Page:The Diothas, or, A far look ahead (IA diothasorfarlook01macn).pdf/150

 "Any plane curve," was the reply of the old gentleman, evidently gratified by the interest displayed in an instrument that owed great improvements to himself.

At his request I wrote down a function whose curve I wished to see. On glancing over what I had written down, the elder Siured uttered an exclamation of pleasurable recognition; while his son looked at the characters with the blank expression of one to whom they conveyed no idea whatever.

"It was your father taught me the long-lost meaning of that ancient notation employed in the infancy of science. This is what that signifies," he continued, addressing his son, and writing down a new set of symbols, of which all that I could understand was, that the notation employed was much more compact than mine.

It sounded strange to my ears to hear the science of Newton, Lagrange, and Gauss described as the "infancy of science," and their methods alluded to as antique curiosities. I could not but acknowledge to myself, however, that some progress had been made since their days, when I beheld the required curve described in about as short a time as I had taken to write down its formula.

In the course of our return journey, Utis, after answering some other inquiries on my part, said, in reference to the interesting family whose hospitality we had enjoyed,—

"In the Siureds you see a good exemplification of what I told you in regard to our twofold employments. From four till eight in the morning, you would find the