His theory of the universe seems to have been that it consisted
_solely_ of a multitude of objects which could be weighed,
numbered, and measured; and the vocation to which he considered
himself called was to weigh, number, and measure as many of
these objects as his allotted three score years and ten would
permit. This conviction biased all his doings--alike his great
scientific enterprises and the petty details of his daily life.
[Greek: _Panta metro, kai arithmo, kai stathmo_], was his motto;
and in the microcosm of his own nature he tried to reflect and
repeat the subjection to inflexible rule and the necessitated
harmony which are the appointed conditions of the macrocosm of
God's universe.