Page D5. Mr. Neioton. Compare what Locke says of Newton ill the ICpistle to the Reader, prefixed to the Essay: 'The Common- wealth of Learning is not at this time without master-biiihiers, whose mighty designs, in advancing the sciences, will leave lasting monuments to the admiration of posterity; but every one must not hope to be a Boyle or a Sydenham. And in an age that produces such masters as the great — Huygenius, and the incomparable Mr. Newton, with some other of that strain, it is ambition enough to be employed as an under-labourer in clearing ground a little, and removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way to knowledge.' Locke and Newton were, during a great part of their lives, on terms of intimate friendship, and it was, to a large extent, through Locke's exertions that Newton was appointed to Ike office of Warden of the Mint.
Newton's great discovery as to the law of gravitation, when stated precisely, is that every particle of matter attracts every other particle with a force varying inversely as the square of the distance.
SECTION XLIV.
topical. See note on the expression * topical argument ' in Sect. 7. These topical or dialectical arguments Locke regarded as fit only for disputation, not for arriving at truth for oneself. The same contrast between the arguments employed by the disputant or dia- lectician and the scientific investigator, having truth only for his object, is of constant occurrence in Bacon's Novum Organum.
Page 96. grand seignior. Locke is, of course, thinking not of the ' Grand Seignior' of Constantinople, but of the King of England. For a discussion of this question, see the second of the 'Two Treatises of Government,' SECTION XLV.
Page 97- above. See Section 9.
by any of our passions. Cp. Bacon, Novum Organum, Bk. I, Aph. 49: ' Intellectus humanus luminis sicci non est; sed recipit infusionem a volimtate et affectibus, id quod generat ad quod ■milt scientias: quod enim mavult homo verum esse, id potius credit. Kejicit itaque difficilia, ob inquirendi impatientiam; sobria, quia coarctant spem; altiora naturae, propter superstitionem; lumen 136 NOTES, SECTION XLV.
experientiae, propter arrogantiam et fastum, ne videatur mens versari in vilibus et fluxis; paradoxa, propter opinionem vulgi; denique innumeris modis, iisque interdum imperceptibilibus, affectus in- tellectum imbuit et inficit.'
posse. ' Posse Comitatus,' ' the power of a county, including the aid and attendance of all knights and other men above the age of fifteen within the county. It is called out when a riot is committed, a possession is kept on a forcible entry, or any force is used or rescue made contrary to the commandment of the Queen's writ, or in opposition to the execution of justice.' Wharton's Law Lexicon.
Page 98. their entertainment, Pre-possession is the name which we usually give to this state of mind.
Page 99. without it. That is, without the understanding. Page 100. experimented. That is, experienced. Page 101. animal spirits. Phenomena of this kind, which are by no means rare, are undoubtedly due to physical causes, such as insanity, delirium, intoxication, or indigestion. Many analogous phenomena are described in De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-eater.
with another. This plan of 'counterbalancing' one passion by means of another is the most potent instrument with which the practical moralist is armed. It is often in vain to try to reason a man out of the indulgence of some master-passion or the persistent pursuit of some favourite course of conduct. But excite some other passion or affection, such, say, as fear, or ambition, or love of accumulation, or care for others, and the passion which we wish to moderate or eradicate may, with comparative ease, be kept under control. The set of a man's thoughts and actions is determined, not by the absolute strength of any one desire, but by the relative strength of all. Hence, to increase the intensity of any one passion or desire is to take an infallible means of weakening that of another.
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