SIR ISAAC NEWTON 103 



physical science. As a result I believe that the London Mint 

 has always been foremost in the application of scientific pro- 

 cesses to the problem of securing permanent and stable coin 

 for the realm. 



In 1705 Isaac Newton was knighted by Queen Anne, and 

 in 1727, on March 20, laden with all the honors which his 

 country could bestow upon him, he died peacefully, mourned 

 by all, hated by none. He was buried with all honors in West- 

 minster Abbey, and a fitting monument was erected over 

 his grave. 



His character is said to have been of the kindliest, and all 

 contemporaneous records speak of his amiability. A patient 

 student, a keen observer of nature, and a brilliant inventor, 

 he stands out through his work as one of the greatest scien- 

 tific men of all time. His great services to mankind embraced 

 discoveries in mathematics, astronomy, and physics. Perhaps 

 his mathematical work ought to be considered the most im- 

 portant, for it might be considered to be at the root of all our 

 scientific knowledge, and yet I despair of explaining to you 

 in what these mathematical discoveries consisted. Up to 

 his time it was only possible to calculate with quantities that 

 were not supposed to change during the calculations. He 

 showed us how to work with quantities that varied. Before 

 him it was necessary to imagine bodies to be at rest before 

 their relations could be ascertained; he showed how to deal 

 with moving bodies. His invention " Fluxions" (now called 

 the " Differential Calculus") was for the mathematician what 

 the Rontgen discovery is for the physician. The fact that 

 Leibnitz almost at the same time independently made the 

 same discovery, does not detract from Newton's merit. 



Having devised this great improvement in calculating he 

 began to see clearly things that Copernicus, Kepler, and 

 Galileo had vainly attempted to comprehend. Perhaps the 



