I04 GREAT MEN OF SCIENCE 



of the confusion upon which Newton threw new light. The 

 fact that his contemporaries did not reaUse the existence of 

 such confusion, and did not therefore admit it (this, indeed, 

 did not happen until much later) caused Newton much 

 uneasiness, which went so far that at times he was inclined 

 to abandon his scientific activities.^ For the Royal Society, 

 to which he first communicated his results, required in every 

 case that a reply should be given to objections and opposing 

 views communicated to it, of which in this case there was a 

 rich harvest, and Newton usually found it very much more 

 trouble to disentangle the trains of thought of his opponents, 

 than to make fresh discoveries in nature. If we examine 

 the literature in question to-day, we get a strong impression 

 of its complete uselessness; no new knowledge resulted. 

 We thus again see quite clearly that great advances only 

 come from single personalities, and not from societies, 

 no matter how excellent the persons may in general be of 

 which they are composed. Such societies should there- 

 fore see their province exclusively in protecting and for- 

 warding the work of the single and all too rare individuals 

 who show themselves to be bringers of progress in any 

 direction. 



It was not however only the question of colour which 

 brought what Newton felt to be embarrassing complications, 

 but also the question of the nature of light generally. New- 

 ton had made careful investigations concerning the peculiar 

 colours shown by 'thin plates,' such as soap bubbles, or the 

 layers of air between two surfaces of glass pressed together, 

 and here also he made fundamental discoveries. The 

 coloured rings which are seen under an ordinary lens 

 when it is laid upon a plane glass plate, have since been 

 generally known as 'Newton's rings.' In summarising his 



^ He regrets in a letter written in the year 1672, in one of the connec- 

 tions which follow later above, that he has sacrificed such an important 

 element of happiness, as his peace, in order to chase after a shadow. 



