De Vi Physica 



alone was for Newton, whose astronomical 

 knowledge was very scanty in extent, the 

 stepping-stone to the discovery of a law 

 extensive as the universe. But facts are 

 thrown away upon those who do not possess 

 sufficient analytical power to deduce and 

 extract from them their meaning by subtle 

 interrogation. Still more useless is a fact 

 to one that will not see : blinded by pre- 

 judice, or it may be, by a theory that pre- 

 occupies the mind, and closes the eye to 

 all but what supports it, begetting the most 

 desperate special pleading in its favour, till 

 at length scientific reputations and the credit 

 of great names are involved : then other 

 motives come into play, and facts claim 

 recognition in vain. Quoi! il me faudra 

 renoncer aux dogmes d? Epicure ? 



