iv PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE 67 



summits of high mountains, where the layer of air 

 interposed between him and the sun would be less than 

 at lower levels. He was lame, but that did not prevent 

 him from attaining his object ; he first ascended the 

 Faulhorn, then the Pic du Midi, and afterwards under- 

 took several ascents of Mont Blanc. His lameness 

 made mountain climbing particularly difficult, and in 

 order to reach the summit of Mont Blanc he had to be 

 carried either on a litter or on a sledge. He not only 

 achieved his original purpose, but created the obser- 

 vatory which now stands upon the snow of the very 

 top of this famous peak of the Alps. The observatory 

 is a monument to his energy and tenacity of purpose. 

 Referring to the realisation of the project, he once said, 

 " I have always thought that there are very few diffi- 

 culties which cannot be surmounted by a will strong 

 enough or by study sufficiently profound." 



When Newton was actively engaged in completing 

 one of his important works, a lighted candle which he 

 left in his room burned down, setting fire to papers 

 which represented the results of much labour, and 

 destroyed them. The story of the fire having been 

 caused by a little dog called " Diamond " upsetting the 

 candle, and that the papers related to the famous 

 Principia, is shown by Brewster to be fabulous. The 

 fire did, however, destroy twenty years' work upon 

 light and colour, which Newton had almost brought to 

 a conclusion, and it was said at the time by a student at 

 Cambridge, where Newton was a Fellow of Trinity 

 College, " everyone thought he would have run mad, 

 when he had seen what was done ; he was so troubled 

 thereat that he was not himself for a month after." 

 All that Newton himself said of the loss thus caused, 

 when asked about it by a friend, was that he was obliged 



