That this subject [of ] has hitherto been considered from the wrong point of view and surrounded by a mysterious obscurity, is to be attributed large… - Carl Friedrich Gauss

Finally, a few days ago, it has been achieved - but not by my cumbersome search, rather through God’s good grace, I am tempted to say. As the lightning strikes the riddle was solved; I myself would be unable to point to a guiding thread between what I knew before, what I had used in my last attempts, and what made it work.

But in our opinion truths of this kind should be drawn from notions rather than from notations.

It may be true, that men, who are mere mathematicians, have certain specific shortcomings, but that is not the fault of mathematics, for it is equally true of every other exclusive occupation. So there are mere philologists, mere jurists, mere soldiers, mere merchants, etc. To such idle talk it might further be added: that whenever a certain exclusive occupation is coupled with specific shortcomings, it is likewise almost certainly divorced from certain other shortcomings.