Up to the Questionist time the undergraduate Scholars had no mixture
whatever; they were the only pure table in the Hall: and I looked on
this as a matter very valuable for the ultimate state of the College
society. But in the October term, those who were to proceed to
B.A. were drafted into the mixed body of Questionists: and they
greatly disliked the change. They continued so till the Lent Term,
when they were formally invited by the Bachelor Scholars to join the
upper table.
MATHEMATICAL SUBJECTS OF STUDY AND EXAMINATION.
In the October Term 1819, the only books on Pure Mathematics
were:--Euclid generally, Algebra by Dr Wood (formerly Tutor, but in
1819 Master, of St John's College), Vince's Fluxions and Dealtry's
Fluxions, Woodhouse's and other Trigonometries. Not a whisper passed
through the University generally on the subject of Differential
Calculus; although some papers (subsequently much valued) on that
subject had been written by Mr Woodhouse, fellow of Caius College; but
their style was repulsive, and they never took hold of the
University. Whewell's Mechanics (1819) contains a few and easy
applications of the Differential Calculus. The books on applied
Mathematics were Wood's Mechanics, Whewell's Mechanics, Wood's Optics,
Vince's Hydrostatics, Vince's Astronomy, Woodhouse's Plane Astronomy
(perhaps rather later), The First Book of Newton's Principia: I do not
remember any others.
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