Ren: Descartes was born on the 31st of March 1596 at La Haye inT ouraine not far from Poitiers. His father was a gentleman of good family who had retired from military service and had become councillor of the Parlement of Brittany. Rene was the third son. He was sent at the age of eight to theewly established .J Jesuit college of La Fldche in MaineV He stayed there for eight years, going through the full course.of studr; I and showing in the last two years extraordinary prproci fyKP -in. mathematics. Descartes all his life retained the fwarmesF alfection foriiisf old college and laid great -store on the approbationu-ol-4iis-~j6S uitteachers. Here, too, he made the acquaintance of his great friend, Mersenne. Mersenne later became a monk and eventually head of a convent in Paris. He was a man with a great gift of friendship, and his cell in Paris became the centre of philosophical and scientific discussion. Descartes correspondence with him was constant and continuous, and ended only with Mersenne sdeath in 1648. Descartes not only found in him a loyal friend, but was through him enabled to get in touch with all the most important thoughtpf the time. jjX In the first part of theD iscourse on Method Descartes has related how after his studies were finished he came to the conclusion that for him further book-learning was unprofitable, and resolved no longer to seek any otlxiyr science than the. knowledge of myself or of the ..great ;book of the world. Seeing the world meant enlisting in a foreign army, and the years till 1619 were spent by Descartes in theL ow Countries, serving under Prince Maurice of Nassau.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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