RICCATI James, Count (1676—1754), a celebrated Italian mathematician, was born at Venice, May 8, 1676, and died at Treviso, April 15, 1754. He studied at the university of Padua, where he graduated in 1696. Riccati was deeply read in history, belles lettres, architecture, and poetry—in fact, was a highly cultivated man; his favourite pursuits, however, were scientific, and his authority on all questions of practical science was referred to by the senate of Venice. He corresponded with many of the European savants of his day, and contributed largely to the Acta Eruditorum of Leipsic. He was offered the presidency of the academy of science of St Petersburg; but this high distinction lie declined, preferring the leisure and independence of life in Italy. Riccati’s name is best known and will be preserved by mathematicians in connexion with his celebrated problem called Riccati’s equation, published in the Acta Eruditorum, September 1724. A very valuable and complete account of this equation and its various transformations has been recently given by Mr J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., in the Transactions of the Royal Society (1881, pp. 759-829).

After Riccati’s death his works were collected by his sons and published in four volumes. His sons, Vincenzo (1707-1775) and Giordano (1709-1790), inherited his talents. The former was professor of mathematics at Bologna, and published, among other works, a large treatise on the calculus. Giordano w τ as distinguished both as a mathematician and an architect.