6 ms·

Newton Papers: Newton's Waste Book

84 points by poindontcare 10y ago

arcanus 10y ago
Anyone catch a reference to alchemy? I saw some doodles around page 100 but most of the text is hard to read.
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  He was definitely a firm believer in it, so no surprise there.
- CamDigLib 10y ago
  There's plenty more about Newton's work on alchemy here: http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/ http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/ Hi lab notebook is also great if you're intereted in the chemistry side of things! http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/1 http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/1 He even includes his own ink recipe here!: http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/29 http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/29
CamperBob2 10y ago
A usable .PDF would sure be nice.
- phaus 10y ago
  The site says they are working on transcribing it.
  - CamDigLib 10y ago
    The transcriptions are being prepared by the Newton Project (see http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=1 http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=1) The waste book has been transcribed: http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/catalogue/record/NATP00176 http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/catalogue/record/NATP0... But this is quite a complex manuscript, so in this specific case we are still working on tie-ing the transcription and images together!
B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago
Details are not given about size and weight, but it does look like a rather large, thick book ["Extent: 2181 ff. approx.", albeit with "a complex foliation (numbering)"] Can't help being reminded of the old NYT Sunday newspaper joke - for the man smart enough to read it, and athletic enough to carry it ...
fchopin 10y ago
What is the purpose of the drawings of hands, e.g. pg. 61?
- CamDigLib 10y ago
  They are manicules, a punctuation mark to indicate a note, see more about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_(typography) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_(typography)
biswaroop 10y ago
Fascinating. It took me a while to realize that the symbol that looks like 4^E is actually 'ye', or 'the'.
- gunn 10y ago
  For anyone curious about 'ye': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)#Middle_and_Early_Modern_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)#Middle_and_Earl...

84 points by poindontcare 10y ago

arcanus 10y ago

Anyone catch a reference to alchemy? I saw some doodles around page 100 but most of the text is hard to read.

Aelinsaar 10y ago
He was definitely a firm believer in it, so no surprise there.
CamDigLib 10y ago
There's plenty more about Newton's work on alchemy here: http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/ http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/ Hi lab notebook is also great if you're intereted in the chemistry side of things! http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/1 http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/1 He even includes his own ink recipe here!: http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/29 http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/29

CamperBob2 10y ago

A usable .PDF would sure be nice.

phaus 10y ago
The site says they are working on transcribing it.
- CamDigLib 10y ago
  The transcriptions are being prepared by the Newton Project (see http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=1 http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=1) The waste book has been transcribed: http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/catalogue/record/NATP00176 http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/catalogue/record/NATP0... But this is quite a complex manuscript, so in this specific case we are still working on tie-ing the transcription and images together!

B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago

Details are not given about size and weight, but it does look like a rather large, thick book ["Extent: 2181 ff. approx.", albeit with "a complex foliation (numbering)"] Can't help being reminded of the old NYT Sunday newspaper joke - for the man smart enough to read it, and athletic enough to carry it ...

fchopin 10y ago

What is the purpose of the drawings of hands, e.g. pg. 61?

CamDigLib 10y ago
They are manicules, a punctuation mark to indicate a note, see more about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_(typography) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_(typography)

biswaroop 10y ago

Fascinating. It took me a while to realize that the symbol that looks like 4^E is actually 'ye', or 'the'.

gunn 10y ago
For anyone curious about 'ye': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)#Middle_and_Early_Modern_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)#Middle_and_Earl...