GOETHE'S FARBENLEHRE. 317 



dice of the individual are all-influential. We must, however, add the 

 qualifying words, "as far as the individual is concerned." For in 

 science there exists, apart from the individual, objective truth ; and 

 the fate of Goethe's own theory, though commended to us by so great 

 a name, illustrates how, in the progress of humanity, the individual, if 

 he err, is left stranded and forgotten truth, independent of the indi- 

 vidual, being more and more grafted on to that tree of knowledge 

 which is the property of the human race. 



The imagined ruin of Newton's theory did not satisfy Goethe's 

 desire for completeness. He would explore the ground of Newton's 

 error, and show how it was that one so highly gifted could employ his 

 gifts for the enunciation and diffusion of such unmitigated nonsense. 

 It was impossible to solve the riddle on purely intellectual grounds. 

 Scientific enigmas, he says, are often only capable of ethical solution, 

 and with this maxim in his mind he applies himself, in the second vol- 

 ume of the " Farbenlehre," to the examination of " Newton's Person- 

 lichkeit." He seeks to connect him with, or rather to detach him from, 

 the general character of the English nation that sturdy and compe- 

 tent race which prizes above all things the freedom of individual 

 action. Newton was born in a storm-tossed time none, indeed, more 

 pregnant in the history of the world. He was a year old when Charles 

 I. was beheaded, and he lived to see the First George upon the throne. 

 The shock of parties was in his ears, changes of ministries, parliaments, 

 and armies were occurring before his eyes while the throne itself, 

 instead of passing on by inheritance, was taken possession of by a 

 stranger. What, asks Goethe, are we to think of a man who could 

 put aside the claims, seductions, and passions incident to such a time, 

 for the purpose of tranquilly following out his bias as an investi- 

 gator ? 



So singular a character arrests the poet's attention. He had laid 

 down his theory of colors ; he must add to it a theory of Newton. 

 The great German is here at home, and Newton could probably no 

 more have gone into these disquisitions regarding character than 

 Goethe could have developed the physical theories of Newton. He 

 prefaces his sketch of his rival's character by reflections and considera- 

 tions regarding character in general. Every living thing, down to the 

 worm that wriggles when trod upon, has a character of its own. In 

 this sense even the weak and cowardly have characters, for they will 

 give up the honor and fame which most men prize highest, so that they 

 may vegetate in safety and comfort. But the word character is usu- 

 ally applied to the case of an individual with great qualities, who pur- 

 sues his object undeviatingly, and without permitting either difficulty 

 or danger to deflect him from his course. 



" Although here, as in other cases," says Goethe, " it is the exuberant 

 (Ueberschwiingliche) that impresses the imagination, it must not be 

 imagined that this attribute has anything to do with moral feeling. 



