line, and the part of the diameter comprised between the first vertex and the foot of the ordinate. Such is the characteristic property which Apollonius recognises in his conic sections and which he uses for the purpose of inferring from it, by adroit transformations and deductions, nearly all the rest. It plays, as we shall see, in his hands, almost the same rôle as the equation of the second degree with two variables (abscissa and ordinate) in the system of analytic geometry of Descartes.
"It will be observed from this that the diameter of the curve and the perpendicular erected at one of its extremities suffice to construct the curve. These are the two elements which the ancients used, with which to establish their theory of conics. The perpendicular in question was called by them latus erectum; the moderns changed this name first to that of latus rectum, and afterwards to that of parameter."
The first book of the Conic Sections of Apollonius is almost wholly devoted to the generation of the three principal conic sections.
The second book treats mainly of asymptotes, axes, and diameters.
The third book treats of the equality or proportionality of triangles, rectangles, or squares, of which the component parts are determined by portions of transversals, chords, asymptotes, or tangents, which are frequently subject to a great number of conditions. It also touches the subject of foci of the ellipse and hyperbola.
In the fourth book, Apollonius discusses the harmonic division of straight lines. He also examines a system of two conics, and shows that they cannot cut each other in more than four points. He investigates the various possible relative positions of two conics, as, for instance, when they have one or two points of contact with each other.
The fifth book reveals better than any other the giant
