mental means, of the objure and difficult problems which he proposed 



Though Newton's theory of light be defective, yet his investigations 

 form a substantial portion of the data on which the wave theory 

 depends, and his bold thoughts upon "fits of reflection and refraction 

 of light" — professedly provisional — may be said to almost indicate the 

 form of the luminous waves, as we now understand them. Had he 

 lived longer, and continued to l>e endowed with those extraordinary 

 faculties which were the wonder of his age. he would, probably, have 

 anticipated many of the greatest of modern discoveries. His methods 

 of investigation were so broad, so general and so easy of application to 

 varying phenomena that in his familiar grasp, with due time and study, 



tiie 1.1 1 h difficulty being the transcription and translation. 



Of his method it may be said that he dared to be original. He 

 dared to change his theories when new facts taught him that the old 

 deductions were erroneous. Rejecting his own theory of gravitation 



