358 
PAPPUS OF ALEXANDRIA 
% 
however, a handbook or guide to Greek geometry rather than 
an encyclopaedia; it was intended, that is, to be read with the 
original works (where still extant) rather than to enable them 
to be dispensed with. Tims in the case of the treatises 
included in the Treasury of Analysis there is a general intro 
duction, followed by a general account of the contents, with 
lemmas, &c., designed to facilitate the reading of the treatises 
themselves. On the other hand, where the history of a subject 
is given, e.g. that of the problem of the duplication of the 
cube or the finding of the two mean proportionals, the various 
solutions themselves are reproduced, presumably because they 
were not easily accessible, but had to be collected from various 
sources. Even when it is some accessible classic which is 
being described, the opportunity is taken to give alternative 
methods, or to make improvements in proofs, extensions, and 
so on. Without pretending to great originality, the whole 
work shows, on the part of the author, a thorough grasp of 
all the subjects treated, independence of judgement, mastery 
of technique; the style is terse and clear; in short, Pappus 
stands out as an accomplished and versatile mathematician, 
a worthy representative of the classical Greek geometry. 
(/?) List of authors mentioned. 
The immense range of the Collection can be gathered from 
a mere enumeration of the names of the various mathematicians 
quoted or referred to in the course of it. The greatest of 
them, Euclid, Archimedes and Apollonius, are of course con 
tinually cited, others are mentioned for some particular 
achievement, and in a few cases the mention of a name by 
Pappus is the whole of the information we possess about the 
person mentioned. In giving the list of the names occurring 
in the book, it will, I think, be convenient and may economize 
future references if I note in brackets the particular occasion 
of the reference to the writers who are mentioned for one 
achievement or as the authors of a particular book or investi 
gation. The list in alphabetical order is: Apollonius of Perga, 
Archimedes, Aristaeus the elder (author of a treatise in five 
Books on the Elements of Conics or of ‘ five Books on Solid 
Loci connected with the conics ’), Aristarchus of Samos {On the