David Brewster

“ The rainbow itself would have dwindled into a narrow arch of white light,—the stars would have shone through a gray sky,—and the mantle of a wintry twilight would have replaced the golden vesture of the rising and the setting sun. But He who has exhibited such matchless skill in the organization of material bodies, and such exquisite taste in the forms upon which they are modelled, has superadded that ethereal beauty which enhances their more permanent qualities, and presents them to us in the ever-varying colours of the spectrum. ”

“ Darwin escape from his difficulty, by throwing the cause of life into a circle, and by a process of natural deterioration, throw it backwards from its highest to its lowest form — from intellectual man, through all his various ancestors, to the primordial atom from which he sprung? It is a more rational belief that man may become a brute than that a brute may become a man; and it is an easier faith that plants and animals may dwindle down into an elemental atom, than that this atom should embrace in its organization, and evolve, all the noble forms of vegetable, animal, and intellectual life. ”

“ The history of science does not present us with any discoveries more truly original, or which required for their establishment a more powerful and vigorous mind. The speculations of his predecessors afforded him no assistance. From the cumbrous machinery adopted by Copernicus, Kepler passed, at one step, to an elliptical orbit, with the sun in one of its foci, and from that moment astronomy became a demonstrative science. The splendid discoveries of Newton sprung immediately from those of Kepler, and completed the great chain of truths which constitute the laws of the planetary system. ”

“ In order to show the power of the instrument, and the extent to which these combinations may be carried, I have sometimes constructed a long object-plate, like the slider of the magic lantern, in which combinations of all the principal harmonic colours followed one another in succession, and presented to the eye a series of brilliant visions no less gratifying to some persons, and to some others even more gratifying, than those successions of musical sounds from which the ear derives such intense delight. ”

“ The eccentricity and boldness of Kepler’s powers form a striking contrast with the calm intellect and the enduring patience of Newton. The bright spark which the genius of the one elicited, was fostered by the sagacity of the other into a steady and a permanent flame. ”

“ Had Galileo but added the courage of the martyr to the wisdom of the sage,—had he carried the glance of his indignant eye round the circle of his judges,—had he lifted his hands to heaven, and called the living God to witness the truth and immutability of his opinions, the bigotry of his enemies would have been disarmed, and science would have enjoyed a memorable triumph. ”

“ There are, indeed, few minds that are not alive to the soothing and exhilarating influence of musical sounds, or that do not associate them with the dearest and most tender sympathies of our nature. But the ear is not the only avenue to the heart; and though sorrow and distress are represented by notes of a deep and solemn character, and happiness and gaiety by more light and playful tones, the same kind of feelings may also be excited by the exhibition of dark and gloomy colours, and by the display of bright and aërial tints. ”

“ The repose of death, and the sharp pencil which resides in the small lens, will place before the student’s eye the skeleton, clothed or unclothed, in accurate perspective and true relief, while he contemplates with wonder, in their true apparent magnitude, the gigantic Mastodon, the colossal Megatherion, and the huge Dinornis, or examines the crushed remains of the lengthened Saurian, or the hollow footsteps which ancient life has impressed on the massive sandstone or the indurated clay. ”

“ Darwin written a work on the change of species, as determined by observation and experiment, without any other object but that of advancing natural science, he would have obtained a high place among philosophical naturalists. But after reading his work in which the name of the Creator is never distinctly mentioned, we can hardly believe that scientific truth was the only object the author had in view. Researches, conducted under the influence of other motives, are not likely to stand the test of a rigorous scrutiny; and some of Mr. ”

“ In his contest with the Church of Rome, he fell under her victorious banner; and though his cause was that of truth, and hers that of superstition, yet the sympathy of Europe was not roused by his misfortunes. Under the sagacious and peaceful sway of Copernicus, astronomy had effected a glorious triumph over the dogmas of the Church; but under the bold and uncompromising sceptre of Galileo all her conquests were irrecoverably lost.
The scientific character of Galileo, and his method of investigating truth, demand our warmest admiration. ”