I am not unaware that, as has often been said, contemporary history is
the most difficult of all histories to write. A certain step backwards
seems necessary in order to enable us to appreciate correctly the
relative importance of events, and details conceal the full view from
eyes which are too close to them, as the trees prevent us from seeing
the forest. The event which produces a great sensation has often only
insignificant consequences; while another, which seemed at the outset
of the least importance and little worthy of note, has in the long run
a widespread and deep influence.
If, however, we deal with the history of a positive discovery,
contemporaries who possess immediate information, and are in a
position to collect authentic evidence at first hand, will make, by
bringing to it their sincere testimony, a work of erudition which may
be very useful, but which we may be tempted to look upon as very easy
of execution. Yet such a labour, even when limited to the study of a
very minute question or of a recent invention, is far from being
accomplished without the historian stumbling over serious obstacles.
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