Title: THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, AND HISTORICAL CHRONICLE (Vol. 33)
Author: Sylvanus Urban
Publisher: Printed at St. John's Gate for D. Henry
City: London Year: 1768 (First Edition)Binding Style: Hardcover
Pagination: 594 Pages, with Supplement and IndexIllustrated: Yes
Book Details + Condition: Scarce first edition of THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, AND HISTORICAL CHRONICLE (Vol. 33) for the full year of 1768, comprising 12 issues plus a special supplement. This edition contains the first and original publishing of Dr. Benjamin's "Magic Square of Squares" mathematical puzzle (from the July issue). Illustrated throughout, including many fold-out illustrations. Boards are no longer present, but the majority of the leather spine is intact, and all pages are tightly bound. All illustrations are present, and interior is clean and unmarked. Contents include: Dr. Benjamin Franklin's "Magic Square of Squares"; Reid's Essay of Logarithms; Improvement of the Fire Engine; Dr. Percival's Arguments Against Inoculating Infant's Against Disease; A New Method of Husbandry Preferable to that of Drills; Review of a Book Against Rape; Discovery of a Double Horned Rhinoceros; and much more. Please see below for more information on Franklin's Magic Square.
In 1750, Franklin constructed the 8x8 semimagic square, having a magic constant of 260. Any half-row or half-column in this square totals 130, and the four corners plus the middle total 260. In addition, bent diagonals (such as 52-3-5-54-10-57-63-16) also total 260 (Madachy 1979, p. 87). Describing his invention in 1771, Franklin stated, "I was at length tired with sitting there to hear debates, in which, as clerk, I could take no part, and which were often so unentertaining that I was induc'd to amuse myself with making magic squares or circles" (Franklin 1793).
