Revision as of 01:30, 6 July 2007

Template:IsaacNewtonSegments Certain (largely unpublished) works of Isaac Newton included much that would now be classified as occult studies. He worked extensively outside the strict bounds of science and mathematics, particularly on chronology, alchemy, and Biblical interpretation (especially of the Apocalypse). Much of his writing on alchemy may have been lost in a fire in his laboratory, so the true extent of his work in this area may have been larger than is currently known. He also suffered a 'nervous breakdown' during his period of alchemical work, which is thought by some due to the psychological transformation that alchemy was originally designed to induce, though there is also speculation it may have been some form of chemical poisoning (possibly from mercury, lead, or some other substance).

In a manuscript he wrote in 1704 in which he describes his attempts to extract scientific information from the Bible, he estimated the end of the world by the year 2060.

It is, however, somewhat anachronistic to assume that the importance he attached to these is closely connected to contemporary attitudes. The work modern observers would call scientific were perhaps to him of lesser importance; Newton was a product of his time in that he still placed emphasis on rediscovering the occult wisdom of the ancients. In this sense, the common reference to the "Newtonian Worldview" as purely mechanistic is somewhat misguided, as John Maynard Keynes observed in 1942 after purchasing and studying Newton's alchemical works:

"Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians." -- John Maynard Keynes

Newton's Studies of the Temple of Solomon

Newton was interested in the proportions of the and its acoutrements given in 1 Kings because he realized they were math problems related to solutions for PI and the volume of a hemispere (v = (2/3)pi R^3). Beyond that he was a man who just liked to calculate a solution to any problem he could conceive of. The calculation for the end of the world viewed from today's pesrspective seems remarkably close.

Isaac Newton used the works of Villalpando in his architectural studies.

Newton knew that the classical Greeks and Romans like believed the proportions of temples were sacred. As an alchemist and natural philospopher he believed the saying that is so named because its hard as stone and malleable as wax refered to a mathematics that related many principles of physics in alchemical relations between elements.

As a Bible scholar Newton was probably interested in the sacred geometry of the temple at first, but later as he ran the numbers came to believe that the dimensions and proportions led to more than just , conic sections, spirals and other harmonious and beautiful constructions they were references to the size of the earth and mans proportion to it and place in it.

The golden ratio can be expressed as a mathematical constant, usually denoted by the Greek letter . The figure of a golden section illustrates the geometric relationship that defines this constant. Expressed algebraically: This equation has as its unique positive solution the algebraic irrational number 1.6181...

Most interesting is that there are still people working on solving the problem so as to evaluate the skills in math and science of the middle bronze age

Newtons occult studies of alchemy were often mathematical in nature. His reasoning expects that since the measures of the Bible are based on the math and science of the Egyptians, their techniques would generally involve the use of unit fractions.

Kings 1 Dimensions

6:1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD. 6:2 And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.

Area = 1200 sq cubits or +/- 1/10th acre

Volume = 36,000 cubic cubits

The Porch

6:3 And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. 6:4 And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.

Area = 200 sq cubits or +/- 1/30th acre

The Chambers

6:5 And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:

6:6 The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. The chambers are round about or circular with narrowed rests for beam pockets

Biblical cubits might be expected to vary in size to the nearest inch as

ordinary = 18", median = 21" and long = 24"

five ordinary cubits = 7.5 feet, five median cubits = 8.75 feet, five long cubits =10 feet

six ordinary cubits = 9 feet, six median cubits = 10.5 feet, six long cubits = 12 feet

seven ordinary cubits 10.5 feet, seven median cubits 12.25 feet, seven long cubits 14 feet

The smallest possible size would be a diameter of 2.4 feet, and the largest pssible size 4.5 feet

The Stairs

6:7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

6:8 The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third. 6:9 So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. 6:10 And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

With winding stairs or spiral stairs one visualized a geometric spiral

The Thickness of the Walls

6:11 And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying,

6:12 Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father:

6:13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

6:14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

6:15 And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the cieling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.

6:16 And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place.

6:17 And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.

6:18 And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.

6:19 And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

6:20 And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.

The calulation Newton would want to investigate is that just as there is an inside and an outside volume to the building described there is an inner and exterior dimension to the commandments and covenants given.

With the outside or external or superficial description described it remains to calculate whats contained inside. Clearly there is a ratio or relationship or assumed analogy or proportion to be determined inside to outside, but from the description of the materials used alone one would soon arrive at a need for other calculations of a finer and finer nature, just as with any other alchemical process used to transmute the elements into gold.

6:21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.

6:22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

The Angular Measure

6:23 And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.

6:24 And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.

6:25 And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubims were of one measure and one size.

6:26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.

6:27 And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

How can it be that if the walls have thickness the cherubim can span the inner house with s dimension equal to that of the outer house. If one expects as Newton did that the text is infallible then the answer would be that they span the house at an angle and that the angle would be significant.

6:28 And he overlaid the cherubims with gold. 6:29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without. 6:30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.

The Proportions

6:31 And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.

6:32 The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees.

6:33 So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall.

6:34 And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 6:35 And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

6:36 And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams.

The Time

6:37 In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif:

6:38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

7:1 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

The Forest of Lebanon

7:2 He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

7:3 And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.

7:4 And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.

7:5 And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.

The Porch of Pillars

7:6 And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits and the porch was before them: and the other pillars and the thick beam were before them.

7:7 Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other.

7:8 And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.

7:9 All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.

7:10 And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.

7:11 And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.

7:12 And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, and for the porch of the house.

The Pillars

7:13 And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.

7:14 He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.

7:15 For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.

Jachin and Boaz

7:16 And he made two chapiters (capitals) of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits:

7:17 And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.

7:18 And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.

7:19 And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.

7:20 And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.

7:21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and he called the name thereof Boaz.

7:22 And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

Newton was interested in the proportions of the and its acoutrements given in 1 Kings because he realized they were math problems related to solutions for PI and the volume of a hemispere (v = (2/3)pi R^3).

Casual readers might assume that the proportions of the pillars with their capitals and of the brazen sea with a diameter of 10 cubits from brim to brim, a circumference of 30 cubits round about and a volume of 2000 baths used a very rough number of 3 for the value of PI.

Newton realized that like the house the text gave a thickness for the container and a width for the brim so that there was an inside and outside diameter calcuable from the proportions given.

The pillars on the inside are proportioned differently than those on the outside.

The Brazen Sea

the math

An interesting suggestion from Bob Graf reads:

The brass tub in Solomon's temple was a thick-sided vessel, and the measurement of ten cubits referred to the outer diameter, while the measurement of thirty cubits referred to the inner circumference. The thickness of the annulus was recorded as a hand-breadth. If one considers a hand breadth to be 4 inches, and uses a figure of 17.75 for a cubit, the value of p in the equation:

(10 - 30/p)/2 17.75 = 4

is p = 355/113 .

I don't think the Hebrews calculated the values recorded, merely observed them. The true value of π would give slightly different values for a hand-breadth and a cubit. I think this fact is more interesting than the improper imputation of 3 as the 'Biblical' value of π.

We note that the value 355/113 as an approximation for π was first noted by Tsu Ch'ung Chi (430-501 AD)

Other PI values that might be assumed known to the architects at the time would be the 156/81 of the Rhind papyrus and the 22/7 commonly used with Egyptian cubit rulers.

7:23 And he made a molten (brazen) sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. 7:24 And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.

7:25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

7:26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

The Bases

7:27 And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.

7:28 And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:

7:29 And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work.

7:30 And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.

7:31 And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round.

7:32 And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half a cubit.

7:33 And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.

7:34 And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.

7:35 And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.

7:36 For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.

7:37 After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.

The Lavers

7:38 Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.

7:39 And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south.

7:40 And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:

7:41 The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;

7:42 And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars; 7:43 And the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases;

7:44 And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;

7:45 And the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass.

7:46 In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.

7:47 And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.

7:48 And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was,

7:49 And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,

7:50 And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.

7:51 So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.

Newtons Alchemy

Newtons Alchemy

On the hardness and color of gems

The first folio consists of an isolated treatment of the hardness and color of gems. An interesting and previously unnoticed point of interest lies in Newton's reference here to an unambiguously alchemical tract, the De veritate & antiquitate artis chymicae Robertus Vallensis(found in volume I of Lazarus Zetzner's Theatrum chemicum). Newton also refers to "chymists" who derive the colors of precious stones from metallic tinctures. It is clear, then that Newton was already reading chrysopoetic authors at the time when he took these notes, and they may well have helped to stimulate his interest in the nature of colors more generally.

Of Colors

The preliminary notes on gems give way almost immediately to one of Newton's earliest and most important treatments of optics , simply called "Of Colours" in the manuscript. Although much of the manuscript could be thought of as a sort of commonplace book, where Newton records the thoughts of writers whom he is reading, "Of Colours" is an experimental treatise in its own right, occupying folios 2r up to 12v. The text has been edited and supplied with excellent notes and commentary by J.E. McGuire and Martin Tamny in their Certain Philosophical Questions: Newton's Trinity Notebook (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983) . We direct the reader to McGuire and Tamny's edition for their interpretive apparatus. Our edition reveals the relationship between "Of Colours" and Newton's evolving chymical pursuits, and of course it is fully searchable.

an excellent ink

On folio 13r we find Newton's recipe for "an excellent ink," which employs , the then well known ingredients of oak galls and iron vitriol ("copperas") to make a black ink.

Of Cold and Heate

At 14r Newton launches into extensive reading notes grouped under commonplace headings such as "Of Cold & Heate." The vast majority of these entries, which extend to about 41v, draw upon the work of Robert Boyle, who greatly influenced the young Newton. Other easily identified sources in this section include the Harvard educated chymist George Starkey (34r) and the Spanish writer on Peruvian metallur gy, Alonso Barba (34).

Experimental Notes

On 41v Newton begins recording his own experimental notes. The bulk of the manuscript after this point consists of Newton's records of his own chymical experiments, though reading notes still appear at a number of places. Notes from George Starkey' 1658 work on medical chymistry, Pyrotechny, appear alongside borrowings from Boyle between folios 82v and 88v , for example. Among Newton's experimental notes there are also clear attempts to interpret and implement Starkey's mysterious transmutational writings, which the young American composed under the pseudonym of Eirenaeus Philalethes.

Philalethes's "net,"

On 43r, for example, Newton describes his successful attempts at making Philalethes's "net," an alloy of copper and martial antimony regulus with a depression in the center and a fine crystalline surface resembling network. On 54v Newton performs further experiments with the net, which he now equates with "the oak," another Philalethan product. Philalethes thought that the myth in which Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes, impaled a poisonous dragon upon an oak tree with his iron lance contained a hidden recipe for the production of antimony regulus from stibnite, the ore of antimony. Philalethes elsewhere advised to fuse the product of this reaction with copper, giving Newton license to identify the "oak" with the "net," as he clearly does on 54v as well as 68r and 68v. On May 10, 1681 (see 62r ), Newton seems to have initially felt that he experienced a breakthrough in decoding Philalethes, for he says (in Latin) that he has understood the meaning of the "two doves" of Diana, one of the cover-names employed by Starkey's pseudonymous adept. Newton soon realized the delusory nature of his discovery, for he crossed the passage out. On May 18 (see 62v ) he had a similar experience, when he temporarily believed that he had uncovered the real sense of Mercury's caduceus: subsequently he struck this passage out as well. The sheer intellectual challenge of disentangling the riddling allegories of Philalethes and other alchemists was clearly one of the driving impulses behind Newton's chymistry. On the final folio of the manuscript , Newton records the prices of various materials bought from "Mister Stonestreet" and "Mister Timothy Langley." These notes are of value in determining Newton's contacts in the world of seventeenth-century chymistry.

References

1. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Isaac Newton's manuscripts on apocalypse, Solomon's temple to be exhibited for first time at Hebrew U.

• White, Michael. Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer, 1997.
• "The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy" by Sir William Sherrell of the Royal Society

External links

• "Introducing Newton's Alchemical Papers" (from the Newton Project)
• "The Chemistry of Issac Newton" including teaching resources (part of the Newton Project)
• Newton's Dark Secrets
• Nova Episode "Newton's Dark Secrets" on Google Video
• Isaac Newton and Astrology

1 Kings the volume of a hemispere Isaac Newton used the works of Villalpando in his architectural studies. harmonious and beautiful constructions the skills in math and science unit fractions.

the math

Newtons Alchemy

• Alchemy
• Isaac Newton
• Occult
• Hermeticism