REPLY TO DERBES

摘要

I have read Derbes’ comments onnNewton’s shell theorems and on then“delay” in the appearance of the Principianwith great interest, and certainlynhave no quarrel with them. While writingnMrs. Perkins’s Electric Quilt andnOther Intriguing Stories of MathematicalnPhysics, I read Cajori and Chandrasekhar,nbut was sufficiently cautiousnof the claim that the Principia was delayednbecause of a delay in derivingnthe shell theorems that I used the wordnsuggestion in the book. As Derbes observes,nNewton himself has been preciousnlittle help in learning what wasngoing on in his mind. Newton’s apparentnwillingness to always recall historicalnevents so as to always refute anynclaims by others for priority u0001in mynbook I quote Cohen’s characterizationnof Newton’s remembrances as “bogusnhistory”u0002 lends some support to HenrynFord’s famous remark that “History isnmore or less bunk.” I don’t sink tonquite that level of cynicism, myself,nand much prefer Winston Churchill’snromantic view of history as a “flickeringnlamp stumbling along the trail ofnthe past.” In Newton’s case, that lampnoften gets pretty dim!