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A BIOGRAPHY
251
point; it swings to about the same height on the opposite side,
and continues to oscillate for some time. Had the original
impulse been a little stronger, the ball would have swung higher,
and the rest of the movement would have been on the same
scale. But if the original impulse had been so strong as to
cause the ball to pass the highest point which the length of
string permitted, the ball would not swing back, but would
continue its course on the other side of the periphery, and in this
case the movement would be utterly changed in character.
Two similar impulses, one of which, however, is weaker and
the other stronger than a certain average force, always produce
two entirely different results. In mechanics one is accustomed
to study just the extreme and critical moments, and it is
evident that; if you wish to gain a clear idea about phenomena, it
is all-important to study them when near the critical point of
balance. The authors of the double drama have deemed it
might be interesting to depict the effect of such a critical
moment on two individuals, similar but not identical. In order to
understand the play perfectly, Karl in the two parts must not
be imagined as one and the same person. But the difference in
the two characters, though the one is rather more ideal than the
other, and better able to distinguish between important and
unimportant things, is so small that in every-day life it would be
almost impossible to distinguish one Karl from the other. Had
all gone well, had his father lived till his son had an established
position, no doubt the destiny of the two Karls would have
been almost identical. They would have become celebrated as
scientists, married at the same age, and made the same choice.
But trial comes at the critical moment, and the almost
imperceptible advantage which the one has over the other enables
him to surmount the critical point, while the other falls heavily
back.
The revision of the work took much longer than the
original composition, and when Sönya and I separated
for the summer it was not yet concluded.
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