The curious Mechanical Euclid of William Whewell, F. R. S. (1774-1866) (Q1126277)

The article presents Whewell's Mechanical Euclid from 1837, a small manual of mechanics and hydrostatics written for use in connection with a curricular reform in Cambridge which the author had contributed to bring about. It includes the title page, the table of contents and the beginning of the preface of Whewell's book. The author points to the curious contrast between a book meant to present its subject matter ``in such a coherent system of exact reasoning, as that for which Euclid's name is become a synonym'' (Whewell's preface) and an extreme sloppiness when it comes to typographical correctness even in the simplest equations. The influence of the work and of Whewell's orientation in general on Todhunter and other promoters of Euclid is pointed out, together with the opposition of the Reverend Whewell to further reforms and to the admission of dissenters to university education.