登陆注册
4615700000061

第61章 LAPLACE.(2)

With an armament of mathematical methods which had been perfected since the days of Newton by the labours of two or three generations of consummate mathematical inventors, Laplace essayed in the "Mecanique Celeste" to unravel the mysteries of the heavens. It will hardly be disputed that the book which he has produced is one of the most difficult books to understand that has ever been written. In great part, of course, this difficulty arises from the very nature of the subject, and is so far unavoidable. No one need attempt to read the "Mecanique Celeste" who has not been naturally endowed with considerable mathematical aptitude which he has cultivated by years of assiduous study. The critic will also note that there are grave defects in Laplace's method of treatment. The style is often extremely obscure, and the author frequently leaves great gaps in his argument, to the sad discomfiture of his reader. Nor does it mend matters to say, as Laplace often does say, that it is "easy to see"how one step follows from another. Such inferences often present great difficulties even to excellent mathematicians. Tradition indeed tells us that when Laplace had occasion to refer to his own book, it sometimes happened that an argument which he had dismissed with his usual formula, "Il est facile a voir," cost the illustrious author himself an hour or two of hard thinking before he could recover the train of reasoning which had been omitted. But there are certain parts of this great work which have always received the enthusiastic admiration of mathematicians. Laplace has, in fact, created whole tracts of science, some of which have been subsequently developed with much advantage in the prosecution of the study of Nature.

Judged by a modern code the gravest defect of Laplace's great work is rather of a moral than of a mathematical nature. Lagrange and he advanced together in their study of the mechanics of the heavens, at one time perhaps along parallel lines, while at other times they pursued the same problem by almost identical methods. Sometimes the important result was first reached by Lagrange, sometimes it was Laplace who had the good fortune to make the discovery. It would doubtless be a difficult matter to draw the line which should exactly separate the contributions to astronomy made by one of these illustrious mathematicians, and the contributions made by the other.

But in his great work Laplace in the loftiest manner disdained to accord more than the very barest recognition to Lagrange, or to any of the other mathematicians, Newton alone excepted, who had advanced our knowledge of the mechanism of the heavens. It would be quite impossible for a student who confined his reading to the "Mecanique Celeste" to gather from any indications that it contains whether the discoveries about which he was reading had been really made by Laplace himself or whether they had not been made by Lagrange, or by Euler, or by Clairaut. With our present standard of morality in such matters, any scientific man who now brought forth a work in which he presumed to ignore in this wholesale fashion the contributions of others to the subject on which he was writing, would be justly censured and bitter controversies would undoubtedly arise. Perhaps we ought not to judge Laplace by the standard of our own time, and in any case I do not doubt that Laplace might have made a plausible defence. It is well known that when two investigators are working at the same subjects, and constantly publishing their results, it sometimes becomes difficult for each investigator himself to distinguish exactly between what he has accomplished and that which must be credited to his rival. 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 Ihave 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." Certain it is that Laplace and Lagrange continued the best of friends, and on the death of the latter it was Laplace who was summoned to deliver the funeral oration at the grave of his great rival.

同类推荐
  • 上清诸真人授经时颂金真章

    上清诸真人授经时颂金真章

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • More Bab Ballads

    More Bab Ballads

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 慧珠阁诗

    慧珠阁诗

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 天童觉和尚语录

    天童觉和尚语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 广宁县志

    广宁县志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 食品工厂设计

    食品工厂设计

    食品工厂设计是一项复杂的工作,要想完成设计任务必须做好多专业人员的合作。因此,对于食品科学与工程专业设计人员来说,为了保证设计工作的规范性和建成投产后的食品的卫生安全,除了掌握食品工厂工艺设计的原则和基本方法步骤外,还必须了解其他相关专业设计方面的知识并做好与其他专业设计人员的沟通交流和配合工作。因此,本书以“食品工厂工艺设计”为中心,内容包括基本建设的概念、基本建设程序的相关知识,食品工厂建设前期的项目决策及可行性研究的重要意义和方法,食品工厂公用工程设计的原则和方法,食品工厂设计对厂址选择、总平面设计和卫生等方面的相关规范要求以及食品工厂建成后的经济技术分析等。
  • 给40岁男人看的长青书

    给40岁男人看的长青书

    古人云:四十不惑!不惑,就是头脑更清醒。正因为头脑清醒,做人做事更成熟,人生自然就更成功。40岁的男人比青年人经历过更多的风雨,吃过更多的苦、受过更多的教训,头脑更成熟,认识问题更全面,所以他们比青年人更加成功!40岁的男人比年长者精力更旺盛,体力更充沛,也相对更大胆、敢冒险,所以他们比年长者更能取得辉煌!既然这么说,难道40岁的男人就万事顺心、一身轻松么?当然不是,男人到40,上有老、下有小,诸事劳形,万事费心,事业、家庭、生活中的种种矛盾让他感到心力交瘁、不胜重压。但是,只要你摆正心态,将压力变为动力,就能从中得到快乐,进而取得成功。
  • 遇见你是我的倾城时光

    遇见你是我的倾城时光

    从进入高中的那一刻起,苏筝的命运就和顾攸宁联系在了一起。对未来迷茫的她,因为他,找到了自己需要的信念。可是在苏筝觉得生活充满希望的时候,母亲的离逝,和他的背叛,让她的生活跌入谷底。当误会逐渐揭晓,他们又何去何从
  • 奶爸的文艺人生

    奶爸的文艺人生

    “粑粑!”刚穿越到平行世界,就看到有个精致可爱的小女孩喊自己爸爸,杨轶表示有些懵逼。好吧,曦曦是百分之百的亲女儿,而孩子她妈居然是高冷绝美的过气歌后。这乐子闹大咯!问题也接踵而至。怎么哄娃?前世是孤胆杀手的杨轶挠破了头。要不讲点故事?杨轶没有想到,他搬运过来的故事火遍全球!怎么样把被自己气走的孩子她妈追回来?有了经验的杨轶表示,没有一首情歌解决不了的问题,如果有,那就两首!许多年后,杨轶叹息:其实我只是想开一个贩卖情怀的咖啡店,安安静静地做一个文艺美男子。粉丝们大惊:岳父,别闹,我们还等着我们家媳妇儿出演的《那个杀手不太冷》呢!什么?竟敢打我们家曦曦的主意,杨轶怒拔龙刃:竜神の剣を喰らえ!
  • 男儿河

    男儿河

    哲学博士蒋公理坐在省委大楼宽大的玻璃窗前,双手托住下巴,眼睛盯住楼外大街上川流不息的各色汽车,嘴角闭了又闭,嘴巴合了又合,怎么也控制不住内心的喜悦,还是笑出了声。这突如其来的消息,让他一点准备也没有,他做梦也不会想到,自己这个认死理,钻牛角尖,一根筋的倔驴,居然也能当上个县级领导。虽说女为县是全省最穷的山区县,可是能派到那里任县委副书记也算得上是祖上积德,伯乐慧眼。老爹一辈子的清廉做人,为人师表的学究风范,祖宗三代的修行,坟地里才长出这棵挺拔葱绿的蒿子来。听说这女为县有一条流经全县的河流叫男儿河,女为县,男儿河,很浪漫,这里一定有很多奇异的传说吧。
  • 名门婚爱

    名门婚爱

    人前,他是气势逼人、冷酷无情的豪门大少!人后,他是疼爱老婆的宠妻狂魔!
  • 验方新编

    验方新编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 帝台娇

    帝台娇

    她是天下女子艳羡的传奇宠妃,身系两国君王恩宠,尊为两国皇后。大夏皇帝为她散尽后宫,独宠一人;北汉帝为她敛尽天下奇珍,筑就一座华美无双的凤凰。可是,这两个给她一生荣宠的男人,一 个让她家破人亡,一个将她囚于深宫多年。生死相许,柔情万千,终敌不过家仇国恨,帝王霸业。
  • 如何计出你的胜算

    如何计出你的胜算

    本书通过对竞争理论分析和大量的实证研究,试图告诉你如何根据人生目标,策划和布局自己人生的竞争格局;如何客观评估自己和对手的竞争资本,做到知己知彼;一个人和一个企业如何理性面对未来的竞争,进行科学预测,做到“能掐会算”;如何做好力量储备,阐示真正的赢家是怎样炼成的;如何借用外部的力量和整合社会资源提高自己的战斗力;如何积极行动,领先一步抢占有利位置;如何权衡利弊,谋求利益的最大化,增强竞争的力;如何在竞争中回避或分散风险,学会合作,做到“双赢”。
  • 佛教的传入与传播

    佛教的传入与传播

    “中国文化知识读本”丛书是由吉林文史出版社和吉林出版集团有限责任公司组织国内知名专家学者编写的一套旨在传播中华五千年优秀传统文化,提高全民文化修养的大型知识读本。《中国文化知识读本:佛教的传入与传播》为丛书之一,系统全面介绍了佛教史相关历史知识。《中国文化知识读本:佛教的传入与传播》中优美生动的文字、简明通俗的语言、图文并茂的形式,把中国文化中的物态文化、制度文化、行为文化、精神文化等知识要点全面展示给读者。