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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2014
Colin Maclaurin, the celebrated mathematician, was born in 1698 at Kilmodan in Argyllshire, where his father was minister of the parish. In 1709 he entered Glasgow University, where his mathematical talent rapidly developed under the fostering care of Professor Robert Simson. In 1717 he successfully competed for the Chair of Mathematics in the Marischal College of Aberdeen University. In 1719 he came directly under the personal influence of Newton, when on a visit to London, bearing with him the manuscript of the Geometria Organica, published in quarto in 1720. The publication of this work immediately brought him into prominence in the scientific world. In 1725 he was, on the recommendation of Newton, elected to the Chair of Mathematics in Edinburgh University, which he occupied until his death in 1746.
page 88 note * i.e. Marischal College.
page 130 note * This cubic has a double point at O1 and passes through O2.
page 132 note * But compare § 2 of Part I.
page 136 note * The pedals of the central conies give rise to the rational bicircular quartics (Khon Loria, Encykl. d. Math. Wiss.).
page 139 note * Since p/r=p1/r1 = etc., a logarithmic spiral can be described to pass through the points P, P1, P2, etc.
page 140 note * Suggested by Professor G. A. Gibson.
