188 



FRESNEL. 



Huyghens in favour of his fellow countryman Snell be 

 accepted, we must give up the pretence of writing the 

 history of science. 



A mathematical law has more importance than an 

 ordinary discovery, for it is itself a source of discoveries. 

 From it simple analytical transformations point out to 

 observers a multitude of results more or less hidden, of 

 which they would with difficulty have become aware ; 

 but such results cannot be accepted without reservation, 

 so long as the truth of the primary law rests solely on 

 measurements. It is necessary for science that this law 

 should acquire that character of demonstration which 

 mere experiments alone, however precise, cannot confer, 

 by being traceable upwards to the first principles of 

 matter. 



Descartes then attempted to establish his law of re 

 fraction by considerations purely mathematical ; perhaps 

 it was thus also that he discovered it? Fermat com 

 bated the demonstration of his rival, and replaced it by 

 a method more rigorous, but which had the serious fault 



Vossius states that, among others, the contents of Snell s MS. were 

 shown to Descartes. 



That philosopher, however, in a manner very usual with him, com 

 mences treating the subject on entirely original grounds; and, in the 

 course of a purely theoretical speculation deduces the same law of 

 refraction as a consequence of his a priori principles (Dioptrica, 1637, 

 ch. ii. 9), without making the slightest allusion to Snell. Hence 

 the discovery of the law has been .assigned to him, especially by 

 French writers. It is to be observed, however, that he in no way at 

 tempts to found his deduction on any comparison of experimental 

 results. Thus, even admitting that Descartes is entitled to the estab 

 lishment of the law as a theoretical deduction, he clearly has no claim 

 to the experimental verification of it, which is by far the most material 

 point; and the more so as his theory is based on the assumption, now 

 proved to be false, that light is accelerated in passing through the 

 denser medium. Translator. 



