History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
"SEPTEMBER, 1750, Konig, his well-meant visit to Berlin proving so
futile, had left Maupertuis in the humor we saw;--pirouetting round his
Apartment, in tempests of rage at such contradiction of sinners on his
sublime Law of Thrift; and fulminating permission to Konig: 'No time to
read your Paper of Contradictions; publish it in Leipzig, in Jericho;
anywhere in the Earth, in Heaven, in the Other Place, where you have the
opportunity!' Konig, returning on these terms, had nothing for it but
to publish his Paper; and did publish it, in the Leipzig--Acta
Eruditorum--for March, 1751. There it stands, legible to this day: and
if any of the human species should again think of reading it, I believe
it will be found a reasonable, solid and decisive Paper; of steadfast,
openly articulate, by no means insolent, tone; considerably modifying
Maupertuis's Law of Thrift, or Minimum of Action;--fatal to the claim
of its being a 'Sublime Discovery,' or indeed, so far as TRUE, any
discovery at all. [In--Acta Eruditorum--(Lipsiae, 1751):--"De universali
Principio AEquilibrii et Motus."--By no means uncivil to Maupertuis;
though obliged to controvert him. For example:--"Quoe itaque de Minima
Actionis in modificationibus modum obtinente in genere proferuntur
vehementer laudo;" "continent nempe facundum longeque pulcherrimum
Dynamices sublimioris principium, cujus vim in difficillimis
quoestionibus soepe expertus fui."--] By way of finis to the Paper,
there is given, what proves extremely important to us, an Excerpt from
an old LETTER OF LEIBNITZ'S; which perhaps it will be better to present
here IN CORPORE, as so much turned on it afterwards. Konig thus winds
up:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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