ON GOETHE'S SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES. 35 



the end of his ' Theory of Colour.' how he came to take up the 

 subject. Finding himself unable to grasp the aesthetic principles 

 involved in effects of colour, he resolved to resume the study of 

 the physical theory, which he had been taught at the university, 

 and to repeat for himself the experiments connected with it. 

 With that view he borrowed a prism of Hofrath Biitter, of Jena, 

 but was prevented by other occupations from carrying out his 

 plan, and kept it by him for a long time unused. The owner of 

 the prism, a very orderly man, after several times asking in vain, 

 sent a messenger with instructions to bring it back directly. 

 Goethe took it out of the case, and thought he would take one 

 more peep through it. To make certain of seeing something, he 

 turned it towards a long white wall, under the impression that 

 as there was plenty of light there he could not fail to see a 

 brilliant example of the resolution of light into different colours; 

 a supposition, by the way, which shows how little Newton's 

 theory of the phenomena was then present to his mind. Of 

 course he was disappointed. On the white wall he saw no 

 colours ; they only appeared where it was bounded by darker 

 objects. Accordingly he made the observation which, it should 

 be added, is fully accounted for by Newton's theory that 

 colour can only be seen through a prism where a dark object 

 and a bright one have the same boundary. Struck by this 

 observation, which was quite new to him, and convinced that it 

 was irreconcilable with Newton's theory, he induced the owner 

 of the prism to relent, and devoted himself to the question with 

 the utmost zeal and interest. He prepared sheets of paper with 

 black and white spaces, and studied the phenomenon under 

 every variety of condition, until he thought he had sufficiently 

 proved his rules. He next attempted to explain his supposed 

 discovery to a neighbour, who was a physicist, and was dis- 

 agreeably surprised to be assured by him that the experiments 

 were well known, and fully accounted for in Newton's theory. 

 Every other natural philosopher whom he consulted told him 

 exactly the same, including even the brilliant Lichtenberg, 

 whom he tried for a long time to convert, but in vain. Ie 

 "tudied Newton's writings, and fancied he had found some 



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