E. Colman: Short Communication on the Unpublished Writings of Karl Marx Dealing With Mathematics

Prof. E. Colman

Short Communication on the Unpublished Writings of Karl Marx Dealing With Mathematics, The Natural Sciences and Technology and the History of these Subjects

Written: 1931;
Source: Science at the Crossroads: Papers Presented to the International Congress of the History of Science and technology Held in London from June 29th to July 3rd, 1931 by the delegates of the U.S.S.R, Frank Cass and Co., 1931
Online Version: For marxists.org May, 2002.

The following unpublished works of Karl Marx are to be found at the Marx-Engels Institute, Moscow:--

A. Extracts from works on natural science, with notes by Marx, including the following:--

1. Caspari, Otto (1878):--Leibniz' Philosophie, beleuchtet vom Gesichtespunkt der physikalischen Grundbegriffe von Kraft und Stotf.

2. Du Bois, Raymond (1878) :--Leibniz'sche Gedanken in der neueren Naturwissenschaft.

3. Fick, Adolf (1876):--Die Naturkrafte in ihrer Wechselbeziehung.

4. Giordani Bruni Nolani (1851):--De triplici minime et mensure ad trium speculativarum scientiarum et multarum activarum actium principia.

5. Descartes, Rene (1878) :--Opuscula posthuma physica et mathematica.

6. Poppe, J. H. M. (1853-54, 1867-68):-Geschichte der Mathematik.

7. Poppe, J. H. M. (1853-54):--Die Mechanik des 18. Jahrhunderts und der ersten Jahre des 19. Jahrhunderts.

8. Hospitalier, E. (I880-83):--Les principales applications d'électricité.

9. Alien Grant (1880-81):--Geology and History.

10. Jukes. J. B. (1878):--The Student's Manual of Geology.

11. Lyell, Ch. (1869):--Principles of Geology.

12. Fraas, C. (1878):--Klima und Pflanzenwelt in der Zeit.

13. Schleiden, M. J. (1876):--Physiologie der Pflanzen und Tiere und Theorie der Pflanzenkultur.

14. Ranke, J. (1876):--Grundzuge der Physiologie des Menschen.

15. Liebig, J. (1867):--Die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agrikultur und Physiologie.

16. Johnston, J. F. W. (1851):--Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geology.

17. Johnston, J. F. W. (1851) :--Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology.

18. Johnston, J. F. W. (1878):--Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology.

19. London, J. C. (1851):--An Encyclopedia of Agriculture.

20. Liebig, J. (?):-Herr Dr. Emil Wolff in Hoferheim und die Agrikulturchemie.

21. Kaufman (1878):--Teoria praktika bankovogo dela.

22. Beckmann, J. (1860):--Beitrage zur Geschichte der Erfindungen.

23. Poppe, J. H. M. (1853-54) :--Geschichte der Technologie selt der Wiederherstellung der Wissenschaften.

24. Poppe, J. H. M. (1853-54):--Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Technologie.

25. Ure, A. (1853-54) :--Technisches Worterbuch.

26. Wagner, J. R. (1878):--Die Metalle und ihre Verarbeitung.

27. Hamm, W. (?):--Die landwirtschaftlichen Gerite und Maschinen Englands.

Mathematical manuscripts consisting of 31 different calculations and excerpts from arithmetic, algebra, analysis and geometry, and of 19 drafts and studies for independent mathematical works. In addition, there are applications of mathematics to the problems of political economy: differential rent, the process of circulation, the rate of surplus value and the rate of profit, the problem of crises.

Writings dealing with technology, mostly dating from the year 1863, and concerned with the following problems:--

1. History of mills from ancient times to the steam mill.

2. History of the weaving loom as the second main type of machine.

3. The problem of automatic production of the machine system (with the production of paper and machine construction as example).

4. The development of the tool to the machine and the machine to the system of machines.

5. The influence of mechanisation and rationalisation of production on the development of the English textile industry and on the position of the proletariat in the period 1815-1863.

6. The change in the social system of production at different stage of technical development, the relation between labour and science, between town and country, etc.