Page:Newton's Principia (1846).djvu/53

 Mint; and though it was extremely difficult and he himself much fatigued, yet he completed its solution, the same evening before he went to bed.

The history of these problems affords, by direct comparison, a striking illustration of Newton's vast superiority of mind. That amazing concentration and grasp of intellect, of which we have spoken, enabled him to master speedily, and, as it were, by a single effort, those things, for the achievement of which, the many would essay utterly in vain, and the very, very few attain only after long and renewed striving. And yet, with a modesty as unparalleled as his power, he attributed his successes, not to any extraordinary sagacity, but solely to industry and patient thought. He kept the subject of consideration constantly before him, and waited till the first dawning opened gradually into a full and clear light; never quitting, if possible, the mental process till the object of it were wholly gained. He never allowed this habit of meditation to appear in his intercourse with society; but in the privacy of his own chamber, or in the midst of his own family, he gave himself up to the deepest abstraction. Occupied with some interesting investigation, he would often sit down on his bedside, after he rose, and remain there, for hours, partially dressed. Meal-time would frequently come and pass unheeded; so that, unless urgently reminded, he would neglect to take the requisite quantity of nourishment. But notwithstanding his anxiety to be left undisturbed, he would, when occasion required, turn aside his thoughts, though bent upon the most intricate research, and then, when leisure served, again direct them to the very point where they ceased to act: and this he seemed to accomplish not so much by the force of his memory, as by the force of his inventive faculty, before the vigorous intensity of which, no subject, however abstruse, remained long unexplored.

He was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, in 1699, when that distinguished Body were empowered, by a new charter, to admit a small number of foreign associates. In 1700, he communicated to Dr. Halley a description of his reflecting instrument for observing the moon's distance from the fixed stars. This description was published in the Philosophical