Excerpt from Elements of Geometry: Containing the First Six Books of Euclid, Translated Into English, From the Edition of Peprard; To Which Are Added, Algebraic Demonstrations and Deductions; With Notes, Critical and Explanatory The term Geometry is derived from two Greek words, which literally signify the art of measuring the earth it does not, however, so much imply the ascertaining the measure of the whole globe as that of certain parts of its surface; and hence we are informed by historians that the finding of the dimensions of lands, and other plane figures, with some of the most simple and obvious methods of determining their con tents and relative proportions, were the first uses made of this science by the an cients. It has, however, since been extended to numberless other speculations; insom uch that, together with analysis, Geometry forms the prin cipal foundation of all the mathematics