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IN this tract only the outlines of the subject are dealt with.Accordingly I have endeavoured to avoid reasoning dependent upon the mere wording and on the exact forms of the axioms (which can be indefinitely varied), and have concentrated attention upon certain questions which demand consideration however the axioms are phrased.Every group of the axioms is designed to secure the deduction of a certain group of properties. For the most part I have stated without proof the leading immediate consequences of the various groups. Also I have ignored most of the independence theorems, as being dependent upon mere questions of phrasing, and have only investigated those which appear to me to embody the essence of the subject; though, as far as I know, no formal line can be drawn between these two classes of theorems.But there is one group of deductions which cannot be ignored in any consideration of the principles of Projective Geometry. I refer to the theorems, by which it is proved that numerical coordinates, with the usual properties, can be defined without the introduction of distance as a fundamental idea. The establishment of this result is one of the triumphs of modern mathematical thought. It has been achieved by the development of one of the many brilliant geometrical conceptions which we owe to the genius of von Staudt. The definitions of distance and of congruence, and the proof of the existence of groups of 'congruence-transformations, ' are reserved for a subsequent tract upon Descriptive Geometry. But these questions are dependent upon the previous introduction of numerical coordinates.For a full consideration of the various logical and philosophical enquiries suggested by this subject, I must refer to Mr. Bertrand Russell's Principles of Mathematics. I need hardly say that the formal references in the sequel do not exhaust the extent of my obligations to him

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