born at Woolsthorpe, in Lincolnshire. Newton received his early education at the grammar school of Grantham, in the neighborhood of his home, at Woolsthorpe. On June 5, 1661, he left home for Cambridge, where he was admitted as subsizar at Trinity College. On July 8th following he matriculated as sizar of the same college. He immediately applied himself to mathematical studies, and within a very few years not only made himself master of most of the works of value then existing, but had also begun to make some progress in original methods for extending the science. In the years 1665 and 1666 he made many important mathematical inventions and discoveries, including that of the binomial theorem, the method of tangents of Gregory and Clusius, the direct method of fluxions (integral calculus), and the action of gravity on the moon. According to a legend, which, however, is seriously considered by certain authorities, in the year 1665 the fall of an apple, as Newton sat in his garden at Woolsthorpe, suggested the most magnificent of his subsequent discoveries-the law of universal gravitation (q.v.). On his first attempt, how ever, to apply the law, to explain the lunar and planetary motions, he employed an estimate then in use of the radius of the earth, which based on the value of a degree of latitude then prevalent, was so erroneous as to produce a discrepancy between the value of the real force of gravity and that required by theory to explain the motions, and indicated only an approximate verification of his theory. He accordingly abandoned for a number of years the hypothesis for other studies, which consisted chiefly of investigations of the nature of light and the construction of telescopes (q.v.). In 1666 he had acquired a prism, and in 1668 completed his first reflecting telescope, with which he observed Jupiter's satellites. In a variety of ingenious and interesting experiments where a spectrum was produced by sunlight refracted through a prism in a darkened room, he was led to the conclusion that rays of light which differ in color differ also in refrangibility. This discovery enabled him to explain an imperfection of the telescope, which had not till then been accounted for. The indistinctness of the image formed by the objectglass was not necessarily due to any imperfection of its form, but to the fact of the different colored rays of light being brought to a focus at different distances. He concluded rightly that it was impossible for an object-glass consisting of a single lens to produce a distinct image. He went further, and too hastily concluding, from a single experiment, that the dispersive power of different substances was proportional to their refractive power, he pronounced it impossible to produce a perfect image by a combination of lenses. This conclusion-since proved erroneous by the invention of the achromatic telescope by Chester More Hall, about 1729, and afterwards, independently, by Dolland (q.v.) in 1751-turned Newton's attention to the construction of reflecting telescopes; and the form devised by him is the one which, at later periods, proved so useful in astronomical researches.

It was on January 11, 1672, that Newton was elected a member of the Royal Society, having become known to that body from his reflecting telescopes, and a month later his famous paper on a "New Theory About Light and Color" was

read before that body, in which he states that "Light consists of rays differently refrangible" and that "Colors are not qualifications of light derived from refractions or natural bodies, as is generally believed, but original and connate properties which in divers rays are divers." He also said that "White light is ever compounded and to its composition are requisite all the aforesaid primary colors mixed in proper proportion." In 1675 Newton communicated to the Royal Society a paper on light and color, which contained an explanation of the production of colors by thin plates or films, and in which were given the results of the first measurements of the colored rings now known as Newton's rings (q.v.). Newton formulated the emission theory of light from hypotheses previously advanced by Descartes, and a complete exposition of that theory was the result. All of Newton's investigations in light and color were collected into a work with the title of Optics, published in 1704. The development of the theory was accomplished by rigid dynamical reasoning, and the explanations of reflection, refraction, diffraction, and the colors of thin plates were made on the basis that light consisted of luminous corpuscles sent out from the light-giving body. This theory, while it did not survive the work of Young and Fresnel, nevertheless had more points in common with the undulatory theory than is generally supposed (Optics, book ii., part iii., prop. XII.). At what period Newton resumed his calculations about gravitation, employing the more correct measure of the earth obtained by Picard in 1670, does not clearly appear; but it was in the year 1684 that it became known to Halley that he was in possession of the whole theory and its demonstration. It was on the urgent solicitation of Halley that he was induced to commit to a systematic treatise these principles and their demonstrations. The principal results of his discoveries were set down in a treatise called De Motu Corporum, and were afterwards more completely unfolded in the great work entitled Philosophic Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which was finally published about midsummer, 1687.

Shortly before the Principia was given to the public, Newton, who since 1669 had occupied the Lucasian chair at Cambridge, was called to take an active part in defending the rights of the university against the illegal encroachments of James II. The conspicuous part which he had taken on that occasion procured him a seat in the Convention Parliament, in which he sat from January, 1689, to its dissolution in 1690. In 1696 he was appointed warden of the mint, and in 1699 was promoted to the office of master of the mint, an office which he held till the end of his life. He again took a seat in Parliament in the year 1701, as the representative of his university. Thus engaged in the public service, he had little time left for mere scientific studies

pursuits which he always held of secondary importance to the public duties in which he was engaged. In the interval of public duty, however, Newton showed that he still retained the scientific power by which his great discoveries had been made. He was president of the Royal Society from 1703 till his death, a period of twenty-four years, being each year reëlected. In this position, and enjoying the confidence of Prince George of Denmark, he did much toward the advancement of science; and one of his most

important works during this time was the superintendence of the publication of Flamsteed's Greenwich Observations—a task, however, not accomplished without much controversy and some bitterness between himself and that astronomer. The controversy between Newton and Leibnitz, as to priority of discovery of the differential calculus, or the method of fluxions, was raised rather through the partisanship of jealous friends than through the anxiety of the philosophers themselves, who were, however, induced to enter into and carry on the dispute with some degree of bitterness and mutual recrimination. The details of these controversies, with all other information of the life of this philosopher, will be found admirably collected in the biography by Brewster, who wrote, not only with an intimate acquaintance with Newton's works, but in possession of all the materials collected in the hands of his family. Newton died on March 20, 1727, and his remains received a resting-place in Westminster Abbey, where a monument was erected to his memory in 1731. A magnificent full-length statue of the philosopher, executed by Roubilliac, was erected in 1755 in the antechapel of Trinity College, Cambridge. This work was assisted by a cast of the face taken after death, which is preserved in the University Library at Cambridge. In 1699 Newton was elected a foreign associate of the Academy of Sciences, and in 1705 he received the honor of knighthood from Queen Anne. Among the best editions of Newton's principal works are the quarto edition of the Optics (London, 1704), and the quarto edition of the Principia, published at Cambridge, England, in 1713. Consult: Brewster, Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (London, 1855-60); Pemberton, View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy (ib., 1728); Ball, History of Mathematics (ib., 1893); id., Essay on Newton's Principia (ib., 1893); and Glazebrook, in the _Dictionary of National Biography, xl.

(New York, 1894).

NEWTON, JOHN (1622-78). An English mathematician and astronomer, born at Oundle, Northamptonshire. He studied at Oxford and remained loyal to the King under Cromwell. Newton was something of an educational reformer, urged intelligent instruction in mathematics, and wrote text-books on arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, logic, and rhetoric. But his most important labors were for the facilitation of the decimal system and of logarithms. His Institutio Mathematica, with its logarithmic tables and descriptions of applications to astronomy, dialing, and navigation (1654), is one of the earliest books of its kind in English.

NEWTON, JOHN (1725-1807). A Church of England divine. He was born in London, July 24, 1725, son of a sea-captain. After a little time at a boarding-school in Essex, he went to sea with his father at the age of eleven. During the next six years he made other voyages with his father and adopted infidel opinions. He became midshipman on a man-of-war, but deserted, was caught, flogged, and degraded. In 1745 he set sail for India as a common sailor, and was landed penniless on the African coast near Sierra Leone. In 1747 an English captain, arriving at Sierra Leone with a request from his father to look out for him, rescued him from

a most degraded condition, and took him home. On the voyage during a storm he became converted, and thenceforth was a changed man. Soon afterwards he was appointed commander of an African slaver, and for four years continued in the slave trade, the cruelties of which afterwards he labored earnestly to expose. In 1754 a sudden attack of sickness led him to abandon a seafaring life, and from 1775 to 1760 he was tide-surveyor at Liverpool. At this time he studied Greek and Hebrew, and the best theological works in Latin, French, and English. In 1764 he was ordained and appointed curate of the parish of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he remained sixteen years. He entered heartily into the religious work and views of Wesley and Whitefield. At Olney he published in 1764 An Authentic Narrative of Some Remarkable and Interesting Particulars in the Life of the Rev. John Newton. Here, too, he formed an intimate friendship with Cowper, and in connection with him produced the Olney Hymns (1779). Most of them were written by himself for the use of his congregation. In 1780 he became rector of the united parishes of Saint Mary Woolnoth and Saint Mary Woolchurch, Lombard Street, London, where he remained till his death, in London, December 21, 1807. His works, besides those already mentioned, were a Review of Ecclesiastical History (1770); Omicron's Letters (1774); Cardiphonia, or the Utterances of the Heart (1781); Messiah: Fifty Discourses on the Scriptural Passages of the Oratorio of Handel (1786); and numerous sermons, discourses, tracts, and letters. His collected works were edited with memoir by Cecil (London, 1808). Consult, also, the memoir by Bickersteth (ib., 1843).

military and civil engineer and soldier. He was NEWTON, JOHN (1823-95). An American born in Virginia and was educated at West Point, receiving a commission in the Corps of Engineers on his graduation in 1842. After serving as assistant professor of engineering at the United States Military Academy for three years, he was occupied with the construction of fortifications and river and harbor improvement on the Atlantic coast. During the Civil War, after receiving the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, he was summoned to assist in constructing the defenses of Washington. He took part in the battles of Gaines's Mill, Glendale, South Mountain, and Antietam, and in command of a division he was present at Fredericksburg, at Salem, and at Gettysburg. In the invasion of Georgia he led a division of the Army of the Cumberland through all the engagements preceding the capture of Atlanta, and March 13, 1865, he was made brevet major in the United States war he Army. After the was occupied in in removing the obstacles to navigation at Hell strengthening the defenses of New York Harbor, Gate (q.v.) and other portions of the East River, in harbor improvements at Lake Champlain, and New York Harbor. June 30, 1879, he attained the rank of colonel in the corps of engineers; in 1884 was made brigadier-general and chief of engineers; retired in 1886. He was 88, a position which he resigned to become presicommissioner of public works, New York City, 1887dent of the Panama Railroad Company in 1888. NEWTON, RICHARD HEBER HEBER (1840—). clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

A

He was born in Philadelphia. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Divinity School, and was ordained in 1862. From 1869 to 1902 he was rector of All Souls' Church in New York City, and in the latter year accepted the position of chaplain at Leland Stanford, Jr., University at Palo Alto, Cal. He belongs to the 'broad church' party and has won distinction for his advocacy of liberal ideas. He has published: Studies of Jesus (1881); Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible (1883); The Book of the Beginnings (1884); Philistinism (1885); Social Studies (1887); (1887); Church and Creed (1891); Christian Science (1898).

NEWTON-AB’BOT. A market-town in Devonshire, England, on the Teign estuary at the mouth of the Lemon, 15 miles south of Exeter (Map: England, C 6). It has railway works, a shipping trade, and considerable commerce in agricultural produce and cattle. Its principal industry is the manufacture of ornamental pot tery from china clay and potter's clay, found in the neighborhood. Lignite and tin ore are mined. It has some interesting old buildings, a town hall, and municipal markets. In the vicinity are important remains of a Roman encampment. Charles I. lodged at Newton Abbot during his western campaign, and here William III. was first proclaimed King in 1688. Population,

in 1891, 11,000; in 1901, 12,500.

NEWTON-IN-MAKERFIELD, mak'er-feld, or NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS. A manufacturing town in Lancashire, England, 15 miles west of Manchester (Map: England, D 3). The chief industries are paper-making, printing, sugar refining, railway wagon manufacturing, and coal-mining. It has a town hall, mechanics' institute, and grammar school. There is a beautiful lake in the town called Newton Mere, which is covered, during the summer months, with the pleasure-boats of the residents. Horse-races are held here in June, and horse and cattle fairs in May and August annually. The barony belonged to Edward the Confessor. Population, in 1891, 12,861; in 1901, 16,699.

NEWTON'S RINGS. The colored rings seen when a thin film of air or other substance intervenes between the surfaces of two plates of glass. This phenomenon is named from its discoverer, Sir Isaac Newton, who in his work on Optics describes how he took a plano-convex lens designed for a fourteen-foot telescope and placed it with its plane side downward on top of a double convex lens constructed for a telescope of about fifty feet in length. On slowly pressing the upper lens against the lower, a number of concentric rings having the point of contact of the lenses as their centre appeared, increasing in size as the pressure was increased. This arrangement of a lens and plane surface is often employed in performing the experiment, and the thickness of the film and the wave lengths of the different kinds of lights can be ascertained. The effect is due to the interference (q.v.) of the waves of light reflected from the upper and lower surfaces of the thin film of air, which from nothing at the point of contact gradually increases in thickness with the distance from the centre. If light of one color, or, speaking more scientifically, of a single wave length, is used, the rings will be alternately bright and dark, the bright waves being produced by the

combination of the various waves caused by interference and overlapping. Therefore the colors of Newton's rings are not pure spectral colors, though they are extremely brilliant and varied. In the centre, where the glass surfaces are in contact, there is a dark spot, and as the air film begins to have an appreciable thickness the rings are formed. They were divided by Newton into a series of orders, seven in number, though usually not more than four or five are seen. The colors of the first order, from the central black circle outward, are gray, whitish, straw color, orange, brick-red, and dark purple, the last color corresponding to a thickness of the film of .000011 of an inch or .00028 of a millimeter. In the second order we have the purest colors, which run through a succession of violet, blue, peacock, yellow, orange, red, and violet, the thickness of the air film in the last instance amounting to .000022 of an inch or orders we also have a succession of colors; in .00055 of a millimeter; in the third and fourth the fifth we have pale green, pale rose, and rose; in the sixth, pale peacock, and pale rose and rose; and in the seventh, pale green and rose. limeter the color appears as pale green, and is When the thickness of the film reaches .001 milincluded in the fourth order, but from this point the colors begin to fade and disappear.

By

means of these rings we are enabled to measure the distance between two transparent surfaces which are in seeming contact. In case the light passes through the plates instead of being reflected, the colors are reversed, and we have the rings formed with the complementary colors. See LIGHT, sections Interference and Diffraction. Consult: Thompson, Light Visible and Invisible; Preston, Theory of Light (New York, 1894). NEWTON

THEOLOGICAL INSTITU

TION. A divinity school at Newton Centre, Mass., founded in 1825, under the supervision of the Baptist churches of New England, but open to members of any Christian denomination. * It has a three years' course leading to the degree of bachelor of divinity. In 1902 there were 8 instructors and 61 students. The buildings, eight in number, are valued with the grounds at $400,000. The institution has a library of 24,000 volumes, an endowment of $800,000, and property estimated at $1,300,000.

NEW TOWN. Formerly a town in Queens County, N. Y., since 1898 included in the Borough of Queens, New York City (q.v.) (Map: New York City, G 6). Newtown was founded by New Englanders in 1652, and was known as Middleburgh until 1664, when it came under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, and was renamed Hastings. It received its present name and became part of New York in 1665. During the Revolution it was occupied for some time by British troops. Consult J. Riker, Jr., The Annals of Newtown (New York, 1852).

NEWTOWNARDS, nu'ton-ärdz'. A town in county Down, Ireland, 13 miles by rail from Belfast, on Lough Strangford (Map: Ireland, F 2). It has many interesting ruins, notably those of the Old Parish Church. For a hundred years the manufacture of linen goods has been the most important industry. Newtownards was chartered as a borough by James I. Population, in 1901, 9110.