This conception of an ether was advocated, and successfully applied to
various phenomena of optics, by the illustrious astronomer, Huyghens.
He deduced from it the laws of reflection and refraction, and applied
it to explain the double refraction of Iceland spar. The theory was
espoused and defended by the celebrated mathematician, Euler. They
were, however, opposed by Newton, whose authority at the time bore
them down. Or shall we say it was authority merely? Not quite so.
Newton's preponderance was in some degree due to the fact that, though
Huyghens and Euler were right in the main, they did not possess
sufficient data to _prove_ themselves right. No human authority,
however high, can maintain itself against the voice of Nature speaking
through experiment. But the voice of Nature may be an uncertain voice,
through the scantiness of data. This was the case at the period now
referred to, and at such a period, by the authority of Newton, all
antagonists were naturally overborne.
The march of mind is rhythmic, not uniform, and this great Emission
Theory, which held its ground so long, resembled one of those circles
which, according to your countryman Emerson, the intermittent force of
genius periodically draws round the operations of the intellect, but
which are eventually broken through by pressure from behind.
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