282 HUBEKT ANSON NEWTON. 



in the investigation of the concrete phenomena of nature as they 

 exist in space and time. 



But these papers show more than the type of mind of the author ; 

 they give no uncertain testimony concerning the character of the 

 man. In all these papers we see a love of honest work, an aversion 

 to shams, a distrust of rash generalizations and speculations based 

 on uncertain premises. He was never anxious to add one more 

 guess on doubtful matters in the hope of hitting the truth, or what 

 might pass as such for a time, but was always willing to take 

 infinite pains in the most careful test of every theory. To these 

 qualities was joined a modesty which forbade the pushing of his 

 own claims, and desired no reputation except the unsought tribute 

 of competent judges. At the close of his article on meteors in the 

 Encyclopaedia Britannica, which has not the least reference to himself 

 as a contributor to the science, he remarks that "meteoric science 

 is a structure built stone by stone by many builders." We may 

 add that no one has done more than himself to establish the 

 foundations of the science, and that the stones which he has laid 

 are not likely to need relaying. 



The value of Professor Newton's work has been recognized by 

 learned societies and institutions both at home and abroad. He 

 received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University 

 of Michigan in 1868. He was president of the section of Mathematics 

 and Astronomy in the American Association for the Advancement 

 in Science in 1875, and president of the Association in 1885. On 

 the first occasion he delivered an address entitled " A plea for the 

 study of pure Mathematics " ; on the second the address on Meteorites, 

 etc., which we have already mentioned. Of the American Mathe- 

 matical Society he was vice-president at the time of his death. 

 In 1888 the J. Lawrence Smith gold medal was awarded to him 

 by the National Academy for his investigations on the orbits of 

 meteoroids. We may quote a sentence or two from his reply to 

 the address of presentation, so characteristic are they of the man 

 that uttered them : " To discover some new truth in nature," he 

 said, " even though it concerns the small things in the world, gives 

 one of the purest pleasures in human experience. It gives joy to 

 tell others of the treasure found." 



Besides the various learned societies in our own country of which 

 he was a member, including the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences from 1862, the National Academy of Sciences from its 

 foundation in 1863, the American Philosophical Society from 1867, 

 he was elected in 1872 Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 of London, in 1886 Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 

 and in 1892 Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London. 



