"Gauss' researches on the theory of numbers were the starting-point for a school of writers, among the earliest of whom was Jacobi. The latter contributed to Crelle's Journal an article on cubic residues, giving theorems without proofs. After the publication of Gauss' paper on biquadratic residues, giving the law of biquadratic reciprocity, and his treatment of complex numbers, Jacobi found a similar law for cubic residues. By the theory of elliptical functions, he was led to beautiful theorems on the representation of numbers by 2, 4, 6, and 8 squares."