THE
ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS.
VOL. V.—FEBRUARY, 1860.—NO. XXVIII.
Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected. Footnotes have beenmoved to the end of the article. Contents have been created for HTML version.
Contents
COUNTING AND MEASURING.
MY LAST LOVE.
A SHETLAND SHAWL.
ROBA DI ROMA.
THE AMBER GODS.
THE POET'S FRIENDS.
THE MEMORIAL OF A. B., OR MATILDA MUFFIN.
SOME ACCOUNT OF A VISIONARY.
THE TRUCE OF PISCATAQUA.
THE MAROONS OF JAMAICA.
THE PROFESSOR'S STORY.
MEXICO.
REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.
RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS
COUNTING AND MEASURING.
Though, from the rapid action of the eye and the mind, grouping andcounting by groups appear to be a single operation, yet, as things canbe seen in succession only, however rapidly, the counting of things,whether ideal or real, is necessarily one by one. This is the first stepof the art. The second step is grouping. The use of grouping is toeconomize speech in numeration, and writing in notation, by the exerciseof the memory. The memorizing of groups is, therefore, a part of theprimary education of every individual. Until this art is attained, to acertain extent, it is very convenient to use the fingers asrepresentatives of the individuals of which the groups are composed.This practice led to the general adoption of a group derived from thefingers of the left hand. The adoption of this group was the firstdistinct step toward mental arithmetic. Previous groupings were forparticular numerations; this for numeration in general; being, in fact,the first numeric base,—the quinary. As men advanced in the use ofnumbers, they adopted a group derived from the fingers of both hands;thus ten became the base of numeration.
Notation, like numeration, began with ones, advanced to fives, then totens, etc. Roman notation consisted of a series of signs signifying 1,5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, etc.,—a series evidently the result ofcounting by the five fingers and the two hands, the numbers signifiedbeing the products of continued multiplication by five and by twoalternately. The Romans adhered to their mode, nor is it entirely out ofuse at the present day, being revered for its antiquity, admired for itsbeauty, and practised for its convenience.
The ancient Greek series corresponded to that of the Romans, thoughprimarily the signs for 50, 500 and 5000 had no place. Ultimately,however, those places were supplied by means of compound signs.
The Greeks abandoned their ancient mode in favor of the alphabetic,which, as it signified by a single letter each number of thearithmetical ser