<1r>

I have heard that it is a custom in the Austrian family to teach all the Princes some manual trade, & it is well known the Great Czar for some time in a manner abdicated an Empire to learn Mechanicks, but without discussing wether it be necessary for Kings to have Philosophical hands as well as minds it will be allowed to be a true saying of a late Excellent author (who in more instances than one seemed to prophecy & foretell the productions of Sir I. N.) that Philosophy would then attain to perfection when either Mechanick labourers should have Philosophical heads or Philosophers haue mechanical hands – Happy was it |  It was a providential idleness – or it was nothing less than idleness in Sir I. that Sir I. thus exercised at once his body & his mind & his hands as well as his thoughts – As the operations of |  exercise of the faculties of the soul depends on the the body, & they are lively & vigorous or weak & faint according to the condition of the machine by which they act | those mechanical <1v> the Philosophical productions of the mind are in a great  |  improved & advanced by ready operations of the hands, & Sir I. had never carried his intellectual discoveries so far if by an early habit & constant exercise he had not acquired a manual dexterity to execute & perform those experiments his invention & sagacity contrived, & in which others of great fame & note were hardly able to follow him even after he had instructed them

if he had not thus from his childhood exercised at once his body & his mind & his hands as well as his thoughts & by an early use & habit acquired so wonderfull a dexterity in executing those experiments his invention contrived that others of no small note were hardly able to follow him even after he had chalked out the way for them

<2r>

<2v> <3r>

Vide Guardian —

This to come in where I give an account of Sir Isaac's dexterity in experiments

Like the Musician who must have a dexterity in his fingers to execute as well as a fancy to compose

<3v>

It is said to be a custom for all the Princes of the House of Austria to make themselves Masters of some manual trade |  handicraft, & it is well known the Great Czar in a manner abdicated an Empire for some years to learn mechanicks, but without discussing wether it be as necessary for Kings to have Philosophical hands as Plato thought it was to haue Philosophical minds it must be owned the person I am now treating of |  Sir Isaac Newton made good that saying of a late Excellent Author – That Philosophy would then attain to perfection when either mechanick labourers should have Philosophical heads or Philosophers mechanical hands. As the soul is influenced in the exercise of it's faculties by the disposition of the body, the Philosophical productions of the mind are advanced & improved by an expert & ready cooperation of the corporeal organs. Sir I. N. could not have carried his intellectual discoveries so far if he had not from his childhood thus exercised his hands as well as his thoughts |  head & by an early use & habit acquired a dexterity in executing experiments as wonderfull as his invention in contriving them & in which Hugens & Mariotte and others of no small note who sett out in the same road , were hardly able to follow him even after he had trod & pointed out the way | a path | a track for them

<4r>

Mr Machin said to Sir I. N when courses of experiments were first in vogue what a pity it was that when people had a demonstration by Geometry they should trust to their senses which might be deceived, upon which Sir <4v> Isaac said he had first proved his inuentions by Geometry & only made use of experiments to make them intelligible & to convince the vulgar What Machin meant by having a demonstration was that a Geometer knows the power of the Lever & the pully & can demonstrate it without seeing the Lever or the pully knows by the laws of motion they must operate in such & such a manner

a fine razor though best for cutting a hair is easily turned & broke but a hatchet or wedge will go through much more proper for hewing or splitting a knotty piece of timber Tillottson – p. 423 – Memorandum Sir I had the acuteness of the razour & the strength of the Hatchet – peirce like lightning not turn the edge persevere go through – thought & patience –

© 2024 The Newton Project

Professor Rob Iliffe
Director, AHRC Newton Papers Project

Scott Mandelbrote,
Fellow & Perne librarian, Peterhouse, Cambridge

Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL - newtonproject@history.ox.ac.uk

Privacy Statement

  • University of Oxford
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council
  • JISC