172 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



matical writings while there are few who do not find " Alice in Wonder- 

 land " exceedingly interesting. The little volume is so " excruciatingly 

 silly," that we laugh over its absurdities without knowing why. Goethe 

 was probably the only poet of modern times whose fame is world-wide 

 and whose work in science was of a high order. But as science is pro- 

 gressive many of his ideas have become a part of its history and may be 

 said to be outgrown. Moreover, as the world can not or does not believe 

 that a man can be great in more than one or two departments, Goethe is 

 known as a man of science only to specialists. Then too the interest in 

 facts is confined to few, while fiction is attractive to the great mass of 

 mankind. The late Professor Shaler was a man of similar type. He 

 ranked high as a scientist and wrote dramas that contain many notable 

 passages. But this sphere of his mental activity is not generally known. 

 It is probable that no man engaged in research and investigation is a 

 scientist "all through." Benjamin Franklin is an interesting case. 

 From his earliest youth he seems to have had his mind almost exclu- 

 sively on practical matters. Albeit, under the influence of Whitefield's 

 fervent appeals he emptied his purse into the contribution box in spite 

 of his first resolution to give nothing, then to give at least very little. 



Many persons seem to be unable to distinguish at all times between 

 the products of the imagination and concepts based on observed phe- 

 nomena. Sir Isaac Newton is regarded as the founder of mathematical 

 physics and physical astronomy. We are astounded at his marvelous 

 intellectual acumen when we consider the inadequate instruments with 

 which he had to work. Yet he devoted much time to theological specu- 

 lation and wrote many pages that are mere puerilities. So feeble are 

 they that M. Biot professed to believe that they were the productions 

 of his dotage. But he was mistaken. Newton also spent a good deal 

 of time on the writings of the alchemists and tried to discover the 

 philosopher's tincture. There was evidently a large measure of the 

 mystic in him. There was a good deal of similarity between his mind 

 and that of Swedenborg. In many things the latter was thoroughly 

 practical and a master of much useful information; but his mystical 

 vagaries often led him far astray. To such an extent did Kant find 

 this to be the case that he characterized him as the prince of visionaries. 

 Sometimes men adhere to a creed adopted in early life and refuse to 

 modify it no matter how much new evidence is brought to their atten- 

 tion. It is usually easier to defend an accepted belief because we have 

 the materials ready to hand than to test the data which might lead to 

 its abandonment. 



Charles Darwin relates, in his autobiography, that up to his thirtieth 

 year he was very fond of poetry, and even as a schoolboy took great 

 delight in Shakespeare. But in his later years he could not endure to 

 read a line of poetry, and on attempting to reread Shakespeare's plays 



