APPENDIX. 307 



equally regulate the course of the most distant stellar 

 groups. 



Newton's labours brought him at an early age both 

 honours and riches. All the different Academies of 

 Europe were anxious to enrol him among their members, 

 and at the age of fifty-four he was appointed Master of 

 the Mint, a lucrative position, which enabled him to leave 

 at his death a fortune of about 28,000/.* Perhaps this 

 may be regarded as a misfortune, as far as science is 

 concerned, for, being engaged in the duties of his ofiice, 

 Newton did not pursue his scientific investigations. 



Like Kepler, Newton was very religious, and naturally 

 disposed to entertain mystic ideas. Even in the midst of 

 his scientific labours he was engaged in making a com- 

 mentary on the Apocalypse. After having all his life 

 enjoyed perfect health, he died from stone in the bladder 

 after twenty days of the most intense suffering ; but 

 although the perspiration often stood on his brow from 

 the torture which he endured, he was never heard 

 to utter a complaint, nor was his serenity of mind 

 disturbed. 



NOTE VII. 



Linnaeus, who was born at Roeshult in 1707, and died 

 at Upsala in 1778, was one of those rare geniuses from 

 whom we date a new era in science. Like all men who 

 feel themselves called to some definite vocation, but who 

 are prevented in early life from following the bent 

 of their own inclinations, his youth was one of trouble 

 and privation. His father, who was a poor Protestant 

 clergyman, and who destined his son to succeed him in 



* [Sir David Brewster makes Newton's fortune even larger than 

 the sum mentioned by De Quatrefages, namely, 32,000/. See his 

 Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton, vol. ii. p. 396.] 

 X 2 



