A
variant formulation of the initial portion of proof
for Proposition X, Theorem X, of Book III of the Principia
Mathematica – demonstrating that the motions
of the planets may subsist an exceedingly long time.
Newton here explains how a globe of [frozen] water
moving in air would lose a part of its motion due
to resistance of the air. The present draft is related
both in sentence structure and content to the final
printed Theorem, though differing significantly from
the printed version both lexically and in its choice
of numeric example. Newton has made two corrections
to the manuscript and terminated his thought in mid-sentence
– evidencing the document’s provisionary
nature.
The
Latin text reads in full:
“Quare
cum globus aqueus in aere movendo resistentiam patiatur
qua motus eius pars 1/3261 interea dum longitudinem
semidiametri suae describat (ut jam ante ostensum
est) tollatur.
Oritur
hocce motus decrementer a resistentia tam filiquam
globi.”
Newton
was a notorious recycler of paper, and often wrote
his thoughts on whatever scrap of paper was to hand.
Other fragmentary statements from the Principia and
Optics are known to exist on similar forms of “scrap
paper.”
Scientific
autograph documents by Newton are Very Rare in private
hands and are the most desirable form of his autograph.
Newton’s Principia is deemed “The
Greatest Work in the History of Science”;
and though small in size, the present manuscript accordingly
ranks large in stature and importance. Both by dint
of rarity and importance, we deem the present manuscript
One of the Finest Obtainable Scientific Autographs.
