Re: [HM] Voltaire's ego stroke (was: Voltaire and Newton)

Bill Everdell (Everdell@aol.com)
Sun, 12 Dec 1999 12:05:22 EST

In a message dated 12/11/99 8:09:14 PM, hans.lausch@sci.monash.edu.au writes:

<<As long as he was prickly, Koenig would have been able to enjoy an ego
stroke from Voltaire. Yet, occurring at Berlin earlier in 1752, a traumatic
experience had, by courtesy of Maupertuis, affected Koenig. Would Koenig have
taken comfort in the story of _Dr. Akakia_ ? Its ashes behind him, the
author left town, and a king wept at Sans Souci.>>

This query seems right. But I need to know more than I do about this
well-known quarrel. I shall waddle to the library at NYU, starting with an
exhilirating traverse of the Brooklyn Bridge in a December wind.

Bill Everdell, Brooklyn