i87 3 ] STIRLING AND HEGEL 93 



resigned himself. Lagrange cannot prove his point unless 

 he is allowed to make i as small as he pleases. Hegel, 

 afraid of the &quot; notorious increment,&quot; will have it that this 

 demand is quite &quot; out of place,&quot; and only allows it to 

 become a proper fraction. No doubt in all this the 

 philosopher is not conscious of spoiling Lagrange s mathe 

 matics, to which, as I have said, he returns from time to 

 time with affecting confidence and confusion. But the 

 error is not the less for that ; and the last touch about i 

 involves, as my former paper showed, certain very 

 diverting geometrical absurdities. 



Through all this Dr. Stirling remains grimly resolute 

 not to consult Lagrange whose analysis, in fact, is rather 

 difficult to read and sternly determined to &quot; see no 

 reason for assuming Hegel not to have correctly described 

 what he simply had before. him.&quot; 



