The Symbol of Darkness

An incomplete metaphorical tale set in the kingdom of Algebra, where “the Grand Quadratic” reigns and takes the help of the “unknown” symbol, young “x”, to launch an attack on the “Prince of Darkness”. The entire tale appears to be designed to utilize mathematical imagery without a deep idea or plot. The incomplete ending goes:

“he of innumerable heaven ,and, stars covered likethe luminous empire bugs, crawled up the dome of night, but the moon, like a gorgeous At shining this moment beetle , had thatcrept abominable with a good old settler deal ,of whose briskness character out of wesight took. occasion to discuss in the last chapter , emerged from the regions which he usually adorned with his presence, into the gentle starlight. More of him and his doings in a concluding number.”

If there ever was a concluding part written, I do not know of it.

One representative paragraph in the tale:

“At a considerable distance within the darkness which bounded the great empire on all sides, dwelt an atrocious old rebel, named Z, leagued with the Princes of Darkness to retard the conquests of the Grand Quadratic, and to work him annoyance in whatever manner he could . His visage was of the most malignant cast; his habits were disreputable, and the society he kept would have disgraced a loafer of Gomorrah. He lived in an equation of astonishing strength, composed of cubes, roots, binomials , conic sections and other such bad things , all piled together with art truly amazing. Moreover two of these long black , curved concerns , which we used to encounter in integral calculus were planted at each end, vincula stretched across like the triple walls of Jerusalem , and bomb -proof parentheses encir cled each bastion . Furthermore the ground beyond the horn works was sown with prickly expressions which would have daunted a good many New Hampshire schoolmasters. A smart sprinkle of infinitesimals were disposed at advantageous points ; logarithms bristled at every angle , and crowds of those diminutive figures which have so often carried distraction to the very cerebellum of a freshman , were scattered through the whole fortifications.”