Mathematical Treasure: Edmund Pourchot's Elementa Geometria

Edmund (or Edme) Pourchot (1651–1734) was a French philosopher. He taught and served as vice-chancellor at the University of Paris. An avid Cartesian, Pourchot wrote works on philosophy, Euclidean geometry, and various scientific topics. His manuscript, the 1692 Elementa Geometria, was handwritten by the scribe Franciscus Pouget and may have been notes for a later work.

He lists Euclid’s axioms:

These images from MS 809 are presented courtesy of the Schoenberg Manuscript Collection within the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Pennsylvania. The full volume may be read here.

Index to Mathematical Treasures