’s; it simply means that on a plane it is always possible to trace a Cartesian mesh-system, whereas on all other types of surfaces the task is impossible.
All this goes to prove that the curvature of a surface must exert a modifying influence on the
-distribution, since when the surface is curved no constant distribution is possible. We must infer, therefore, that the
-distribution is governed by two separate influences; first, by the lay of the mesh-system over the surface; secondly, by the intrinsic curvature of the surface from place to place. Gauss realised the importance of separating these two influences and of determining in what measure respectively they affected the
-distribution.
Obviously, if it were possible to discover some mathematical expression connecting the