In the Late Baroque period, too, the cross section of knowl-
edge in the domain of mathematics was not as yet very signifi-
cant. It was restricted for the most part to tricks taught purely
by drill methods. In contrast to this, leading personalities, devel-
oping the ideas of Vieta and Descartes, searched for comprehen-
sive methods by which individual results achieved up to this time
could be unified. Our reference is to their efforts alone. The
earlier purely geometric method of presentation was supplanted
by superior algebraic methods of investigation. The latter led
to concise, lucid and easily manipulated symbolism and tech-
nique of calculation, preparing for the discovery of the power
series method. This became a mighty tool of the new research.
Combining the effects of the special branch of science and the
tendencies of critical perception, it found its fulfillment in
the calculus, the greatest accomplishment of the Late Baroque
period.

We are indebted to the talented J. Gregory ( 1638- 1675) for
the first compilation of a large number of individual results in
infinitesimals. He was the youngest son of a country parson in
Scotland, and a grandnephew of Anderson, well known as the
editor of Vieta's writings. Gregory, whose father had become

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