To proceed, then, as we have intimated above, in reference to the connection of Panizzi with the Royal Society; and to give our readers a clear conception of that connection, it will be necessary to make considerable quotations from his own letters and notes, for which, considering their importance as indications of his learning, and humility under adverse treatment, it will scarcely be necessary for us to offer any apology.
In the year (1832-33) the Royal Society, from the incompetency of those who had taken the matter in hand, found it advisable to engage the services of some known and experienced cataloguer to revise a work, which had been begun on their behalf by one of the members, whose presumption and arrogance cannot be better proved than in the mild unassuming language of Panizzi himself:—
“So long ago as October, 1832, I happened to meet Dr. Roget at dinner, who told me that the Catalogue of the Royal Society, of which a sheet had been set up in type as a specimen, had been found to require revision in passing through the press, and that a Committee, on that very day, had requested him to ask me whether I would undertake the task. I said that I had no objection, and I received from him a proof of the sheet in question. The same evening, on my return home, glancing over it, I was astonished at the numberless errors by which it was disfigured. The more I looked into it, the worse did it appear, and I soon felt convinced that it was utterly incapable of correction. I immediately wrote a note to Dr. Roget, stating the conclusion to which I had come, and begging to decline to have anything to do with a work which I felt satisfied would be disgraceful to the Royal Society, and to any person who should venture to meddle with it. Either in that note, or verbally, shortly after, I mentioned to Dr. Roget that it would be necessary for the Royal Society to have an entirely new Catalogue, compiled in such a manner as would answer the expectations which the public had a right to form; adding, that, although I would never attempt to correct what had already been done, I was ready to undertake a new compilation.
I had no idea when I so candidly expressed my opinion, that I was making a powerful and unrelenting enemy in one of the most influential officers of the Royal Society, who, as I have learned since, had put together the titles of books which were to form the Catalogue, and was so well satisfied with his performance as to order a very large number of titles to be set up in type; whatever, in fact, he included in classes, which he called: Mathematics, Astronomy and Navigation, Mechanics, Optics, Transactions, Tables and Journals. The Members of the Catalogue Committee, on being informed of what had passed between Dr. Roget and myself, perceived that my opinion, as to the value of the work done, was correct, and it was resolved that the compilation of a new Catalogue should be intrusted to my care. Thus, not only all that had been done was undone at once, but the time which had been lost, and, what is more, the unwarrantable expense incurred by sending so large a proportion of the ill-digested work to press, was thrown away. Such is the origin of my connection with the Royal Society.”
This is an extract from a letter dated 28th January, 1837, from Panizzi to his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex (then President of the Royal Society), a letter wherein is fully set forth his whole conduct in the case, and which, besides revealing the puerile and almost unpardonable errors he detected in the titles brought under his notice, is a wonderful certificate to the patience, endurance, and acuteness of a gentleman who was called upon to contend, single-handed, with a corporate body, supported by a clique necessarily jealous of its own distinction.
We shall now explain as clearly as possible the course pursued by the Society, and the pains-taking, much enduring way in which Panizzi met his opponents.
Let us, therefore, continue to extract from the memorable letter to H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex, those passages wherein are particularized the egregious blunders of Panizzi’s predecessor in the work:—
“Authors’ names were not better treated than the subjects. Bonaventura, the Christian name of Cavalieri, was taken for a family name, and a cross reference put from it to Cavalieri; of the three mathematical decades of Giovan Camillo Gloriosi, one was put under Camillo, his second Christian name, and the remainder under his family name Gloriosi. On entering a collection, the word Collezione was taken for a surname, and Nuova for a christian name, and thus the entry is to be found “Collezione (N.)” I will not notice mere errors of the press, of which the number is prodigious; but there are entries which prove abundantly that the printer was not to be accused of them. Cossali’s History of Algebra in Italy was printed Nella Real Tipografia Parmense, and Parmense was gravely inserted as the name of the place where the book was printed.
Da Cunha’s mathematical principles were translated into French by D’Abreu after the author’s death, and have this title: “Principes Mathématiques de feu J. A. Da Cunha.” Anyone who has even merely heard of the “feu Lord Maire de Londres” may easily guess, without much knowledge of French, that feu here means late, i.e., deceased. The compiler of this Catalogue, however, did not attach such a gloomy meaning to this word; but philosophically conceived it to signify fire, as is evident by his precaution in writing it with a capital F, Feu; and by substituting the word Opuscules for the correct one, Principes, the following entry was made:—
“Da Cunha (J. A.), Opuscules Mathématiques de Feu, traduits littéralement du Portugais, par J. M. D’ Abreu. 8vo Bordeaux, 1811.