Examination of an Infer iption

but his rules are illuftrated in words, letters, and figures. Under the chapter of Numeration, page 9, he ftates, " There are tenne figures that are ufed in arithmetick, and of thofe tenne one doth fignifie nothing, which is made like o, and is privately called a cy- pher ; though all the other fometimc be likewife named : the other nine are called fignifying figures, and are thus figured : i. 5. 3. 4- 5- 6 - 7- 8. 9. And this is their value : i. ij. iij. iiij. v. vi. vij. viij. ix," A fpecimen of his method of illuftrating an example fhall be fubjoined in a note[w]. The author has not fuggefted a hint as to the time when, or the perfons by whom thefe figures were brought into England [x. [w] Page 13. "A general Rule Scholar. If I make this number 91359684, at all adventures, there are eight places. In the firft place is 4, and betokeneth but foure ; in the fecond place is 8, and betokeneth ten times 8, that is 80 ; in the third place is 6, and betokeneth fix hundred ; in the fourth place 9 is nine thoufand ; and 5 in the fifth place is XM times five, that is fifty M. So 3 in the fixth place is CM times 3, that is CCCM. Then i in the feventh place is one M.M. and 9 in the eighth ten thoufand thoufand times 9 that is XCMM i. e. (at p. 14) XC thoufand thoufand CCCLIX thoufand, 684, that is VIC.LXXX.iiij." Fortunate is it for the clerks in the revenue department, and in the Bank and other money offices, that they are not bewildered with an accumulation of M s D 3 C 5 L s V s X s and I s ; and extremely would it puzzle the head of the craftieft Argus, or bull or bear at his counter at Jonathan's, or the Stock Exchange, had he not the know- ledge of figures tenne for numbering on a rencountre day his gain, or as a lame duck lofs by fpeculating in confols and omnium. For every age has its peculiar technical language, that antiquaries in later days find it difficult to decypher. [#] Record's Arithmetick, p. 17. " Mafter. I might (hew you here who- were the firft inventors of this art, and the reafon of all thefe things that I have taught you, but that I will referve till ye have learned over all the practice of this art, left I fhould trouble you with over many things at the firft," But