1642-1727

A MEMORIAL VOLUME

EDITED FOR THE

MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION

BY

W. J. GREENSTREET

LONDON

G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.

QA

29 N7

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PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, GLASGOW.

A WORD of explanation as to the genesis of this volume seems to be necessary.

In January, 1926, the Council of the Mathematical Association suggested that the bicentenary of the death of Newton should be commemorated by a special number of the Mathematical Gazette.

The response to the Editor's appeal for contributions was generous and varied. It soon became clear both that the limits of a single number would be far exceeded, and that interest in the material would not be confined to members of the Association. The Council therefore decided to render the book independent, and not to include it among the volumes of the Gazette, even as a volume extra numerum.

The Council, on behalf of the members of the Mathematical Association, tender their heartiest thanks to those who have done so much to make this memorial a notable addition to Newtonian literature.

But while the Council tenders its thanks to all the contributors, there are some of whom special mention must be made for contributing contemporary material.

The late Dr. J. L. E. Dreyer had promised papers (a) on Newton and the Comet of 1680, for which he wrote, "I have the material ready, including some I found in the library of Corpus Christi here some years ago," and (b) on astronomical instruments. The following extract from his daughter's letter to the Editor tells its own story, and it is indeed difficult to find words appropriate to an occasion of such pathos and revealing so high an appreciation of the sanctity of a promise. Mrs. Shaw-Hamilton wrote (Sept. 1):

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'... His illness has taken a very serious turn, and he has now only a very short time to live. He asks me to write and tell you this, and how very much he regrets that after all he will not be able to write on the subjects he had arranged with you to undertake. He asks me to send you . . . copies of letters from Newton to Flamsteed, from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and to say how much he hopes that good use will be made of them." A few days later he had passed away.

The Council must also acknowledge the courtesy of the Trustees of the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, for allowing Prof. David

Eugene Smith to make use, for the purposes of this memorial, of a note-book kept by Newton as a young man.

Prof. D. E. Smith undertook the toil of deciphering the contents, and provided us with reproductions from its pages. It may be thought that the contents of the note-book are hardly mathematical enough to find a place in the Gazette. But this is a Newton number. The existence of the note-book is almost unknown. And now it is possible, and for this we express our warmest thanks to Prof. D. E. Smith, for the first time to publish material telling something of Newton and his interests when on the threshold of his manhood. Nor must we omit to refer to the fine feeling shown by Prof. D. E. Smith in offering to the Gazette the fruit of his labours:

"It is entirely proper that all Newtoniana should be published in England first, in case this can be done.'

To Mr. D. C. Fraser their thanks are tendered for his researches in the Newton MSS. in the possession of Trinity College, Cambridge, the outcome of which will be read in his able paper on "Interpolation.'

The thanks of the Council are also due to Prof. H. F. Baker, F.R.S., the fortunate possessor of an engraving of a Newton portrait, elsewhere described as the most noteworthy of all the portraits for "real humanity." The reproduction of this engraving forms our frontispiece.

The reproduction of the Abbey Tomb was secured by the skill of our printers from photography especially procured by our secretary, Mr. C. Pendlebury.

For the remaining reproductions our readers are indebted to the courtesy of the Grantham Public Library, to the kindness of Messrs. A. J. Tate and J. A. Holden, the Head Master and the Senior Mathematical Master respectively of Newton's old school, the King's School, Grantham, and to Mr. Wilfrid Bond, F.R.I.B.A., of Grantham.

The Council must acknowledge its indebtedness to Messrs. MacLehose & Co. for the courteous readiness with which they have placed their wide experience at the disposal of the Association in the preparation of this volume.

Finally, the Editor must express to Prof. E. H. Neville his gratitude for invaluable assistance rendered, especially during an illness which would otherwise have delayed the appearance of the book.