New fragments / by John Tyndall.

John Tyndall

Date:: 1892

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: New fragments / by John Tyndall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

85/532 (page 73)

will be his tendency to lie when he falls into error, and the vaster will be that ewor when he makes up his mind to persist in it. This is all intended to throw light upon Newton. When G-oethe passes from Newton himself to his followers, the small amount of reserve which he exhibited when dealing with the master entirely disappears. He mocks their blunders as having not even the merit of originality. He heaps scorn on Newton's imitators. The expression of even a truth, he says, loses grace in repetition, while the repetition of a blunder is impertinent and ridiculous. To liberate oneself from an error is difficult, sometimes indeed impossible for even the strongest and most gifted minds. But to take up the error of another, and persist in it with stiffnecked obstinacy, is a proof of poor qualities. The obstinacy of a man of originality when he errs may make us angry, but the stupidity of the copyist irritates and renders us miserable. And if in our strife with Newton we have sometimes passed the bounds of moderation, the whole blame is to be laid upon the school of which Newton was the head, whose incompetence is proportional to its arrogauce, whose laziness is proportional to its self-sufficiency, and whose virulence and love of persecution hold each other in perfect equilibrium. There is a great deal more invective of this kind, but you will probably, and not without sadness, con- sider this enough. Invective may be a sharp weapon, but over-use blunts its edge. Even when the denuncia- tion is just and true, it is an error of art to indulge in it too long. We not only incur the risk of becoming vapid, but of actually inverting the force of reproba- tion which we seek to arouse, andf of bringing it back by recoil upon ourselves. At suitable intervals, sepa- rated from each other by periods of dignified reserve,