Note 29 — Appendix.

The idea of a Calculating Engine is not new. The celebrated Pascal constructed a machine for executing the ordinary operations of arithmetic, a description of which will be found in the Encycl. Méthod., and in the Works of Pascal, Tom. iv. p. 7, Paris, 1819. In his Pensées he says, alluding to this Engine: “La machine arithmétique fait des effets qui approchent plus de la pensée que tout ce que font les animaux; mais elle ne fait rien qui puisse faire dire qu’elle a de la volonté comme les animaux.” Subsequently, Leibnitz invented a machine by which, says Mr. De Morgan, “arithmetic computations could be made.” Polenus, a learned and ingenious Italian, invented a machine by which multiplication was performed⁠—and mechanical contrivances for performing particular arithmetical processes were made about a century ago, but they were merely modifications of Pascal’s. These Engines were very different to Mr. Babbage’s Difference-Engine.