396 D'ALEMBERT. 



powerful even than before.* He furnishes an instance to 

 another purpose. Thoughtless and superficial observers 

 have charged this science with a tendency to render the 

 feelings obtuse. Any pursuit of a very engrossing or 

 absorbing kind may produce this temporary effect; and 

 it has been supposed that men occasionally abstracted 

 from other contemplations, are particularly dull of tem- 

 per. But no one ever had more warm or kindly feelings 

 than Euler, whose chief delight was in the cheerful 

 society of his grand-children, to his last hour, and whose 

 chief relaxation from his severer studies was found in 

 teaching these little ones. 



It has been alleged, and certainly has been somewhat 

 found by experience to be true, that the habit of contem- 

 plating necessary truth and the familiarity with the 



* My late learned and esteemed friend, Mr. Gough, of 

 Keudal, was another example of studies being pursued under the 

 same severe deprivation but he had never known the advantages 

 of sight, having lost his eyes when an infant, and never had any 

 distinct recollection of light. He was an accomplished mathe- 

 matician of the old school, and what is more singular, a most skilful 

 botanist. His prodigious memory resembled Euler's, and the exqui- 

 site acuteness of his smell and touch supplied in a great measure the 

 want of sight. He would describe surfaces as covered with undula- 

 tions which to others appeared smooth and even polished. His 

 ready sagacity in naming any plant submitted to his examination was 

 truly wonderful. I had not only the pleasure of his acquaintance, but 

 I have many particulars respecting his rare endowments, from 

 another eminent mathematician, who unites the learning of the 

 older with that of the modern school, my learned friend and neigh- 

 bour, Mr. Slee, of Tirrel. A detailed account of Mr. Gough's case, 

 by Mr. Slee and Professor Whewell (a pupil of his), would be most 

 curious and instructive. Euler's memory was such, that he could 

 repeat the ^neid, noting the words that begin and end each page. 

 Mr. Gough also was an excellent classical scholar. 



