Page:Scientific Papers of Josiah Willard Gibbs - Volume 2.djvu/133

Rh already considered. It is to be observed that these multiple differential coefficients are subject to algebraic laws very similar to those which relate to ordinary differential coefficients when there is a single independent variable, e.g., In the integral calculus, the transformation of multiple integrals by change of variables is made very simple and clear by the methods of multiple algebra.

In the geometrical applications of the calculus, there is a certain class of theorems, of which Green's and Poisson's are the most notable examples, which seem to have been first noticed in connection with certain physical theories, especially those of electricity and magnetism, and which have only recently begun to find their way into treatises on the calculus. These not only find simplicity of expression and demonstration in the infinitesimal calculus of multiple quantities, but also their natural position, which they hardly seem to find in the ordinary treatises.

But I do not so much desire to call your attention to the diversity of the applications of multiple algebra, as to the simplicity and unity of its principles. The student of multiple algebra suddenly finds himself freed from various restrictions to which he has been accustomed. To many, doubtless, this liberty seems like an invitation to license. Here is a boundless field in which caprice may riot. It is not strange if some look with distrust for the result of such an experiment. But the farther we advance, the more evident it becomes that this too is a realm subject to law. The more we study the subject, the more we find all that is most useful and beautiful attaching itself to a few central principles. We begin by studying multiple algebras; we end, I think, by studying