The Romance of Mathematics

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Excerpt: ...Saffronia Gillan, Vandyke Smithson entitled to greatness? And yet their laurels have been won solely by the art of dress. Perhaps the lady professor has never read 'Sartor Resartus'! In conclusion, he would ask the Lady Professor to refrain from casting obloquy upon the work of the Association which he has the honour to represent, to prevail upon her pupils to abandon the unfeminine attire which some of them have assumed, contrary to the first principles of art, to array themselves in flowing robes of sage-green and 68 other choice colours (patterns enclosed), and to study art, instead of absurd mathematics, which no one can understand, and do no one any good. (Approved by the Committee of the Æsthetic and Dress Improvement Association.) June, 18-. Editorial Note. -The next letter, written by a pupil of the Lady Professor, requires no explanation, and speaks for itself. Jesus College, Cambridge, March, 18-. My dear Tutor, You will be glad to hear that after superhuman exertions I have at last succeeded in passing my Little-go, and I am eternally grateful to you for all you have done for me. I should never have got through if it had not been for you. All the coaches in Cambridge would never have managed it, but you drove me through in a canter. And why? I never could make up my mind to work for them, 69 but when I coached with you, you made me like it. I almost revelled in the Binomial when you wrote it out for me, and then I could not help listening to you, and you looked so grieved when I would not learn, and made me feel such a brute, so somehow or other you drove some mathematics into my head, and I pulled through. By-the-bye, I think you must have tried the 'brain wave' dodge with the examiners, as five out of the six propositions in Euclid, which you told me to get up specially, were set! I wish I could read people’, s thoughts, can you read mine? If I were a Don, or a Fellow, or something, I...