Diagrams in papers for Commercium Epistolicum
Date
5 September 1670
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p2
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 278mm
width (page): 202mm
width (page): 202mm
Subject
Description
Letter from James Gregory [Gregorie] at St Andrews to John Collins, concerning a problem proposed to Isaac Barrow, 5 September 1670.
This volume contains the letters and papers of John Collins (1625-1683), which came into the possession of William Jones (1675-1749), who used them in Commercium Epistolicum, designed to prove Isaac Newton’s priority over Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the invention of fluxions (calculus).
The original letters were sealed up at the order of the Royal Society's council (25 October 1714) and stored in an iron chest. Further letters used in the 1722 edition of Commercium Epistolicum must have been added and stored with the original papers. These were ordered on 13 September 1737 to be ‘taken out of the Iron Chest’ and entrusted to Jones, who was asked to paste them into a guard-book in one volume (CMO/2/252, CMO/3/73).
This volume contains the letters and papers of John Collins (1625-1683), which came into the possession of William Jones (1675-1749), who used them in Commercium Epistolicum, designed to prove Isaac Newton’s priority over Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the invention of fluxions (calculus).
The original letters were sealed up at the order of the Royal Society's council (25 October 1714) and stored in an iron chest. Further letters used in the 1722 edition of Commercium Epistolicum must have been added and stored with the original papers. These were ordered on 13 September 1737 to be ‘taken out of the Iron Chest’ and entrusted to Jones, who was asked to paste them into a guard-book in one volume (CMO/2/252, CMO/3/73).
Transcription
From back: A Problem Proposed to Dr Barrow
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Object history
Extract (without the figures) printed in Commercium Epistolicum D. Johannis Collins, et aliorum De analysi promota (London: Typis Pearsonianis, 1712), p. 22; Commercium epistolicum D. Johannis Collins, et aliorum de analysi promota (London: J. Tonson & J. Watts, 1722), pp. 95-96.
Related fellows
Isaac Barrow (1630 - 1677, British) , Classical and Mathematical Scholar, Mathematician
John Collins (1625 - 1683, British) , Mathematician, Mathematician
James Gregorie (1638 - 1675, Scottish) , Mathematician
John Collins (1625 - 1683, British) , Mathematician, Mathematician
James Gregorie (1638 - 1675, Scottish) , Mathematician
Associated place