PAINTKRS' ARBORETUM. 21 



iron or shoe a borse, and was carpenter enough to make his 

 own carts and wagons. His brother, Jacob, was no less a 

 student and scholar, being also interested in meteorology and 

 the botanic garden. 



The voluminous notes of their reading and observation 

 were arranged at once, in a system invented by themselves 

 and called "The Cycle of Knowledge." This was a large 

 drawer with radiating partitions like the spokes of a wheel. 

 Each space was for notes on some special topic. The head- 

 ings were carefully selected so as to comprise practically every 

 branch of human knowledge and thought. The notes on 

 each subject were held together by a wooden spring clothes 

 pin. They wrote a book explaining their " Cycle of Know- 

 ledge," and printed it themselves on a press which they had 

 at their home. Some copies of the book are still extant. 



They were much interested in the sexdecimal system of 

 notation, based upon i6 instead of lo. Sixteen can be 

 halved indefinitely without making mixed numbers, whereas 

 lo becomes a mixed number, or improper fraction, on the 

 second division. There are other obvious advantages of using 

 1 6 for the decimal unit. The Painter brothers wrote and 

 printed a pamphlet on this subject. They also printed essays 

 on a new system of scientific nomenclature, and on etymo- 

 logy. The first of these is prefaced by a quaint apology for 

 the press work, in which Jacob explains that it was his first 

 attempt at printing, and that his font of type included no 

 italics. 



Minshall was interested in genealogy and spent much time 

 in tracing to their sources many of the old Quaker families of 

 Delaware and Chester Counties. He took active part in pre- 

 paring the History of Delaware County, published in 1862, in 

 the preface of which we read that " To his long tried friend, 

 Minshall Painter, the author is largely indebted for liberal 

 and constant aid in the examination of voluminous manu- 

 scripts, and for the contribution of many local facts." 

 While working up this, it is said that he knew the exact his- 



