. Keil, in the "Philosophical Transactions"
for 1708, declared that he had published the Method of Fluxions, only
changing the name and notation. Much debate and angry discussion
followed; and, alas for human weakness! Newton himself, in a later
edition of the "Principia," struck out the generous recognition of
genius recorded above, and joined in terming Leibnitz an impostor,
--while the latter maintained that Newton had not fathomed the more
abstruse depths of the new Calculus. The "Commercium Epistolicum" was
published, giving rise to new contentions; and only death, which ends
all things, ended the dispute. Leibnitz died in 1716.

The Calculus at first found its chief supporters on the Continent. James
and John Bernouilli, Varignon, author of the "Theory of Variations," and
the Marquis de l'Hopital, were the first to appreciate it; but soon it
attracted the attention of the scientific world to such a degree that
the frivolous populace of Paris had even a well-known song with the
burden, "_Des infiniment petits_." Neither were opponents wanting.
Wrong-headed men and thick-headed men are unfortunately too numerous
in all times and places. One Nieuwentiit, a dweller in intellectual
fogbanks, who had distinguished himself by proving the existence of
the Deity in one of his works, made about this time what he doubtless
considered a second discovery. He found a flaw in the reasoning of
Leibnitz, namely, that _he_ (Nieuwentiit) could not conceive of
quantities infinitely small! A certain Chever also performed sundry
singular mathematical feats, such as squaring the circle, a problem
which he reduced to the single question, _Construere mundum divinae
menti analogum_, and showing that the parabola, the only conic section
squared by ancient or modern geometers, could never be quadrated, to the
eternal discomfiture and discredit of the shade of Archimedes. Leibnitz
used every means in his power to engage these worthy adversaries in
a contest concerning his Calculus, but unfortunately failed. Bishop
Berkeley, too, author of the "Essay on Tar-Water," devout disbeliever in
the material universe, could not resist the Quixotic inclination to run
a tilt against a science which promised so much aid in unveiling those
starry splendors which he with strenuous asseveration denied. He
published, in 1754, "The Minute Philosopher," and soon after, "The
Analyst, or the Discourse of a Mathematician," showing that the
Mathematics are opposed