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The Birthmark
Alltheseantiquenaturalistsstoodinadvanceoftheircenturies,yetwereimbuedwithsomeoftheircredulity,andthereforewerebelieved,andperhapsimaginedthemselvestohaveacquiredfromtheinvestigationofNatureapoweraboveNature,andfromphysicsaswayoverthespiritualworld.HardlylesscuriousandimaginativeweretheearlyvolumesoftheTransactionsoftheRoyalSociety,inwhichthemembers,knowinglittleofthelimitsofnaturalpossibility,werecontinuallyrecordingwondersorproposingmethodswherebywondersmightbewrought.
ButtoGeorgianathemostengrossingvolumewasalargefoliofromherhusband’sownhand,inwhichhehadrecordedeveryexperimentofhisscientificcareer,itsoriginalaim,themethodsadoptedforitsdevelopment,anditsfinalsuccessorfailure,withthecircumstancestowhicheithereventwasattributable.Thebook,intruth,wasboththehistoryandemblemofhisardent,ambitious,imaginative,yetpracticalandlaboriouslife.Hehandledphysicaldetailsasiftherewerenothingbeyondthem;yetspiritualizedthemall,andredeemedhimselffrommaterialismbyhisstrongandeageraspirationtowardstheinfinite.Inhisgrasptheveriestclodofearthassumedasoul.Georgiana,assheread,reverencedAylmerandlovedhimmoreprofoundlythanever,butwithalessentiredependenceonhisjudgmentthanheretofore.Muchashehadaccomplished,shecouldnotbutobservethathismostsplendidsuccesseswerealmostinvariablyfailures,ifcomparedwiththeidealatwhichheaimed.
