PREFACE.

ssgg*;t»j

5B | ggaa»i<

lyreriS?-'

Courteous Reader,

I F you'll consult antient Writings, /<6<ry will inform you,that this Art, /or *7j Antiquity, claims the Priority toOimojl any other Branch in the Mathematics: The Egyptians,by reason of the Nile’s overflowing, (whereby their Land-marks were either washed away , or covered with Mud ,) were,through nicer Neceffity, constrain’d to invent or discover someMeans or other , whereby each one, every TWzr, re-

poffess their respective Property ; the Egyptians are

looked upon as the Inventors of Surveying, Moreover, it isaffirm'd by most Authors, relating to measuring of Land,that all who prosested this Art in those early Ages, were great-ly esteemed and honoured ; which is a further Testimony of itsusefulness.

In jh.rt, the great Use, the pleasant and delightful Study,and the wholejome Exercise that attended it, were jucb pre-vailing Motives, that Numbers of People were thereby indu-ced to apply themselves thereto * and therefore at length, inEgypt, almost t.v^ry Youth could measure Land-, which un-doubtedly will now be the Case in these Western Ist s. Themany Advantages which the Egyptians derived from this uje-ful Art, influenced Thales to convey the Knowledge thereofinto Greece, where it was ftiled Geometry for a confide rableTime-, but that being loo comprehensive a Term for the Men-. sur at ion of Superficies only, it was afterwards calfd Geodæsia,(i. e. a Comp u-d, Word of Ge, the Greek Noun for Terra,the Earth, and dair.o, the Greek Verb for divido, to divide,)or the Art of measuring Land.

The antient and learned Romans held this Art in suchEsteem, that they adjudged any Man incapable of commandinga Legion, that bad not at least so mucb Geometry as would en-able or qualify him to measure a Field ; nor did they respect

either