NEWTON, ISAAC 



NEWTON, THOMA& 



Mr. Turner, the proprietor, by whom alo a marble tablet was 

 plsxvd over the mantelpiece of the room in which Newton was born. 

 It bean tb* inecriptioo, " Sir I*o Newton, ton of Isaac Xewton, lord 

 at the manor of Woolstborpe, wu born in tlii* room on the 25th of 

 December 1642." At foot are the line* from Pope 



" Nature and Nature'* laws lay hid in night ; 

 God Mid ' Let Newton be,' and all wu light." 



In a room on the name floor is preserved his oaken study. The two 

 dials engraved upon the southern wall were then very distinct, but 

 the fctjlrs of both were wanting. The larger dial, about n foot in 

 diametrr, WM in 1844 taken down and presented to the Royal Society. 

 The celebrated apple-tree, the fall of one of the apples of which is 

 aid by Pemberton to have turned the thought* of Newton to the 

 subject of gravitation, was thrown down by the wind about two-and- 

 twenty years since. 



In hi* perron Newton was short, but well-set, and inclined to corpu- 

 lence. His hair was abundant, and white as silver, without baldness. 

 HU eye wan bright and penetrating till within the last twenty years 

 of his life ; but his countenance, though thoughtful, seldom excited 

 much expectation in those to whom he was unknown. In his con- 

 versation there appears to have been little either very remarkable or 

 agreeable ; but we have the testimony of Dr. Pemberton that " neither 

 his age nor his universal reputation had rendered him stiff in opinion, 

 or in any dcgrte elated." Ascribing whatever he had accomplished 

 to the effect of patient and continuous thought rather than to any 

 peculiar genius with which nature had endowed him, he looked upon 

 himself and his labours in a very different light from that in which both 

 he and they were regarded by mankind. " I know not," he remarked, a 

 short time before Ms death, "what I may appear to the world; but 

 to myself I teem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea- 

 shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble 

 or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay 

 all undiscovered before me." (Turner, 'Collections relative to the 

 Town of Grantham.') But while he thus contrasted the littleness of 

 human knowledge with the extent of human ignorance, he was fully 

 conscious of the importance of his own labours, when compared with 

 those of his predecessors and contemporaries, and evinced a natural 

 readiness to assert and vindicate his rights whenever occasion might 

 require. It were to be wished that, by an earlier publication of his 

 discoveries, he had adopted tlio most eligible mode of establishing the 

 undoubted priority of his claim. Such a course, by changing the 

 current of events, would have left him less open to the charge of 

 having disregarded the claims of others, or of having suffered their 

 reputations to be prejudiced by his silent acquiescence in the acts of 

 his colleagues. To judge of Newton from the life of him recently 

 publUhed by Sir David Brewster, wu should almost infer that his 

 moral character had suffered from no instance of human infirmity, 

 and that every action had been dictated by feelings of benevo- 

 lence and the love of truth. These were indeed the general motives 

 by which ho was actuated. His behaviour towards Leibnitz, relative 

 to the discovery of the calculus, and the part which he took in the 

 persecution of Flams-teed by the Royal Society, are however certainly 

 exceptions. 



The following is a list of the works of Newton, in the order of 

 publication; 



1. ' 1'rincipia,' 1687, Lond., 4to; 1713, Camb., 4to, edited by Cotea ; 

 1726, Lond., 4to, edited by Pemberton; 1730, Lond., 2 vols. 8vo, 

 illustrated by Donick ; 1729, Lond., 2 vols. 8vo, Englished by Motto, 

 iinidt-s these, several editions have been [published on the Continent 

 The best edition is that of Messrs. Le Seur et Jacquier, 1730-42, 

 Genev., 4 vols. 4to, comprising a valuable running commentary on 

 the text, and generally known as the ' Jesuits ' edition. The same, 

 1760, Colon. Allobrog.; the same, 1822, Glasgow, 4 vols. 8vo, edited 

 by Wright (Horsley, torn. U. and iii.) 2. ' Optics,' Lond., 1704, 4to. 

 To the first edition, written in Kuglisb, were appended two Latin 

 treatises, namely, ' De Quadrature Curvarum,' containing an exposition 

 of bis method of fluxions; and ' Enumeratio Linearum tertii Ordinin,' 

 containing an elegant classification of seventy-two curves of the third 

 order, with an account of their properties, but without any information 

 as to the method whereby those properties had been investigated. 

 These treatises, which had little connection with the principal work, were 

 uuiittcd in the subsequent editions. A Latin translation of the ' Optics,' 

 by I>r. l.'larke. appeared In 1706, Lond., 4to, for which Newton presented 

 the doctor with 500i The other editious are in English, Lond., 1714, 

 1721, 1730; in Latin, Lond., 171'.', 1721, 1728, Lausanne, 1740, 1-a.lua, 

 1773. (Horaley, tomes 1. and iv.) 3. 'Arithmetica Uuiversalis,' 1707, 

 Cam b., 8 TO, comprising the algebraical lectures delivered by Newton at 

 the university, printed under the inspection of Whigton, and, according 

 to some authorities, without tho author's consent Translated by Raph- 

 son, 1728, Lond., 8ro. There are several later editions, both English 

 and foreign. That by Caatillon, Amat., 1760, is in 2 vols. 4 to. 

 (Honlcy, torn, i.) 4. 'Analysis per Equationes Numero Terminorum 

 .-.' 1711, Lond., Ito. Translated by Stewart, 4to, Lond., 1745. 

 ik was written by Newton, about the year 1072, and intended ! 

 as an introduction to Kiuckhuysen's 'Algebra, of which he had under- : 

 taken to publish a new edition. Motives now unknown induced him ' 

 to abandon thin design. (Horsley, tome i.) C. ' Method us Differen- | 



lialia,' a small tract on interpolation, (Horsley, tome i.) 6. ' De 

 Mundi Syntemate,' 1728, Lond., 4to. This is a popular account of 

 the truths contained in the third book of the ' Principia.' An Knglish 

 translation from the original manuscript had been published the pre- 

 vious year in 8vo. There are later editions. (Horaley, tor 

 7. ' The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms amended : to which is pre- 

 fixed a Chronicle from the first memory of things in Kurope to the 

 conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great,' 172$, Lond., 4to. It had 

 been surreptitiously translated and published at Paris in 17"",. The 

 reader will find an able review of this work, by M. Daunon, appended 

 to Biot's Life of Newton in the ' Biographic Univenelle,' tome xx!., 

 pp. 180-86. (Horsley, tome v.) 8. 'Table of Assays, 1 printed in Dr. 

 Arbuthnot's Tables.' 9. ' Optical Lectures,' 1728, Lond., 8vo, com- 

 prising those delivered in the years 1669-70-71. Translated into Latin, 

 1729, Lond., 4to. (Horsley. tonic iii.) 10. 'Observations on the Pro- 

 phecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John,' 1738, Lond., 4 to. 

 (Horsley, tome v.) 11. 'A Method of Fluxions and Analysis by 

 Infinite Series,' translated into English from the original Latin by John 

 Colson, to which is added a Commentary by the translator, 1736, 

 Loud., 4 to. 12. 'An Historical Account of two notable Corruptions 

 of Scripture,' written prior to 1691, but first publUhed in 1754, Loud., 

 under the title of ' Two Letters from Sir Isaac Newton to M. Le l 'it-re.' 

 (Horsley, tome v.) Newtou contributed some papers to an edition of 

 Varenius's ' Geography,' printed at Cambridge in 1072, 8vo. 



The papers communicated by Newton to the Royal Society are 

 comprised in vols. vii-xi. of the ' Transactions.' The principal works 

 of Newton were collected and published by Dr. Horaley, under the 

 title of ' Newtoni Opera qua; extant omnia,' 1779-85, Lond., 5 vols. 

 4to. In the foregoing list, where a work had been reprinted in 

 Horslev's edition, reference is made to the volume. The following 

 were, with few exceptions, first printed in Honley's edition : Tome i. 

 ' Kxcerpta qu&dum ex Epistolis Newtoni ad Series Fluxionesque per- 

 tinentia ; ' ' Artia Analytical Specimina, vel Geometria Analytics.' 

 Tome iii., 'Tbeoria Luna.' Tome iv., 'Letter* on various Sul>j 

 Natural Philosophy, published from the Originals in tho Archives of 

 the Royal Society ; ' ' Letter to Mr. Boyle on the Cause of Gravitation ; ' 

 ' Tabula} Jure, Colorum altera, altera Kefractionum ; ' ' De Probleina- 

 tibus Bernouillianis ; ' 'Propositions for determining the Motion of a 

 ISody urged by two Central Forces ; ' ' Four Letters to Dr. Bentley ; ' 

 'Commercium Epistolicum D. Johanuis Collins, et aliorum, de Analyst 

 1'rumota ' (lirat published by the Roval Society iu 1713: a new 

 iditiou appeared iu 1722); ' Additamenta Cornmercii EpUtolici.' 

 Tome v., ' A short Chronicle from a Manuscript, the property of tho 

 liev. D. Ekins, dean of Carlisle.' The minor works of Newton have 

 been collected and publUhed under the title of ' Opuscula Mathe- 

 matics, Puilosophica, et Philologica; collegit partimque Latino vert it 

 ac recen-uit Joh. Castilliuiieus ; ' Laus. et Genev., 3 tomes, 4to. 

 After the death of Newton, Dr. Pellet was appointed by the executors 

 to examine his manuscripts and papers, and to select such us he 

 deemed adapted for publication. They are eighty-two in number, 

 and consist of a great number of sheets. But many of those on 

 theological subjects are mere copies over and over again, with very 

 light variations. Of these manuscripts, the only ones which Dr. 

 Pellet deemed fit to be printed were the ' Chronology,' and ' An 

 Abstract of the Chronology,' the former in ninety-two, the latter in 

 twelve half-sheets folio. At the same time he recommended for 

 further consideration those entitled ' Do Motu Corporuui ; ' ' Para- 

 doxical Questions concerning Athanasius; ' 'History of the Prophecies;' 

 and a bundle of loose mathematical paper*. A catalogue of these 

 manuscripts was appended to a bond given by Mr. Conduit to the 

 adminUtrators of Newton, wherein he binds himself to account for 

 any profit he may make by their publication. A list of them will be 

 found iu Huttou's 'Dictionary.' Those on theological subjects are 

 with many other Newton papers in the possession of the Earl of 

 Portsmouth. The valuable collection of letters between iS'ewtou and 

 Cotes, relative to the publication of the second edition of the ' Prin- 

 cipia,' preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, was 

 published in 1851 under the editorial care of Mr. J. Edleaton ; the 

 Correspondence of Newton with Mr. Pepys and Mr. Millington, is in 

 the possession of Lord Braybrooke; and other manuscripts are iu the 

 Bodleian Library, Oxford. 



(Brewster. Life of .Vivlon, Lond., 1831 12mo, entirely rewritten 

 under the title ol Memoir* of the I ..wnriri of 



Sir liaae Nevton, 2 vols. 8vo, 1856 ; Biot. /.>/ . in the Hiuy. Umnn. ; 

 Turner, (,'uliectiont for the Hilt, of (jranlham, containing the Papers 

 forwarded to Fontouelle by Conduit, tho husband of Newton's niece, 

 aud Dr. Stukeley's Account of the Infancy of Newtou, written in 1727 j 

 Foutenelle, 'Kloge de Newton,' /turret diversa, La llaye, 1729, 4to, 

 t'!iii' iii.; Kingraphin Jiritannica ; Birch, llit. of the Koyal fhciety, 

 Lond., 1756 57, 4to, vols. iii. and iv. ; lleadi of fllustriout J'erivni of 

 Great Britain, engraved by llouliraken and Vertue, with their Lira, 

 by Birch, Lond., 1743, fol., tome i , p. 147. The reader may further 

 consult Montucla, Hint.de* Mathem., tomes ii., iii., iv. ; IVmU-rton, 

 Account of Nevton'i Pkil->.- / /'// , Maclaniin, Account (/ .\'ev>ton'i Dit- 

 coveriet; Priestley, fliitory *>f i>i>/i::n ; Laplace, Exposition flu Pyttlmc 

 d Monde, chap. v. ; Lord King, Life and Correspondence of Lotke ; 

 Life of Xewton, in the Library of Utefvl KnmoUdye, <tc.) 



NKWTON, THOMAS, bishop of Bristol, was born in 1704. Bishop 



