ARITHMETIC, or, as the word, derived from the Greek apeOlhos, signifies, the science of numbers or reckoning, was unquestionably practised as an art in the dawn of civilization ; since to put things, or their symbols, together (addition), and to take one thing from another (subtraction), must have been coeval with the earliest efforts of the human mind ; and what are termed multiplication and division are only abbreviated forms of addition and subtraction. The origin, however, of the earliest and most necessary of the arts and sciences is lost in the shades of antiquity, since it arose long before the period when men began to take specific notice and make some kind of record of their discoveries and pursuits. In the absence of positive informa tion we seem authorized in referring the first know ledge of Arithmetic to the East. From India, Chaldxa, Phoenicia, and Egypt, the science passed to the Greeks, who extended its laws, improved its processes, and widened its sphere. To what ex tent the Orientals carried their acquaintance with arithmetic cannot be determined. The greatest discovery in this department of the mathematics, namely, the establishment of our system of ciphers, or of figures considered as distinct from the letters of the alphabet, belongs undoubtedly not to Arabia, as is generally supposed, but to the remote East, probably India. It is to be regretted that the name of the discoverer is unknown, for the inven tion must be reckoned among the greatest of human achievements. Our numerals were made known to these western parts by the Arabians, who, though they were nothing more than the medium of transmission, have enjoyed the honour of giving them their name. These numerals were
unknown to the Greeks, who made use of the letters of the alphabet for arithmetical purposes.
The Hebrews were not a scientific, but a religious and practical nation. What they borrowed from others of the arts of life they used without sur rounding it with theory or expanding and framing it into a system. So with arithmetic, by them called 117D, from a word signifying to determine, limit, and thence to number. Of their knowledge of this science little is known more than may be fairly inferred from the pursuits and trades which they carried on, for the successful prosecution of which some skill at least ia its simpler processes must have been absolutely necessary ; and the large amounts which appear here and there in the sacred books serve to shew that their acquaintance with the art of reckoning was considerable. Even in fractions they were not inexperienced (Gesenius, Lehrg,eb. p. 704). For figures, the Jews, after the Babylonish exile, made use of the letters of the alphabet, as appears from the inscriptions on the so-called Samaritan coins (Eckhel, Doctr. Num. i. iii. 468); and it is not unlikely that the ancient Hebrews did the same, as well as the Greeks, who borrowed their alphabet from the Phoenicians, neigh bours of the Israelites, and employed it instead of numerals.—J. R. B.