Letter from Newton to an unknown recipient regarding an assay of ore

Author: Isaac Newton

Source: Ms. 361(2), f. 18v, New College Library, Oxford, UK

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  - 31 January 2020
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May it please your Lordship I have procured an assay to be made of the Oar which your Lordship sent to me, & send you inclosed the Report of the Assayer. He found neither silver nor Lead nor any other metal in the Oar: but in assaying it some part of it evaporated in a sulphureous fume & the rest became a cinder without yeilding any metall. He tells me that if he had had a sufficient quantity of Oar he would have made two or more assays. For a single Assay is scarce sufficient to ground a report upon by reason of unforeseen accidents. & the different natures of Oares. He tells me also that the Oare which I gave him was scarce sufficient to make a single assay: & that to enable him to make a Report with assurance, there should have been a pound of oar or at the least half a pound, & that if I can help him to any more of the Oar he will repeat the Assay. I am
My Lord
your Lordships most humble & most obedient Servant

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

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