professed to be from the Institute of France, announcing my nomination as a corresponding member of that distinguished body. On looking at the conclusion for the well-known signature of my friend Arago, I found another name which I could not read. I therefore concluded that some wag had played me a trick. I however doubted whether the joke was intended to hit me or the Academy of Sciences.

Having left the paper on my table, I returned to my experiments. After dinner I took up the neglected document, and then for the first time perceived that it professed to be from the Academy of Moral Sciences. On re-examining the signature, I found it to be that of its eminent {483} secretary, M. Mignet, and that it was the official announcement of my election as a Corresponding Member of that Academy.

〈ACADEMY OF MORAL SCIENCES.〉

Now the first impression on my own mind was one of sincere regret. I felt for a moment that the Academy might have thus honoured me not solely for my labours in their own, but in other departments of science. This painful feeling was, however, only momentary. It then occurred to me that I had written the “Economy of Manufactures,” which related to Political Economy, one section; and the “Ninth Bridgewater Treatise,” which related to Philosophy, another section of the Academy of Moral Sciences. I now felt a real pleasure, which amply compensated me for the transitory regret; and I am sure no member of the many academies who have honoured me by enrolling my name on their list will reproach me for stating the fact,—that no other nomination ever gave me greater satisfaction than the one to which I have now adverted.

Some years ago my eldest son, Mr. B. Herschel Babbage, was employed by the Government of South Australia to explore and survey part of the north-western portion of that colony. After an absence of about six months, a considerable portion of which time he spent in a desert, he reached a small station at the head of Spencer’s Gulf, intending to wait there until the arrival of a steamer from Adelaide, which was expected in about a week to carry back the wool of the distant and scattered colonists.

It so happened that, a few days before, a Swedish merchant-vessel, commanded by Capt. Orling, a part owner of the ship, had also arrived in search of a freight of wool. Captain Orling on going ashore heard of the arrival at the settlement of a stranger from the interior, and on inquiry found that he bore my name. {484}

〈GRATEFUL SWEDES.〉

He immediately went in search of my son, and having found him, said, “I am not personally acquainted with your father, but I am well acquainted with his name: he has shown such kindness to a countryman of mine[65] that every Swede would be proud of an opportunity of acknowledging it. The steamer for which you are waiting cannot arrive until a week hence. There are no accommodations in this station, not even a public-house; I entreat you to come on board my ship and be my guest until the steamer arrives and is ready to take you to Adelaide.”

[65] It had been my good fortune to have an opportunity of rendering justice to the merits of Mr. Scheütz, the inventor of the Swedish Difference Engine.

My son, who during the six previous months had slept under no canopy but that of heaven, accepted this delightful invitation, and enjoyed, during a week, the society of a very agreeable and highly-informed gentleman.

I have received many marks of attention of various kinds from natives of Sweden—paragraphs translated from Swedish newspapers which were peculiarly interesting to me, engravings, and printed volumes. I have been honoured with these attentions by persons in various classes of society up to the highest, and I am confident that the enlightened and accomplished Prince to whom I allude will not think me ungrateful when I avow that the most gratifying of all these attentions to a father, whose name in his own country has been useless to himself and to his children, was to hear from England’s antipodes of a grateful Swede welcoming and giving hospitality on the part of his countrymen to my son for the sake of the name he bore.

{485}

_Conclusion._

I will now conclude, as I began, by invoking the attention of my reader to a subject which, if he is young, may be of importance to him in after-life. He may reasonably ask what peculiarities of mind enabled me to accomplish what even the most instructed in their own sciences deemed impossible.

I have always carefully watched the exercise of my own faculties, and I have also endeavoured to collect from the light reflected by other minds some explanation of the question.

I think one of the most important guiding principles has been this:—that every moment of my waking hours has always been occupied by _some train of inquiry_. In far the largest number of instances the subject might be simple or even trivial, but still work of inquiry, of some kind or other, was always going on.

The difficulty consisted in adapting the work to the state of the body. The necessary training was difficult. Whenever at night I found myself sleepless, and wished to sleep, I took a subject for examination that required little mental effort, and which also had little influence on worldly affairs by its success or failure.

On the other hand, when I wanted to concentrate my whole mind upon an important subject, I studied during the day all the minor accessories, and after two o’clock in the morning I found that repose which the nuisances of the London streets only allow from that hour until six in the morning.

At first I had many a sleepless night before I could thus train myself.

I believe my early perception of the immense power of signs in aiding the reasoning faculty contributed much to {486} whatever success I may have had. Probably a still more important element was the intimate conviction I possessed that the highest object a reasonable being could pursue was to endeavour to discover those laws of mind by which man’s intellect passes from the known to the discovery of the unknown.

This feeling was ever present to my own mind, and I endeavoured to trace its principle in the minds of all around me, as well as in the works of my predecessors.

{487}

APPENDIX.

MIRACLES.

_Note (A), page 394._

It has always occurred to my mind that many difficulties touching Miracles might be reconciled, if men would only take the trouble to agree upon the nature of the phenomenon which they call “Miracle.” That writers do not always mean the same thing when treating of miracles is perfectly clear; because what may appear a miracle to the unlearned is to the better instructed only an effect produced by some unknown law hitherto unobserved. So that the idea of miracle is in some respect dependent upon the opinion of man. Much of this confusion has arisen from the definition of Miracle given in Hume’s celebrated Essay, namely, that it is the “violation of a law of nature.”

Now a miracle is not necessarily a violation of any law of nature, and it involves no physical absurdity.

As Brown well observes, “the laws of nature surely are not violated when a new antecedent is followed by a new consequent; they are violated only when the antecedent, being exactly the same, a different consequent is the result;” so that a miracle has nothing in its nature inconsistent with our belief of the uniformity of nature. All that we see in a miracle is an effect which is new to our observation, and whose cause is concealed.

The cause may be beyond the sphere of our observation, and would be thus beyond the familiar sphere of nature; but this does not make the event a violation of any law of nature. The limits of man’s observation lie within very narrow boundaries, {488} and it would be arrogance to suppose that the reach of man’s power is to form the limits of the natural world. The universe offers daily proof of the existence of power of which we know nothing, but whose mighty agency nevertheless manifestly appears in the most familiar works of creation. And shall we deny the existence of this mighty energy simply because it manifests itself in delegated and feeble subordination to God’s omnipotence?

There is nothing in the nature of a miracle that should render it incredible: its credibility depends upon the nature of the evidence by which it is supported. An event of extreme probability will not necessarily command our belief unless upon a sufficiency of proof; and so an event which we may regard as highly improbable may command our belief if it is sustained by sufficient evidence. So that the credibility or incredibility of an event does not rest upon the nature of the event itself, but depends upon the nature and sufficiency of the proof which sustains it.

Mill, in speaking of Hume’s celebrated principle, “that nothing is credible which is contradictory to experience, or at variance with the laws of nature,” calls it a very plain and harmless proposition, being, in effect, nothing more than that whatever is contradictory to a complete induction is incredible.

Admit the existence of a Deity, and the possibility of a miracle is the natural consequence. No doubt our examination of the evidence which sustains an unusual phenomenon should be most carefully conducted; but we must not measure the credibility or incredibility of an event by the narrow sphere of our own experience, nor forget that there is a Divine energy which overrides what we familiarly call the laws of nature.

If a miracle is not a suspension or a violation of the laws of nature, it may fairly be asked, What is it?

If we define a miracle as an effect of which the cause is unknown to us, then we make our ignorance the source of miracles! and the universe itself would be a standing miracle. {489} A miracle might be perhaps defined more exactly as an effect which is not the consequence or effect of any known laws of nature. Dr. Clarke defines a miracle as a singular event produced contrary to the ordinary laws of nature by the intervention of an intelligent Being superior to man. The Abbé Houteville defines a miracle as the result of the general order of the mechanism of the universe. “It is,” he says, “a result of the harmony of the general laws which God has decreed for the working out of the system of the universe.” Spinosa says, “As men call that science Divine which surpasses the reach of the human mind, so they detect the hand of God in every phenomenon of which the cause is unknown to them.” And certain it is that men attach more importance to an apparent suspension or violation of the ordinary laws of nature than to the wonderful harmony and uniformity of the laws of the universe; as though it implied a greater degree of power to suspend or interfere with such laws than to establish them and preserve their uniformity in the economy of the universe. Whilst Nature follows out her ordinary course, man, familiarized with the movement of the celestial orbs, sees myriads of globes revolve in moving harmony about their spheres with a kind of vacant indifference, nor imagines for a moment that he sees aught to excite his wonder or stimulate his intelligence into inquiry; in fact, he does not see God in His works. But if this harmony and uniformity are interrupted for a moment, man detects the power of God in the interruption, albeit he could not perceive it in the uniformity of natural cause and effect. This singular obtuseness of the human mind I leave to the discussion of theologians and philosophers; for my own part, I confess my utter inability to comprehend it. Whatever truly exists must emanate from the will of God, whether the event falls within what we understand by the uniformity of nature, or whether it is otherwise. A miracle must fall within one of these categories; and in either case it is the effect of the will of God. Such an interruption does not imply any notion of caprice or imperfection in the Deity; but, on the contrary, it {490} is one of the attributes of His power, and quite consistent with our notions of the liberty of His will, unrestrained by any laws which it may be His pleasure to promulgate for the government of the universe.

“Opera mutat, consilia non mutat,” says St. Augustin. Miracles may be, for anything we know to the contrary, phenomena of a higher order of God’s laws, superior to, and, under certain conditions, controlling the inferior order known to us as the ordinary laws of nature.

The great difficulty in the consideration of miracles is, that being in the nature of things incapable of verification, the evidence which would be sufficient to establish the truth of an ordinary event within the sphere of natural phenomena would not be sufficient to command our assent in the case of a miracle. And this does not arise from a miracle being opposed to nature, but on account of the infirmity of our nature; for we are always liable to be deceived, not only by others, but even by our own senses.

The extraordinary character of an event, although it does not necessarily render the truth of its existence incredible, should, nevertheless, put us upon our guard, and render us particularly cautious in examining the evidence upon which its truth is asserted. We should even examine with care and caution the evidence of phenomena of the most ordinary character before we yield our complete assent to the apparent truth of their manifestation; and _à fortiori_ in the examination of the evidence which sustains extraordinary phenomena we should require much stronger evidence, and such as rebuts the possibility of being deceived by other persons, or even by our senses.

But we must be careful to discriminate between our own incapacity to test truth and the necessary improbability of an event. It is plain that from our ignorance of the remote spheres of God’s action we cannot judge of His works removed from our experience; but a fact is not necessarily doubtful because it cannot be reached by our ordinary senses. To recapitulate, we may lay down the following propositions:— {491}

1. That there is no real physical distinction between miracles and any other operations of the Divine energy: that we regard them differently is because we are familiar with one order of events and not the other.

2. There is nothing incredible in a miracle, and the credibility of a miraculous event is to be measured only by the evidence which sustains it. And although the extraordinary character of a phenomenon may render the event itself improbable, it does not, therefore, necessarily render it either incredible or untrue.

RELIGION.

_Note (B), page 403._

St. Athanasius is not the author of the Creed which bears his name. It did not, in fact, exist within a century after his death. It originally appeared in a Latin text, and consequently in the Western provinces. Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was less tolerant of its eccentricities, or more sensible to its sublimity even than myself, for he was so amazed at the extraordinary character of its composition that he frankly pronounced it to be the work of a drunken man. See ‘Petav. Dogmat. Theologica,’ tom. II. lvii. c. 8, p. 687; and Gibbon’s ‘Decline and Fall,’ vol. iv. p. 335. If we may trust La Bletterie for the character of Athanasius, nothing is more improbable than that he could be the author of the Creed still preserving his name. “He was,” says La Bletterie, “the greatest man of his age, and perhaps the greatest that the Church has ever possessed. He was endued with a well-balanced, a lively, and penetrating mind; a generous and disinterested heart; a courage and heroism always equal; a lively faith, and a charity without bounds; a profound humility; a Christianity bold, but simple and noble as the Gospel. His eloquence was natural, distinguished by a rare precision of speech.”

The foundation of all religion is the belief in a God, and that He exists in certain relation with His creatures. Such belief {492} necessarily leads to the consciousness of some obligation towards the Deity; and this consciousness suggests the duty of worship; and in the selection of the form of this worship originates the various creeds which distinguish and distract mankind. There is a sort of geography of religion; and I regret to think that the majority of mankind take their creed from the clime in which they happen to be born; and that many, and not an inconsiderable portion of mankind, suffer the sacred torch to burn out altogether, in their contact with the world, and then vainly imagine that they can recover the sacred fire by striking a spark out of dogmatic theology!

ADDITION TO THE CHAPTER ON RAILROADS.

One of the most important facts which the engine-driver ought to know is the exact time since the preceding train has passed the point of railroad on which his own engine is.

This may be done by placing signals, about to be described, by the side of or across the road at all places where such knowledge is most important.

The principle to be employed is, that at the passage of those places the engine itself should, in its transit, wind up a weight or spring. That this weight should act upon an arm standing perpendicularly, which would immediately commence moving slowly to the horizontal position. This it should attain by an equable motion at the end of three, five, or any desirable number of minutes.

The means of raising the weight may be derived either from a projection below the engine or by one above it. The latter, which seems preferable, might be attached to a light beam traversing the road to which the apparatus should be fixed.

{493}

LIST OF MR. BABBAGE’S PRINTED PAPERS.

_Many applications having been made to the Author and to his Publishers, for detached Papers which he has from time to time printed, he takes this opportunity of giving a list of those Papers, with references to the Works in which they may be found._

1. The Preface; jointly with Sir John Herschel.—_Memoirs of the Analytical Society. 4to. Cambridge, 1813._

2. On Continued Products.—_Ibid._

3. An Essay towards the Calculus of Functions.—_Phil. Trans._ 1815.

4. An Essay towards the Calculus of Functions, Part. 2.—_Phil. Trans._ 1816. P. 179.

5. Demonstrations of some of Dr. Matthew Stewart’s General Theorems, to which is added an Account of some New Properties of the Circle.—_Roy. Inst. Jour._ 1816. Vol. i. p. 6.

6. Observations on the Analogy which subsists between the Calculus of Functions and other branches of Analysis.—_Phil. Trans._ 1817. P. 179.

7. Solution of some Problems by means of the Calculus of Functions.—_Roy. Inst. Jour._ 1817. P. 371.

8. Note respecting Elimination.—_Roy. Inst. Jour._ 1817. P. 355.

9. An Account of Euler’s Method of Solving a Problem relating to the Knight’s Move at Chess.—_Roy. Inst. Jour._ 1817. P. 72.

10. On some new Methods of Investigating the Sums of several Classes of Infinite Series.—_Phil. Trans._ 1819. P. 245.

11. Demonstration of a Theorem relating to Prime Numbers.—_Edin. Phil. Jour._ 1819. P. 46.

12. An Examination of some Questions connected with Games of Chance.—_Trans. of Roy. Soc. of Edin._ 1820. Vol. ix. p. 153.

13. Observations on the Notation employed in the Calculus of Functions.—_Trans. of Cam. Phil. Soc._ 1820. Vol. i. p. 63.

14. On the Application of Analysis, &c. to the Discovery of Local Theorems and Porisms.—_Trans. of Roy. Soc. of Edin._ Vol. ix. p. 337. 1820.

15. Translation of the Differential and Integral Calculus of La Croix, 1 vol. 1816.

16. Examples to the Differential and Integral Calculus. 2 vols. 8vo. 1820.

The above two works were executed in conjunction with the Rev. G. Peacock (Dean of Ely) and Sir John Herschel, Bart.

17. Examples of the Solution of Functional Equations. Extracted from the preceding. 8vo. 1820.

18. Note respecting the Application of Machinery to the Calculation of Mathematical Tables.—_Memoirs of the Astron. Soc._ _June, 1822._ Vol. i. p. 309.

19. A Letter to Sir H. Davy, P.R.S., on the Application of Machinery to the purpose of calculating and printing Mathematical Tables. 4to. _July, 1822._

20. On the Theoretical Principles of the Machinery for calculating Tables.—_Brewster’s Edin. Jour. of Science._ Vol. viii. p. 122. 1822.

21. Observations on the application of Machinery to the Computations of Mathematical Tables, Dec. 1822.—_Memoirs of Astron. Soc._ 1824. Vol. i. p. 311.

22. On the Determination of the General Term of a new Class of Infinite Series.—_Trans. Cam. Phil. Soc._ 1824. Vol. ii. p. 218. {494}

23. Observations on the Measurement of Heights by the Barometer.—_Brewster’s Edin. Jour. of Science_, 1824. P. 85.

24. On a New Zenith Micrometer.—_Mem. Astro. Soc._ March, 1825.

25. Account of the repetition of M. Arago’s Experiments on the Magnetism manifested by various substances during Rotation. By C. Babbage, Esq. and Sir John Herschel.—_Phil. Trans._ 1825. P. 467.

26. On the Diving Bell.—_Ency. Metrop._ 4to. 1826.

27. On Electric and Magnetic Rotation.—_Phil. Trans._ 1826. Vol. ii. p. 494.

28. On a method of expressing by Signs the Action of Machinery.—_Phil. Trans._ 1826. Vol. ii. p. 250.

29. On the Influence of Signs in Mathematical Reasoning.—_Trans. Cam. Phil. Soc._ 1826. Vol. ii. p. 218.

30. A Comparative View of the different Institutions for the Assurance of Life. 1 vol. 8vo. 1826. German Translation. Weimar, 1827.

31. On Notation.—_Edinburgh Encyclopedia._ 4to.

32. On Porisms.—_Edinburgh Encyclopedia._ 4to.

33. A Table of the Logarithms of the Natural Numbers, from 1 to 108,000. Stereotyped. 1 vol. 8vo. 1826.

34. Three editions on coloured paper, with the Preface and Instructions translated into German and Hungarian, by Mr. Chas. Nagy, have been published at Pesth and Vienna. 1834.

35. Notice respecting some Errors common to many Tables of Logarithms.—_Mem. Astron. Soc._ 4to. 1827. Vol. iii. p. 65.

Evidence on Savings-Banks, before a Committee of the House of Commons, 1827.

36. Essay on the general Principles which regulate the Application of Machinery.—_Ency. Metrop._ 4to. 1829.

37. Letter to T. P. Courtenay on the Proportion of Births of the two Sexes amongst Legitimate and Illegitimate Children.—_Brewster’s Edin. Jour. of Science._ Vol. ii. p. 85. 1829. This letter was translated into French and published by M. Villermé, Member of the Institute of France.

38. Account of the great Congress of Philosophers at Berlin, on 18 Sept. 1828.—Communicated by a Correspondent [C. B.]. _Edin. Journ. of Science by David Brewster._ Vol. x. p. 225. 1829.

39. Note on the Description of Mammalia.—_Edin. Jour. of Science_, 1829. Vol. i. p. 187. _Ferussac Bull_, vol. xxv. p. 296.

40. Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on some of its Causes. 4to. and 8vo. 1830.

41. Sketch of the Philosophical Characters of Dr. Wollaston and Sir H. Davy. Extracted from the _Decline of Science_. 1830.

42. On the Proportion of Letters occurring in Various Languages, in a letter to M. Quételet.—_Correspondence Mathematique et Physique._ Tom. vi. p. 136.

43. Specimen of Logarithmic Tables, printed with different coloured inks and on variously-coloured papers, in twenty-one volumes 8vo. London. 1831.

The object of this Work, of which _one single copy only_ was printed, is to ascertain by experiment the tints of the paper and colours of the inks least fatiguing to the eye.

One hundred and fifty-one variously-coloured papers were chosen, and the same two pages of my stereotype Table of Logarithms were printed upon them in inks of the following colours: light blue, dark blue, light green, dark green, olive, yellow, light red, dark red, purple, and black.

Each of these twenty volumes contains papers of the same colour, numbered in the same order, and there are two volumes printed with each kind of ink. {495}

The twenty-first volume contains metallic printing of the same specimen in gold, silver, and copper, upon vellum and on variously-coloured papers.

For the same purpose, about thirty-five copies of the complete table of logarithms were printed on thick drawing paper of various tints.

An account of this work may be found in the _Edin. Journ. of Science_ (_Brewster’s_), 1832. Vol. vi. p. 144.

44. Economy of Manufactures and Machinery. 8vo. 1832.

There are many editions and also American reprints, and several Translations of this Work into German, French, Italian, Spanish, &c.

45. Letter to Sir David Brewster, on the Advantage of a Collection of the Constants of Nature and Art.—_Brewster’s Edin. Jour. of Science._ 1832. Vol. vi. p. 334. Reprinted by order of the British Association for the Promotion of Science. Cambridge, 1833. See also pp. 484, 490, Report of the Third Meeting of the British Association. Reprinted in Compte Rendu des Traveaux du Congres Général de Statistique, Bruxelles, Sept. 1853.

46. Barometrical Observations, made at the Fall of the Staubbach, by Sir John Herschel, Bart., and C. Babbage, Esq.—_Brewster’s Edin. Jour. of Science._ Vol. vi. p. 224. 1832.

47. Abstract of a Paper, entitled Observations on the Temple of Serapis, at Pozzuoli, near Naples; with an attempt to explain the causes of the frequent elevation and depression of large portions of the earth’s surface in remote periods, and to prove that those causes continue in action at the present time. Read at Geological Society, 12 March, 1834. See _Abstract of Proceedings of Geol. Soc._ Vol. ii. p. 72.

This was the first _printed_ publication of Mr. Babbage’s Geological Theory of the Isothermal Surfaces of the Earth.

48. The Paper itself was published in the _Proceedings of the Geological Soc._ 1846.

49. Reprint of the same, with Supplemental Conjectures on the Physical State of the Surface of the Moon. 1847.

50. Letter from Mr. Abraham Sharpe to Mr. J. Crosthwait, Hoxton, 2 Feb. 1721–22. Deciphered by Mr. Babbage. See _Life of Flamsteed_, by Mr. F. Baily. Appendix, pp. 348, 390. 1835.

51. The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise. 8vo. May, 1837; Second Edition, Jan. 1838.

52. On some Impressions in Sandstone.—_Proceedings of Geological Society._ Vol. ii. p. 439. Ditto, _Phil. Mag._ Ser. 3. Vol. x. p. 474. 1837.

52*. Short account of a method by which Engraving on Wood may be rendered more useful for the Illustration and Description of Machinery.—_Report of Meeting of British Association at Newcastle._ 1838. P. 154.

53. Letter to the Members of the British Association. 8vo. 1839.

54. General Plan, No. 25, of Mr. Babbage’s Great Calculating or Analytical Engine, lithographed at Paris. 24 by 36 inches. 1840.

55. Statement of the circumstances respecting Mr. Babbage’s Calculating Engines. 8vo. 1843.

56. Note on the Boracic Acid Works in Tuscany.—_Murray’s Handbook of Central Italy._ First Edition, p. 178. 1843.

57. On the Principles of Tools for Turning and Planing Metals, by Charles Babbage. Printed in the Appendix of Vol. ii. Holtzapffel Turning and Mechanical Manipulation. 1846.

58. On the Planet Neptune.—_The Times_, 15th March, 1847.

59. Thoughts on the Principles of Taxation, with reference to a Property Tax and its Exceptions. 8vo. 1848. Second Edition, 1851. Third Edition, 1852.

An Italian translation of the first edition, with notes, was published at Turin, in 1851. {496}

60. Note respecting the pink projections from the Sun’s disc observed during the total solar eclipse in 1851.—_Proceedings of the Astron. Soc._, vol. xii., No. 7.

61. Laws of Mechanical Notation, with Lithographic Plate. Privately printed for distribution. 4to. July, 1851.

62. Note respecting Lighthouses (Occulting Lights). 8vo. Nov. 1851.

Communicated to the Trinity House, 30 Nov. 1851.

Reprinted in the Appendix to the Report on Lighthouses presented to the Senate of the United States, Feb. 1852.

Reprinted in the _Mechanics’ Magazine_, and in various other periodicals and newspapers. 1852–3.

It was reprinted in various parts of the Report of Commissioners appointed to examine into the state of Lighthouses. Parliamentary Paper. 1861.

63. The Exposition of 1851; or, Views of the Industry, the Science, and the Government of England. 6 _s._ 6 _d._ Second Edition, 1851.

64. On the Statistics of Light-houses. Compte Rendu des Traveaux du Congres Général, Bruxelles, Sept. 1853.

65. A short description of Mr. Babbage’s Ophthalmoscope is contained in the Report on the Ophthalmoscope by T. Wharton Jones, F.R.S.—_British and Foreign Medical Review._ Oct. 1854. Vol. xiv. p. 551.

66. On Secret or Cipher Writing. Mr. T.’s Cipher Deciphered by C.—_Jour. Soc. Arts_, July, 1854, p. 707.

67. On Mr. T.’s Second Inscrutable Cipher Deciphered by C.—_Jour. Soc. Arts_, p. 777, Aug. 1854.

68. On Submarine Navigation.—_Illustrated News_, 23rd June, 1855.

69. Letter to the Editor of the Times, on Occulting Lights for Lighthouses and Night Signals. Flashing Lights at Sebastopol. 16th July, 1855.

70. On a Method of Laying Guns in a Battery without exposing the men to the shot of the enemy. _The Times_, 8 Aug., 1855.

71. Sur la Machine Suédoise de M. Scheutz pour Calculer les Tables Mathématiques. 4to. _Comptes Rendus et l’Académie des Sciences._ Paris, Oct. 8, 1855.

72. On the Action of Ocean-currents in the Formation of the Strata of the Earth.—_Quarterly Journal Geological Society_, Nov. 1856.

73. Observations by Charles Babbage, on the Mechanical Notation of Scheutz’s Difference Engine, prepared and drawn up by his Son, Major Henry Prevost Babbage, addressed to the Institution of Civil Engineers. _Minutes of Proceedings_, vol. xv. 1856.

74. Statistics of the Clearing-House. Reprinted from _Trans. of Statistical Soc._ 8vo. 1856.

75. Observations on Peerage for Life. July, 1833. Reprinted, 1856.

76. Observations addressed to the President and Fellows of the Royal Society on the Award of their Medals for 1856. 8vo.

77. Table of the Relative Frequency of Occurrence of the Causes of Breaking Plate-glass Windows.—_Mech. Mag._ 24th Jan. 1857.

78. On Remains of Human Art, mixed with the Bones of Extinct Races of Animals. _Proceedings of Roy. Soc._ 26th May, 1859.

79. Passages from the Life of a Philosopher. 8vo. 1864.

80. [In the press]. History of the Analytical Engine. 4to. It will contain Chapters V., VI., VII., and VIII., of the present Volume. Reprint of The Translation of General Menabrea’s Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage. From the _Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève_, No. 82, Oct. 1842. Translated by the late Countess of Lovelace, with extensive Notes by the Translator.

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

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Page 19: “twelvemouth” to “twelvemonth”. “acccomplished” to “accomplished”.

Page 22: “appeard” to “appeared”. “hankerchiefs” to “handkerchiefs”.

Page 54. The archaic practice of placing a left double quotation mark at the beginning of each quoted line has been relinquished in favor of modern English practice. Also, the right double quotation mark after “composing it.” was removed, to conform with such practice.

Page 71. The footnote said “See Note on next page.”. This footnote has been replaced by the referenced Note.

Page 89: “gradully” to “gradually”.

Page 116: “impossibilty” to “impossibility”.

Page 190: “Albermarle-street” to “Albemarle-street”.

Page 195: “HUMBOLT” to “HUMBOLDT”.

Page 234: “Hobb’s” to “Hobbs’s”

Page 240. The first "table" on the original printed page was not a well-structured data table. This table has been considerably altered, forming a new table followed by a list.

Page 245: “villanons” to “villanous”.

Page 283: “Tursntile” to “Turnstile”, (in small caps or all caps, depending on the ebook edition).

Page 324. The unmatched right double quotation mark after ‘but had missed it.’ was removed.

Page 338: “elevavation” to “elevation”.

Page 348: “philospher” to “philosopher”.

Page 384: “eylids” to “eyelids”.

Page 427. A matching right double quotation mark was inserted after ‘two Foreigners.’.

Page 435: “obvervations” to “observations”.

Page 495. There are two entries numbered “52”, the second one has an asterisk following: “52*. Short account of . . .”. The reason for the asterisk is not clear to the transcriber, unless perhaps to point to the duplicated entry number.