[967]. Fermat died with the belief that he had found along-sought-for law of prime numbers in the formula 22n + 1 = a prime, but he admitted that he was unable to prove it rigorously. The law is not true, as was pointed out by Euler in the example 225 + 1 = 4,294,967,297 = 6,700,417 times 641. The American lightning calculator Zerah Colburn, when a boy, readily found the factors but was unable to explain the method by which he made his marvellous mental computation.—Cajori, F.
History of Mathematics (New York, 1897), p. 180.
[968]. I crave the liberty to conceal my name, not to suppress it. I have composed the letters of it written in Latin in this sentence—
In Mathesi a sole fundes.[7]—Flamsteed, J.
Macclesfield: Correspondence of Scientific Men (Oxford, 1841), Vol. 2, p. 90.
[969]. To the Memory of Fourier
Fourier! with solemn and profound delight,
Joy born of awe, but kindling momently
To an intense and thrilling ecstacy,
I gaze upon thy glory and grow bright: