ON THE HISTORY OF MECHANICS, 249 



nics of the universe, are developed in his Mathematical Principles of Natural 

 Philosophy, first published in 1687- The following year he was chosen 

 representative of the university of Cambridge, in parlia*ment, and in I6g6", he 

 was placed, upon the recommendation of the Earl of Halifax, in a lucrative situa- 

 tion in the Mint. From 1703 until his death in 1727, he continued president 

 of the Royal Society, and enjoyed, to the age of 80, an uninterrupted state of 

 good health. He was knighted by Queen Anne, in 1705, and died possessed 

 of a considerable fortune. " He had the singular happiness," says Mr^ Fon- 

 tenelle, ' ' of obtaining, during his life, all the credit and consideration to which 

 his sublime researches and his fortunate discoveries entitled him. All men of 

 science, in a country which produces so many, placed Newton, by a kind of 

 acclamation, at their head ; they acknowledged him for their chief and their 

 master; no opponent, nor even a cool admirer, dared to appear. His philosophy 

 was adopted throughout England, and it is supported in the Royal Society, and 

 iuall the excellent productions of the members of that Society, with as much 

 confidence, as if it had been consecrated by the respect of a long course of 

 ages." A remarkable instance of the extent and refinement of Newton's ma- 

 thematical acquirements may be found in a paper of a celebrated modern 

 mathematician, on the subject of atmospherical refraction; Mr. Kramp observes, 

 with a mixture of surprise and doubt, that Newton appears to have been ac- 

 quainted with those methods of algebraical calculation which he had himself 

 pursued; at the same time he says that this is almost incredible, since " he 

 must have discovered certain improvements in the higher analysis which were 

 unknown even to Euler, and to every other mathematician before Laplace." 



Although Newton was unquestionably the first inventor of the method' of 

 fiuxions, yet Leibnitz, whether he had received any hints of Newton's ideas, 

 as there is some reason to suspect, or whether his investigations were wholly 

 independent of those of Newton, was the first that published any work on the- 

 subject ; and he extended its application to many important problems, 

 earlier, perhaps, than any English mathematician. James and John Bernoulli 

 also pursued the same studies with considerable success, and the general law* 

 of mechanics were very elegantly investigated, and successfully applied by 

 these three contemporary philosophers on the continent, while Machin, Gotes, 

 Halley, and Demoivre, were applying themselves to similar pursuits in this 

 country. Perrault, Lahire, Amontons, and Parent, members of the Parisian; 



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