Lot Essay
This remarkable box was presented by Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) to Lord Paisley, later 7th Earl of Abercorn (1685-1744) and has passed by family descent to the present owner. Both men were Fellows of the Royal Society and indeed it was Newton, as President, who proposed Lord Paisley for election to the society on 10th November 1715 and it is possible that this box was given in celebration of his election. The history and use of this scientific rarity is discussed in detail in Sir David Brewster's two volume biography of Newton, which was published in 1855, where it is illustrated and referred to as 'one of the most interesting and valuable relics of Sir Isaac'.
Lord Paisley was greatly interested in scientfic matters as his fellowship of the Royal Society demonstrates. Papers in the archives of the Society record a correspondence by Lord Paisley on the observation of a comet that appeared in 1723 and moreover the publication of a treatise 'Calculations and Tables relating to the attractive Power of Loadstones' in 1729, shortly after the death of Newton. Paisley was also co-author of 'A Treatise on Harmony, containing the Chief Rules for Composing in Two, Three and Four Parts', with a Dr. Pepusch, which was published in 1730, the second edition appearing in 1731.
Sir Isaac Newton's unrivalled genius for mathematical speculation was apparent almost from his boyhood and he himself declared that for the two years 1665 and 1666, immediately after taking his degree: 'I was in the prime of my age for invention, and minded Mathematics and Philosophy more than at any time since'. It was during this period of great mental activity that, among his discoveries, he began 'to think of gravity extending to the orb of the Moon', but his studies were laid aside and it was nearly twenty years before he was to find agreement in the theory and facts of his calculations. Between 1684 and 1686, with remarkable speed and concentration, Newton extended his earlier thoughts and compeleted the 'Principia', probably published in 1687.
Meanwhile he was much occupied with the theory of light and colours. On 11 January 1672 he was elected to the Royal Society and was admitted as a fellow of the Society on 18 February 1675. However, it appears he was in straightened circumstances and worried about his future, and in spite of being excused the weekly payment of 1s, he expressed a wish to resign. The matter was settled by a patent from the King and his work continued. By the end of 1675 he had produced a 'Discourse about Coulours' to be read at the Royal Society meeting and the collection of his studies in these fields was published in 'Optics' in 1704. It is interesting to note that on the final page of Newton's copy of the second edition of 'Opticks', 1717, where he lists the seven Precepts in his own handwriting, is an heraldic bird almost identical to that which appears on the base of this box. It is possible that this was a badge or motif used by Newton.
In 1696, the year of reform in the Mint, Newton accepted the wardenship and what is known to have been 'a nest of idlers and jobbers' was speedily transformed by the strict uprightness of the philospher. In 1699 he became master of the mint, a member of the council of the Royal Society and a foreign associate of the French Academy. In 1705 he was knighted by Queen Anne on her visit to Cambridge
In 'The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended', published posthumously the year after his death, Newton indicated a manner in which astonomy might be used to verify views on chronolgical points, which were held at that time. These have since been proved,by reference to Babylonian and Egyptian records, to be largely correct. He also produced another chronological work entitled 'Considerations about rectifying the Julian Calendar.'
Shortly before his death in 1727, he is recorded as summing up his life: '...like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me' [Spence, Anecdotes,, p.54]
Sir George Seymour, great-grandson of the 7th Earl of Abercorn, submited the box to two experts in an attempt to decipher its functions. While envoy extraordinary to the Belgian Court, Sir George wrote to the statistician and astronomer Professor Adolphe Quetelet whose letter dated 13 October 1840 went some way to unravel the various tables on the box. A more thorough explanation was offered by the astronomer Otto Struve (1819-1905) in a letter of 13th April 1853. Struve must have examined the box when Sir George was envoy to St. Peterberg from 1851 to 1854. The fuller explanation given by Struve was that used by Brewster in his biography of Newton.
Cover:
The lid of the box bears at the centre a perpetual calendar, giving days of the week corresoponding to each month in the year, and around the edge an Easter table.
The Easter table is in the form of nineteen cartouches, each employed for two years starting from 1700 and running on to 1738 in two cycles of nineteen. Each has three lines of numbers or letters. The year sequence begins with 1700 at the top right:
31:29
Mo+
We
The first line gives the date of Easter, which can fall only on or between 22 March and 25 April. The symbol : indicates March, while A denotes April. So in 1700, Easter day was on 31 March, and in 1719 it was on 29 March.
The second line is used with the central perpetual calendar, and gives the day of the week - see below. The symbol + indicates a leap year. 1700 was a leap year in the Julian Calendar, which was used in England up til 1752, but not in the Gregorian Calendar, which was introduced into Catholic countires in 1582. The second line has numbers in nearly every fourth cartouche where the last two digits of the year are shown. It is easy to interpolate because the years are all in their normal numerical sequence.
The third, or bottom, line gives the Golden Number in every third cartouche. Golden Numbers run from 1 to 19, and here the sequence begins at the bottom left with the symbol of a cross potent. This position is 1; the position before it is 19, the end of the sequence, which then repeats. The Golden Number is used for calculating the date of the paschal Moon, which governs the date of Easter. The lunar and solar cycles repeat after the passing of 19 solar years. In some of the cartouches the bottom line has a spill-over of a day from the second line.
The perpetual calendar in the centre of the lid is laid out for the Old Style year, beginning on 25 March. For the purposes of the table, March is taken as the first month of the year, April the second, and so on, which means that January is the eleventh and February the twelfth month of the year, but in what is the following year by our reckoning. The day of the week shown in the second line of the cartouches is, then, the day of the week for each month according to the position of its number (in roman) above or below the rows of dates. Thus for 1700, Mo signifies Monday, the day of the week on which the 4th of March falls (look up the column above I), and Monday is the 2nd of September (below VII). All the other days of the week follow naturally in sequence. In the cartouches, the symbol + following a day indicates a leap year, with 29 February the extra day.
Base:
The five tables on the bottom of the box are contained in a central rectangle, an upper and a lower oval, and two side panels. The central rectangle shows the time of sunset at the beginning of each month, where the first month of the year in the Old Style, March, is indicated by a roman I. On each month symbol is a small arrow pointing to the hour scale, which is numbered from 4 (winter) to 8 (summer).
Within the upper and lower ovals is the equation of time. The equation of time is the difference betwen the solar time, as shown by a sundial, and mean time, as shown by a clock or watch. The months are denoted here by initial letters: January (I) to July (I) in the upper oval, and August (A) to December (D) in the lower oval. The symbol of the Sun (a face with rays) in four positions indicates that the equation of time is zero at that date. Between the Sun symbols the dates and their corresponding equations. The upper oval is laid out as follows:
Jan 11th 3/4 31st 14 min 46 sec Feb 21st 3/4
Mar 8th 1/2 21st 1/4 April 4th Sun
July 16th 5 min 56 sec
Here the winter maximum difference between a sundial and a clock, 14 minutes 46 seconds, is marked for 31 January. In this region of the table, between a pair of Suns, the clock is faster than the dial. The spring maximum is on 3 May, when the clock is 4 minutes 14 seconds slower than a dial. All the other dates give fractions for the maximum for that part between a pair of Suns.
The brace over the May figures indicates the region where the clock is slower, and a change from the previous and the subsequent regions. In the lower oval, the brace is over fractions of a maximum to be found in the other oval, when the clock is faster.
The panel on the right side gives the time of high tide for the days of full Moon. For example, on the fifteenth day of the Moon, when it is full, the time of high tide at London is 3 o'clock and at Yarmouth and Dover it is 10 30.
The left-hand panel is a memorandum for the time and the extent of the light from the Moon around the period when it is full. This information is important when making journeys at night when the light from the Moon allows travellers a chance to see their way. At new Moon it is too near the Sun, and consequently rises and sets during the day, added to which it reflects no, or very little, light. Times are taken from either the setting of the Sun or from the rising of the Moon. The instruction "Round for Sou" means going round the table for the hours and minutes to southing, or when the Moon crosses the southern meridian. "Back for Shin" means going back to find the length of time the Moon is shining. In effect this doubles the first reading. The increments on the table are in 48 minute units, which is the time of 24 hours divided by the cycle of the Moon, approximately 30 days, which gives exactly 48 minutes per day. The optimum part of the Moon's cycle for travelling at night is roughly bewteen the Moon's 12th and 17th days of its age. The values for the five days are read from the table, so at about the 12th day the Moon will be due south four hours after sunset, and it will shine for eight hours. At about the 17th day it will be due south eight hours after sunset, and will shine for sixteen hours. Obviously, times need be only approximate in this table, which does duty for the twelve and a third lunations during the year.
Lord Paisley was greatly interested in scientfic matters as his fellowship of the Royal Society demonstrates. Papers in the archives of the Society record a correspondence by Lord Paisley on the observation of a comet that appeared in 1723 and moreover the publication of a treatise 'Calculations and Tables relating to the attractive Power of Loadstones' in 1729, shortly after the death of Newton. Paisley was also co-author of 'A Treatise on Harmony, containing the Chief Rules for Composing in Two, Three and Four Parts', with a Dr. Pepusch, which was published in 1730, the second edition appearing in 1731.
Sir Isaac Newton's unrivalled genius for mathematical speculation was apparent almost from his boyhood and he himself declared that for the two years 1665 and 1666, immediately after taking his degree: 'I was in the prime of my age for invention, and minded Mathematics and Philosophy more than at any time since'. It was during this period of great mental activity that, among his discoveries, he began 'to think of gravity extending to the orb of the Moon', but his studies were laid aside and it was nearly twenty years before he was to find agreement in the theory and facts of his calculations. Between 1684 and 1686, with remarkable speed and concentration, Newton extended his earlier thoughts and compeleted the 'Principia', probably published in 1687.
Meanwhile he was much occupied with the theory of light and colours. On 11 January 1672 he was elected to the Royal Society and was admitted as a fellow of the Society on 18 February 1675. However, it appears he was in straightened circumstances and worried about his future, and in spite of being excused the weekly payment of 1s, he expressed a wish to resign. The matter was settled by a patent from the King and his work continued. By the end of 1675 he had produced a 'Discourse about Coulours' to be read at the Royal Society meeting and the collection of his studies in these fields was published in 'Optics' in 1704. It is interesting to note that on the final page of Newton's copy of the second edition of 'Opticks', 1717, where he lists the seven Precepts in his own handwriting, is an heraldic bird almost identical to that which appears on the base of this box. It is possible that this was a badge or motif used by Newton.
In 1696, the year of reform in the Mint, Newton accepted the wardenship and what is known to have been 'a nest of idlers and jobbers' was speedily transformed by the strict uprightness of the philospher. In 1699 he became master of the mint, a member of the council of the Royal Society and a foreign associate of the French Academy. In 1705 he was knighted by Queen Anne on her visit to Cambridge
In 'The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended', published posthumously the year after his death, Newton indicated a manner in which astonomy might be used to verify views on chronolgical points, which were held at that time. These have since been proved,by reference to Babylonian and Egyptian records, to be largely correct. He also produced another chronological work entitled 'Considerations about rectifying the Julian Calendar.'
Shortly before his death in 1727, he is recorded as summing up his life: '...like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me' [Spence, Anecdotes,, p.54]
Sir George Seymour, great-grandson of the 7th Earl of Abercorn, submited the box to two experts in an attempt to decipher its functions. While envoy extraordinary to the Belgian Court, Sir George wrote to the statistician and astronomer Professor Adolphe Quetelet whose letter dated 13 October 1840 went some way to unravel the various tables on the box. A more thorough explanation was offered by the astronomer Otto Struve (1819-1905) in a letter of 13th April 1853. Struve must have examined the box when Sir George was envoy to St. Peterberg from 1851 to 1854. The fuller explanation given by Struve was that used by Brewster in his biography of Newton.
Cover:
The lid of the box bears at the centre a perpetual calendar, giving days of the week corresoponding to each month in the year, and around the edge an Easter table.
The Easter table is in the form of nineteen cartouches, each employed for two years starting from 1700 and running on to 1738 in two cycles of nineteen. Each has three lines of numbers or letters. The year sequence begins with 1700 at the top right:
31:29
Mo+
We
The first line gives the date of Easter, which can fall only on or between 22 March and 25 April. The symbol : indicates March, while A denotes April. So in 1700, Easter day was on 31 March, and in 1719 it was on 29 March.
The second line is used with the central perpetual calendar, and gives the day of the week - see below. The symbol + indicates a leap year. 1700 was a leap year in the Julian Calendar, which was used in England up til 1752, but not in the Gregorian Calendar, which was introduced into Catholic countires in 1582. The second line has numbers in nearly every fourth cartouche where the last two digits of the year are shown. It is easy to interpolate because the years are all in their normal numerical sequence.
The third, or bottom, line gives the Golden Number in every third cartouche. Golden Numbers run from 1 to 19, and here the sequence begins at the bottom left with the symbol of a cross potent. This position is 1; the position before it is 19, the end of the sequence, which then repeats. The Golden Number is used for calculating the date of the paschal Moon, which governs the date of Easter. The lunar and solar cycles repeat after the passing of 19 solar years. In some of the cartouches the bottom line has a spill-over of a day from the second line.
The perpetual calendar in the centre of the lid is laid out for the Old Style year, beginning on 25 March. For the purposes of the table, March is taken as the first month of the year, April the second, and so on, which means that January is the eleventh and February the twelfth month of the year, but in what is the following year by our reckoning. The day of the week shown in the second line of the cartouches is, then, the day of the week for each month according to the position of its number (in roman) above or below the rows of dates. Thus for 1700, Mo signifies Monday, the day of the week on which the 4th of March falls (look up the column above I), and Monday is the 2nd of September (below VII). All the other days of the week follow naturally in sequence. In the cartouches, the symbol + following a day indicates a leap year, with 29 February the extra day.
Base:
The five tables on the bottom of the box are contained in a central rectangle, an upper and a lower oval, and two side panels. The central rectangle shows the time of sunset at the beginning of each month, where the first month of the year in the Old Style, March, is indicated by a roman I. On each month symbol is a small arrow pointing to the hour scale, which is numbered from 4 (winter) to 8 (summer).
Within the upper and lower ovals is the equation of time. The equation of time is the difference betwen the solar time, as shown by a sundial, and mean time, as shown by a clock or watch. The months are denoted here by initial letters: January (I) to July (I) in the upper oval, and August (A) to December (D) in the lower oval. The symbol of the Sun (a face with rays) in four positions indicates that the equation of time is zero at that date. Between the Sun symbols the dates and their corresponding equations. The upper oval is laid out as follows:
Jan 11th 3/4 31st 14 min 46 sec Feb 21st 3/4
Mar 8th 1/2 21st 1/4 April 4th Sun
July 16th 5 min 56 sec
Here the winter maximum difference between a sundial and a clock, 14 minutes 46 seconds, is marked for 31 January. In this region of the table, between a pair of Suns, the clock is faster than the dial. The spring maximum is on 3 May, when the clock is 4 minutes 14 seconds slower than a dial. All the other dates give fractions for the maximum for that part between a pair of Suns.
The brace over the May figures indicates the region where the clock is slower, and a change from the previous and the subsequent regions. In the lower oval, the brace is over fractions of a maximum to be found in the other oval, when the clock is faster.
The panel on the right side gives the time of high tide for the days of full Moon. For example, on the fifteenth day of the Moon, when it is full, the time of high tide at London is 3 o'clock and at Yarmouth and Dover it is 10 30.
The left-hand panel is a memorandum for the time and the extent of the light from the Moon around the period when it is full. This information is important when making journeys at night when the light from the Moon allows travellers a chance to see their way. At new Moon it is too near the Sun, and consequently rises and sets during the day, added to which it reflects no, or very little, light. Times are taken from either the setting of the Sun or from the rising of the Moon. The instruction "Round for Sou" means going round the table for the hours and minutes to southing, or when the Moon crosses the southern meridian. "Back for Shin" means going back to find the length of time the Moon is shining. In effect this doubles the first reading. The increments on the table are in 48 minute units, which is the time of 24 hours divided by the cycle of the Moon, approximately 30 days, which gives exactly 48 minutes per day. The optimum part of the Moon's cycle for travelling at night is roughly bewteen the Moon's 12th and 17th days of its age. The values for the five days are read from the table, so at about the 12th day the Moon will be due south four hours after sunset, and it will shine for eight hours. At about the 17th day it will be due south eight hours after sunset, and will shine for sixteen hours. Obviously, times need be only approximate in this table, which does duty for the twelve and a third lunations during the year.