The Collected Mathematical Papers of H. S. S. Smith. Edited
by J. W. L. Glaisher. 2 vols. (The Clarendon Press.)—The sub- jects treated in these two volumes are, of course, of a technical character, which makes them unsuitable for discussion in these columns. All the papers published in Professor Henry S. S Smith's lifetime, or prepared by him for publication, are here collected. They fall, as the editor remarks, into three divisions, Geometry, the Theory of Numbers, and Elliptic Functions, which may be said to have claimed successively, in the order here given, the greater part of his attention. The second of these was, per- haps, the one in which he achieved the greatest distinction. Some fifty pages of the first volume are occupied with matter which will interest a larger circle of readers, as relating to the personality of the man,—a personality singularly brilliant and attractive. Five friends—three of them have passed away during the last twelve months—record their impressions and estimates of H. S. S. Smith's character and powers. Dr. C. H. Pearson contributes a general biographical sketch ; Professor Jowett, Lord Bowen, and Mr. S. L. Strachan-Davidson deal with various sides of his life and work ; while Mr. Alfred Robinson supplies a note on that singular episode,—his candidature for the representa- tion of the University in Parliament (one of these memoirs,— that by Lord Bowen,—first appeared in the Spectator). There never has been a man about whom there has been a more unanimous consensus of opinion. He was at once the most
brilliant and the most kindly of men. As for his abilities and his attainments, it is difficult to speak without what looks like
exaggeration. He was equal to any position, and yet was content with one in which neither fame nor fortune could reach him His knowledge was at once varied and profound almost beyond parallel. The best scholar of his year—he won the Ireland
Scholarship—he won, in after life, a European reputation as a mathematician. And even beyond classics and mathematics he had attainments which few men could rival. We hope that the biographical notices will be published in separate form.
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