As to the opinions which are truly and wholly mine, I offer no
apology for them as new, -- persuaded as I am that if their reasons be
well considered they will be found to be so simple and so conformed, to
common sense as to appear less extraordinary and less paradoxical than any
others which can be held on the same subjects; nor do I even boast of being
the earliest discoverer of any of them, but only of having adopted them,
neither because they had nor because they had not been held by others,
but solely because reason has convinced me of their truth.
Though artisans may not be able at once to execute the invention which is
explained in the "Dioptrics," I do not think that any one on that account
is entitled to condemn it; for since address and practice are required in
order so to make and adjust the machines described by me as not to
overlook the smallest particular, I should not be less astonished if they
succeeded on the first attempt than if a person were in one day to become
an accomplished performer on the guitar, by merely having excellent sheets
of music set up before him. And if I write in French, which is the
language of my country, in preference to Latin, which is that of my
preceptors, it is because I expect that those who make use of their
unprejudiced natural reason will be better judges of my opinions than
those who give heed to the writings of the ancients only; and as for those
who unite good sense with habits of study, whom alone I desire for judges,
they will not, I feel assured, be so partial to Latin as to refuse to
listen to my reasonings merely because I expound them in the vulgar tongue.
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