Laplace may probably have said to
himself that he was going to devote his energies to a great work on
the interpretation of Nature, that it would take all his time and all
his faculties, and all the resources of knowledge that he could
command, to deal justly with the mighty problems before him. He
would not allow himself to be distracted by any side issue. He could
not tolerate that pages should be wasted in merely discussing to whom
we owe each formula, and to whom each deduction from such formula is
due. He would rather endeavour to produce as complete a picture as
he possibly could of the celestial mechanics, and whether it were by
means of his mathematics alone, or whether the discoveries of others
may have contributed in any degree to the result, is a matter so
infinitesimally insignificant in comparison with the grandeur of his
subject that he would altogether neglect it. "If Lagrange should
think," Laplace might say, "that his discoveries had been unduly
appropriated, the proper course would be for him to do exactly what I
have done. Let him also write a "Mecanique Celeste," let him employ
those consummate talents which he possesses in developing his noble
subject to the utmost. Let him utilise every result that I or any
other mathematician have arrived at, but not trouble himself unduly
with unimportant historical details as to who discovered this, and
who discovered that; let him produce such a work as he could write,
and I shall heartily welcome it as a splendid contribution to our
science.
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