HUME, James.

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Rare work by the Scottish mathematician James Hume, a very complete treatise on the construction of sundials with over two hundred woodcut illustrations. It appears there was a pev ious issue of this work with a slightly different title page; this edition uses the same sheets, omitting the dedication to the Marquis de Cinq-Mars. It is probable the dedication was abandoned as a consequence of the Marquis beheading, on Richelieu s orders, at Lyon in 1641 for rebellion, along with Francois-Auguste de Thou (son of Jacques the celebrated bibliophile) who was unlucky enough to be caught up in the conspiracy against the king. In this treatise on how to build sundials, Hume apologies in his preface for his French which is not his "natural language stating that he preferred to speak in a clear and scientifically precise language which was not always easy on the ear. He also remarks that he wanted to "give France what she had only seen in Latin, until now." Hume was a Scottish mathematician who spent most of his life in Paris. Most of his publications were on advanced mathematics and trigonometry and he is perhaps most remembered for his Une alg√®bre de Vi√®te, d'une methode nouvelle, claire, et facile. published in 1636. In 1636 Hume (also) published at Paris 'Trait é de la Trigonom étric pour resoudre tous Triangles rectilignes et sph ériques,' &c At the end of the latter volume appears a list of nine mathematical works which Hume had written in Latin There are besides 'De Horologiis' and 'Grammatica Hebr‚àö¬∂a,' proving that Hume's attainments were not purely mathematical. DNB. This work gives a theoretical and practical study of all the types of sundials then known: horizontal, equinoctial, vertical, southern and polar, but includes much additional mathematical material and what the author terms as beaucoup de chose, qui seront assez curieuse et utiles. It is in effect more a theoretical mathematical treatise than a work on sundials, introducing the reader to mathematical theory, including the use of algebra and trigonometry, via a practical work on sundials. Show more