with a dissertation on the sacred cubit of the Jews, which was printed in 1737; and four letters addressed to Bentley, containing some arguments in proof of a Deity, which were published by Cumberland, a nephew of Bentley, in 1756. Sir Isaac also left a Church History complete, a History of the Creation, Paradoxical Questions regarding Athanasius, and many divinity tracts.
Newton devoted much of his time to the study of chemistry; but the greater number of his experiments still remain in manuscript. His Tabula Quantitatum et Graduum Caloris contains a comparative scale of temperature from that of melting ice to that of a small kitchen fire. He wrote also another chemical paper De Natura Acidorum, which has been published by Dr Horsley. Sir Isaac spent much time in the study of the works of the alchemists. He had diligently studied the works of Jacob Boehme, and there were found amongst his manuscripts copious abstracts from them in his own handwriting. In the earlier part of his life he and his relation Dr Newton of Grantham had put up furnaces, and had wrought for several months in quest of the philosopher’s tincture. Among the manuscripts in the possession of the earl of Portsmouth there are many sheets in Sir Isaac’s hand of Flamsteed’s Explication of Hieroglyphic Figures, and in another hand many sheets of William Yworth’s Processus Mysterii Magni Philosophicus.
In the last few years of his life Newton was troubled with incontinence of urine, which was supposed to be due to stone; but with care he kept the disease under control. In January 1725 he was seized with a violent cough and inflammation of the lungs, which induced him to reside at Kensington; and in the following month he had a severe attack of gout, which produced a decided improvement in his general health. His duties at the mint were discharged by John Conduitt, and he therefore seldom went from home. On the 28th of February 1727, feeling well, he went to London to preside at a meeting of the Royal Society; but the fatigue which attended this duty brought on a violent return of his former complaint, and he returned to Kensington on the 4th of March, when Dr Mead and Dr Chesselden pronounced his disease to be stone. He endured the sufferings of this complaint with wonderful patience. He seemed a little better on the 15th of March, and on the 18th he read the newspapers and conversed with Dr Mead; but at 6 o’clock in the evening he became insensible, and continued in that state till Monday the 20th of March 1727, when he expired without pain between one and two o’clock in the morning. His body was removed to London, and on Tuesday the 28th of March it lay in state in the Jerusalem Chamber, and was thence conveyed to Westminster Abbey, where it was buried.
Authorities.—Commercium Epistolicum D. Johannis Collins et aliorum de analysi promota: jussu Societatis Regiae in lucem editum, &c. (1712; 2nd ed., 1722); H. Pemberton, A View of Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy (1728); Colin Maclaurin, Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophical Discoveries (1775); F. Baily, An Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed, the First Astronomer-Royal, &c. (1835); W. Whewell’s History of the Inductive Sciences (1837); S. P. Rigaud, Historical Essay on the First Publication of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia (1838); Edleston, Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes, &c. (1850); Sir D. Brewster, Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (1855; new ed. 1893); Lord Brougham and Routh’s Analytical View of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia (1855); S. P. Rigaud, Correspondence of Scientific Men of the 17th Century, &c., from the Originals in the Collection of the Earl of Macclesfield (1841); J. Raphson, History of Fluxions, showing in a compendious manner the First Rise of and Various Improvements made in that Incomparable Method (1715); W. W. R. Ball, Essay on Newton’s Principia (1893). A complete bibliography of Newton’s writings has been given by G. J. Gray (Cambridge, 1880). The collected works of Newton were published in 1779–1785 by Dr Samuel Horsley, F.R.S., under the title Isaaci Newtoni Opera quae exstant Omnia. (H. M. T.)
NEWTON, JOHN (1725–1807), English divine, was born in
London on the 24th of July 1725 (O.S.). His father, who for a
long time was master of a ship in the Mediterranean trade,
became in 1748 governor of York Fort, Hudson Bay, where
he died in 1751. The lad had little education and served on his
father’s ship from 1737 to 1742; shortly afterwards he was
impressed on board a man-of-war, the “Harwich,” where he
was made a midshipman. For an attempt to escape while his
ship lay off Plymouth he was degraded, and treated with so
much severity that he gladly exchanged into an African trader.
He made many voyages as mate and then as master on
slave-trading ships, devoting his leisure to the improvement of his
education. The state of his health and perhaps a growing
distaste for the slave trade led him to quit the sea in 1755, when
he was appointed tide-surveyor at Liverpool. He began to
study Greek and Hebrew, and in 1758 applied to the archbishop
of York for ordination. This was refused him, but, having had
the curacy of Olney offered to him in April 1764 he was ordained
by the bishop of Lincoln. In October 1767 William Cowper
settled in the parish. An intimate friendship sprang up between
the two men, and they published together the Olney Hymns
(1779). In 1779 Newton left Olney to become rector of St Mary
Woolnoth, London, where he laboured with unceasing
diligence and great popularity till his death on the 31st of
December 1807.
Like Cowper, Newton held Calvinistic views, although his evangelical fervour allied him closely with the sentiments of Wesley and the Methodists. His fame rests on certain of the Olney Hymns (e.g. “Glorious things of Thee are spoken,” “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,” “One there is above all others,”) remarkable for vigour, simplicity and directness of devotional utterance.
His prose works include an Authentic Narrative of some Interesting and Remarkable Particulars in the Life of John Newton (1764), a volume of Sermons (1767), Omicron (a series of letters on religion, 1774), Review of Ecclesiastical History (1769) and Cardiphonia (1781). This last was a further selection of religious correspondence, which did much to help the Evangelical revival. Thomas Scott, William Wilberforce, Charles Simeon, William Jay and Hannah More all came under his direct influence. His Letters to a Wife (1793) and Letters to Rev. W. Bull (posthumous, 1847) illustrate the frankness with which he exposed his most intimate personal experiences. A Life of Newton by Richard Cecil was prefixed to a collected edition of his works (6 vols., 1808; 1 vol. 1827). See also T. Wright, The Town of Cowper.
NEWTON, JOHN (1823–1895), American general and engineer, was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on the 24th of August 1823, and graduated second in his class at the U.S. Military Academy in 1842. From 1842 to 1861 he was engaged in the construction of coast defences and the improvement of waterways; he was assistant professor of engineering in the Military Academy from 1843 to 1846, became a captain in 1856, and took part as chief engineer in the Utah expedition of 1857–1858. He served as an engineer in the Virginian campaign of 1861, and was promoted brigadier-general, U.S.V., in September. He especially distinguished himself in the Seven Days’ battle and at Antietam, and after the battle of Fredericksburg was made major-general, U.S.V. In the Chancellorsville campaign Newton took part in the storming of Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg, on the 3rd of May 1863, and at the battle of Gettysburg he was for a time in command of the I. Corps. He had already received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel for his services at Antietam, and he now became brevet colonel for his services at Gettysburg. Later he was transferred to Sherman’s army, and as a division commander under General Oliver O. Howard took part in the Atlanta campaign. For gallant conduct at Peach Tree Creek he was made brevet brigadier-general, and at the close of the war was made brevet major-general, U.S.A. Returning to regular engineering duty after the war, he was stationed at New York from 1866 to 1884. His most important work there was the improvement of the Hudson river, and especially the removal of the obstructions to shipping in the dangerous entrance to the East river from Long Island Sound, known as Hell Gate. Under two of the largest obstructions—Hallet’s Point and Flood Rock, with a surface of three acres and nine acres respectively shafts were sunk from the shore, and tunnels were bored in every direction. In these tunnels thousands of pounds of explosives were placed, and the rocks were blown into fragments. In March 1884 he became Chief of Engineers, with the rank of brigadier-general, and held this position until his retirement from the army, at his own request, in August 1886. In 1887–1888
