Page:Passages from the Life of a Philosopher.djvu/128

CHAPTER VIII.

of the analytical engine.

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Man wrongs, and Time avenges.
    Byron.—The Prophecy of Dante.

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Built Workshops for constructing the Analytical Engine—Difficulties about carrying the Tens—Unexpectedly solved—Application of the Jacquard Principle—Treatment of Tables—Probable Time required for Arithmetical Operations—Conditions it must fulfil—Unlimited in Number of Figures, or in extent of Analytical Operations—The Author invited to Turin in 1840—Meetings for Discussion—Plana, Menabrea, MacCullagh, Mosotti—Difficulty proposed by the latter—Observations on the Errata of Astronomical Tables—Suggestions for a Reform of Analytical Signs.

The circular arrangement of the axes of the Difference Engine round large central wheels led to the most extended prospects. The whole of arithmetic now appeared within the grasp of mechanism. A vague glimpse even of an Analytical Engine at length opened out, and I pursued with enthusiasm the shadowy vision. The drawings and the experiments were of the most costly kind. Draftsmen of the highest order were necessary to economize the labour of my own head; whilst skilled workmen were required to execute the experimental machinery to which I was obliged constantly to have recourse.

In order to carry out my pursuits successfully, I had purchased a house with above a quarter of an acre of ground in a