b.November 23, 1616 and d. October 8, 1703

English mathematician and clergyman. He had consummate skill in the art of deciphering and was one of the first to give power of communication to the deaf and dumb. His mathematical works form three volumes; the principles of analogy and continuity were introduced by him into mathematical science. His interpretation of negative exponents and unrestricted employment of fractional exponents greatly widened the range of higher algebra. Finally he invented the symbol for infinity, ∞.

 Whoso with patient and inquiring mind
 Would seek the stream of science to ascend,
 Must count the cost, and never hope to find
 Rest to his feet, or to his wanderings end.
 The faithless road doth ever onward tend,
 And clouds and darkness are its utmost bound.
 The sacred fount no human eye hath kenn’d,
 Though many a wight, bequiled by sight or sound,
 ”Evpnxa!” may exclaim; “I-I the place have found.” —The Pursuit of Knowledge: John H. Merivale

John H. Merivale 1505—Scipio Ferro solved cubic equations of the form of x³ + mx = n.

 1541—Tartaglia discovered general solution of cubic equations.

 1545—Lodovico Ferrari solved equations of the fourth degree.

 1596-1650—Rene Descartes interpreted negative quantities and their systematic use.

b.November 23, 1799 and d. September 2, 1866

American hydrographer. He made the first accurate survey of New York Harbor; in 1819-’20 the first survey of the Bahama banks and the shoals of George and Nantucket, and in 1824 he surveyed the entrance of New York Harbor from Barnegat to Fire Island. In 1825-’26 he ran levels from the river San Juan to the Pacific Ocean for a canal on the Nicaragua route. In 1855-’56 he determined the exterior lines of New York Harbor. He advocated Fresnel’s system of signal lights and invented the dividing-engine.

 Who, that surveys this span of earth we press,
 This speck of life in time’s great wilderness,
 This narrow isthmus ‘twixt two boundless seas,
 The past, the future, two eternities!
 Would sully the bright spot or leave it bare,
 When he might build him a proud temple there,
 A name, that long shall hallow all its space,
 And be each purer soul’s high resting-place!

 —Lalla Rookh: Moore

 If you have great talents, industry will improve
 them; if moderate abilities, industry will supply
 their deficiencies. Nothing is denied to well-directed
 labor; nothing is ever to be attained without it.

 —Sir J. Reynolds

 1799, November 4—Ralph Gout secured a patent on the pedometer, an instrument for numbering the steps taken by a walker.

b. ? 1753 and d. November 22, 1824

French naturalist. In 1780 he explored South Africa, extending his researches northward beyond the Orange River. He remained in Africa till July, 1784, and made a large collection of African birds. He published a “Natural History of the Birds of Africa” (1796-1812).

 Nor these alone possess the lenient power
 Of soothing life in the desponding hour.
 Some favorite studies, some delightful care,
 The mine with trouble and distresses share;
 When of some pleasing, fancy good possessed,
 Each grew alert, was busy, and was blessed.
 Whether the call-bird yield the hour’s delight,
 Or-magnified in microscope-the mite;
 Or whether thumblers, croppers, carriers seize
 The gentle mind, they rule it and they please.

 —Rev. George Crabbe

 Mark it all, within, without!
 No tool had he that wrought,
 No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert,
 No glue to join; his little beak was all:
 And yet how neatly finished! What nice hand,
 With every implement and means of art,
 Could make me such another? —A Bird’s Nest: J. HurdisJ. Hurdis 1722, May 11-1789, April 7—Pieter Camper lived. He filled successively the chairs of philosophy, anatomy and medicine at Amsterdam and Groningen. In 1771 he discovered the presence of air in the bones of birds. Among his works are “Anatomico-Pathological Demonstrations” (1760-1762) and “The Sense of Hearing in Fishes.”

J. Hurdis 1722, May 11-1789, April 7—Pieter Camper lived. He filled successively the chairs of philosophy, anatomy and medicine at Amsterdam and Groningen. In 1771 he discovered the presence of air in the bones of birds. Among his works are “Anatomico-Pathological Demonstrations” (1760-1762) and “The Sense of Hearing in Fishes.”