j cess until August, 1848. Having a fondness for the natural sciences. Dr. Newton gave his attention early in life to mineralogy and geology; and, availing himself of the opportunities he had to collect specimens in these
j departments, he gathered one of the largest and most
I valuable private cabinets in the land. In 1857 he pre- sented this cabinet of about ten thousand specimens to the theological seminary in Andover, Mass., and there spent the summer months of several successive seasons in arranging and preparing a catalogue. He afterwards gave his library of about one thousand volumes to Mid- dlebury College. In 1860 he returned to JMarlborough, Yt. ; and, finding his former parish destitute of the Word of life, he consented to occupy the pulpit for a time, while at the same time he engaged in gathering materials for a history of that township. In 1862 he was elected to represent that people in the Legislature of Yermont. While in the discharge of his duties there he was at- tacked with a severe sickness, from which he never fully recovered. During 1863 and 1864 he was the acting pas- tor at Wilmington, Yt., and labored there until his death, Oct. 26, 1864. Dr. Newton was tall in person, dignified in appearance, and genial in manner. As a preacher he was jilain and scriptural. His sermons were models of system and Scri[)ture illustration. He was always a man of great industry, and, apart from the duties of the ministry, he devoted much of his time to the cause of education, and to every interest designed to benefit the community in which he lived. He took a great interest in agricultural matters, and introduced many beneficial changes in the mode of farming, especially in sheep- raising. He contributed many articles for jiuhlication in the agricultural journals, and at the time of his death was president of the Washington County Agricultural Society, He excelled in the natural sciences. He de- livered several sermons on the first chapter of (Jenesis, ui which he lUspIayed great ability in reconciling geol-
NEWTON
31
NEWTON
ogy with revelation. See Wilson, Presh. Hist. A Imanac, 18G5, p. 108. (J. L. S.)
Ne'wton, George, a Puritan preacher, flourished near the middle of the 17th century at London. In 1655 he was ininister of St. Mary's at Taunton, and later was the pastor of a nonconforming congregation, when, in 166"2, this good man, "a noted gospeller" and remarkable for his missionary zeal, was displaced for a minister of cavalier sympathy. We know but little else of George Newton. He died near the close of the 17th century. See Stanford, Life of Joseph Colleine, p. 200; Stoiighton, Eccks. Hist, of Eng. {Ch, of the Restoration^, i, 274 : ii, 494.
Newton, Sir Isaac, the great English philoso- pher, noted for his unrivalled attainments in mathe- matics and natural science, and his many discoveries of the laws of nature, figures conspicuously also in the de- partment of metaphysics, and even in theology. In- deed he was as great a writer in the last-named lield as his generation produced, and thougli not always in strict accordance with the most conservative Christian ortho- doxy, he shone especially as a worthy example of Chris- tian life, and, notwithstanding a most unfaltering in- quiry into nature's law, stood fast always in his faith in the Holy Scriptures, which he made as much the subject of study as any field of science to the development of which he devoted himself. Newton was born at Wools- thorpe, Lincolnshire, Dec. 25, 1G42. Tliat j-ear was re-
Birthplace of Newton.
markable in English history for the breaking out of the civil war between Charles I and the Parliament, and is notable in the history of science, too, by tlie birth of this afterwards so wonderful and many-sided man. It is remarkable also as the year in which (ialileo died. Newton's father, who was proprietor and farmer of Woolsthorpe Manor, had died a few months before Isaac's birth ; and it is said also that Isaac came into the world prematurely, and was so small at his birth that "they miglit have put him into a quart mug," but he gradually attained size and strength, destined to enjoy a vigorous manhood, and to survive even the average term of life. Three j'ears after his birth his mother married again, and in consequence of this marriage Newton was left under the care of his grandmother, and was sent at the usual age to the day school at Skiliing- ton and Stoke. At the age of twelve he went to the public school of Grantham, where he was boarded with Mr. Clark, the apothecarj^ Here he was at first very inattentive to his studies, and was low in the school till a quarrel with a boy above him in the class, who had used him ill, led him to diligence in his lessons, and he rose above his rival, and reached the head of the class. During his leisure hours he occupied himself with all sorts of mechanical contrivances, windmills, water-clocks, carriages, and paper kites ; and among his early tastes
may be mentioned his love for drawing and writing verses, in neither of which he was destined to excel. On the death of his stepfather in 1G56, his mother came to reside at Woolsthorpe with her three children and Isaac, who was now in his fifteenth year. He was re- called from school to assist in the management of the farm. Accordingly ou market-days he was sent to Grantham, accompanied by an aged domestic, either to dispose of farm produce, or to purchase such things as were needed by the family. But on these occasioiis it more frequently happened that Isaac stopped by the way-side, watching the motions of a water-wheel, or some other piece of machinery; or, if he reached the town of Grantham, it was only to resort to tlie apothe- cary's garret in which he had resided while he attended the grammar school, and where a few old books afforded him ample entertainment until his trusty companion summoned him to return home. On one occasion, hav- ing been sent to market with corn and other products of the farm, young Newton left the sale of his goods to a servant, while he himself retired to a hay -loft at an inn in Grantham, to ruminate over the problems of Euclid and the laws of Kepler, in which situation his uncle happened to find him,probablj' meditating discov- eries of his own which should eclipse the glory of his predecessors. These and other instances having shown the inutility of thwarting his studious disposition, he was shortly after sent back to Grantham school. How long he remained at school this second time does not appear, but when he had attained his seventeenth j'ear it was determined to send him to Trinity College, Cam- bridge, at the recommendation of his uncle, the Rev. W. Ayscough, who had been himself educated there. Isaac's matriculation took place on June 5, 1660, the year in which Dr. Barrow was appointed to the Greek profess- orship. This learned man became young Newton's most trusted friend and adviser, and no doubt stimulat- ed the earnest student to the closest application to his books. Newton especially devoted himself to the study of mathematics, and attained a great proficiency. In 1G6J he took the degree of bachelor of arts; but the fol- lowing year he was obliged to remove from Cambridge on account of the plague. This temporary interruption of his studies is most singularly connected with one of his most important discoveries; for in his retirement, sitting alone one day in his garden, the accidental ob- servation of some apples falling from a tree excited in his mind a train of reflection on the cause of so simple a