Ghostwalk (33 page)

EXTRACTS FROM NOTEBOOK CONTAINING “QUAESTIONES QUAEDAM PHILOSOPHIAE” (CERTAIN PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS)

These extracts from a notebook written by Newton in the early to mid-1660s, in Greek, Latin, and English, reveal the extent and relentlessness of Newton’s experiments with natural phenomena and, particularly, his interest in colour. Notebook location: Cambridge University Library, Cambridge.
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Of colours

17
Substances belonging to the vegetable or Animall Kingdome when lightly burned are black, when througly burned are white. As Ivory being skilfully burnt affords painters one of the deepest blacks they have &c. But mineralls are to bee excepted from this rule, For Allablaster if never so much burnt will turne no darker then yellow. Leade being calcined with a strong fire turnes into minium which is red, & this minium by burning turnes darker but never to a white colour. Blew, but unsophisticated Vitriol when tis burnt a little by a slow heate to friability, is white being further burnt turnes Grey, Yellow, red, & when perustum it turnes to a purple.

19
Gold & silver melted into a lumpe & dissolved by Aqua fortis the pouder of gold falling to the bottome appeares not yellow but black though neither the gold silver nor Aquafortis be so, & silver rubbed on other bodys colours them black.

20
Most bodys precipitated from the liquor into which they were dissolved are white, but not all.

21
The scrapeings of black horne lookes white.

22
Sulphur adust is not the cause of blacknesse as Chimists hold, for common sulphur be either melted or sublimed turnes onely red or yellow. And the plant Camphire though very inflamable & consequently sulphureous by burning turnes to noe colour but white &c. But then wt causeth blackness in sulphur adust.

23
A Candle looked on through blew glasse appeares greene.

24
Pouder of blew bise mixed with a greater quality of yellow orpiment makes a greene but the particles by a microscope are discovered to retaine theire blewness & yellownesse.

26
A feather or black ribband put twixt my eye & the setting sunne makes glorious colours.

28
Yet either a Lixivious liquor, or urinous salt being poured on a solution of blew vitrioll in faire water makes it yellow & the precipitated corpuscles retained the yellow colour when they were falne to the bottome.

29
A just quantity of Oyle of Tartar poured into a strong solution of french verdigrease turnes it from greene to blew; a Lixivium of pot ashes turnes it to a lighter blew, & spirit of Vrin, or Harts-horne make other blews.

30
{One graine} of Cochineel dissolved in spirits of urin & then by degrees in faire water, imparted a discernable colour to 125000 graines of faire water.

31
Most of the Tinctures which chimists draw which abound with minerall or Vegetable Sulphur turne red; & both Acid & Alcalizate salts in most sulphureous or oyly bodys produce a red. & blew is more commonly turned to red then red to blew

33
White bodys are commonly sulphureous.

35
Tinge water with red rose leaves into which drop a little Minium disolved in spirit of vinegar & it will be of a muddy greene, but drop in a little Oyle of Vitrioll which though an acid Menstruum yet it will præcipitate the leade in the forme of a white pouder to the bottome leaving the rest of the liquor above of a good red almost like a Rubie

36
Oyle or spirit of Turpentine will not mix with water & it & water shaken together apeare white.

NEWTON’S RECIPES FOR COLOUR AND REMEDIES FOR SICKNESS

These extracts are taken from a personal notebook that Newton kept from 1659 to the early 1660s, now referred to as the Pierpont Morgan Notebook, and are held at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Newton left many drawings and paintings on the walls of his garret room in the lodging house in Grantham—he was clearly using some of these recipes for colour at that point. He also had a tendency towards hypochondria, though his health was generally good.
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Of Shaddowing.

To shaddow sweetly & rowndly withall is a far greater cunning then to shaddow hard & darke; for it best to shaddow as if it were not shaddowed.

How to prepare your colours.

Such colours as have need of grinding you must grind them with faire water, then put them on a smoth chalk stone, & let them dry. then grind them againe with Gum water & reserve them in muscle shels for your use.

A sea colour.

Take privet berries when the sun entreth into Libra, about the 13th of September, dry them in the sunn; then bruise them & steepe them in Allum water, & straine them into an earthen poringer that is glazed.

A yellow colour.

Take yellow berrys, & bruse them & steepe them a quarter of an hower in allum water then strain them if you will or let them stand in liquour.

A Haire colour.

Take umber or spanish browne grind it & temper it with gum water.

A russet colour.

Take the fattest sut you can get & put it into a pot of cleare water so that it be covered two or 3 fingers & let it seeth well which don straine it through a cloth set it on the fire againe to thiken (but take heed you set it not on too hot a fire for feare of burning it) & so let it boyle gently till it bee as thick as you would have it.

A colour for faces.

Lay on thecheekes little spotts of lake or red lead then come all over it with white, & a little lake, shaddow it with Lamblack or umber, & white lead.

Colours for naked pictures

Take white leade & a little Vermilion temper them & lay them on, shaddow it with bolearmonick in the middle & adde a little sut to the utmost double hatches.

A colour for dead corpes.

Change white leade with the water of yellow berrys & wash the picture all ouer then chang it with blew Indie & shaddow it in the single hatches, & leanest places then take sut, yellow berrys & white lead & with that shadow the darkest places.

A blood red colour.

Sinaper, lake, & vermillion make a good red.

Another.

Take some of the clearest blood of a sheepe & put it into a bladder & with a needle prick holes in the bottom of it then hang it up to dry in the sunne; & disolve it in allum water according as you have need.

A red colour.

Boyle brasill as you did the log-wood. but if you would have it a sad red mingle it with pot ash water, if a light red temper it with white lead.

A Crimson.

Cynaper tops: Cynaper-lake: or vermilion.

Clowd colours.

The lightest is whitelead & Inde blew a like quantaty of each, the next a deale of Inde & a little white, then purple & white with a little brasill, then whit lead & yellow berrys.

How to write a gold colour.

Take a new laid egg, make a hole at one end & let out the substance then take the yolk without the white, & four times soe much quicksilver in quantitie as of the former grind them well together & put them into the shell stop the hole thereof with chalk & the white of an egg then lay it under a hen that sitt with 6 more for the space of 3 wekes, then break it up & write with it.

fflesh colour.

Take white lead grind it with oyle, lake, & vermilion so you may make it pale or high coloured at your pleasur.

A White colour.

White lead ground with nut oyle.

Charecole black & seacole black.

Grind charcole very small with water, let it dry then grind it with oyle. thus make seacole black.

A good cement for broken glasses.

Take raw silke & beat it with glasse & mix them together with whites of eggs.

A bait to catch fish.

Take Cocculus Indiæ unciæ ss. henbane seeds, & wheaten flower of each a quarter of an ounce, hive honey as much as will make them into past. Where you see the most fish cast in bits like barly cornes, & they will swim on the top of the water, so that you may take them up with your hands or a nett. If it rane after the bate is cast into the water or if you put them in other faire water they will come to themselves. You may in the dead of winter in the morning when the sun shines catch fish with your angle bated onely with past wad of wheat flower.

To make birds drunk.

Take such meat as they love as wheat, barley &c. steepe it in lees of wine or in the juice of Hemlock, & sprincle it wher birds use to haunt. Sodden Garlick sprinkled amongst corne sowne.

To catch crows, or ravens.

Take the liver of a beast & cut it into divers peeces, put some nux Vomica into each peece. & lay them where crows haunt.

To catch crows or pigeons.

Tak whit pease & steepe them 8 or 9 days in the gall of an ox. & lay them where they haunt.

To make pigeons, partriges dicks & other birds drunk.

Set black wine for ym to drink where they come.

Another.

Take tormentill, byle it in good wine put barley into it. Lay it where the birds com. this should be don in winter when snow is.

Another way to catch birds.

Make past of barley meale onion blads, & hen-bane seeds, & set it on severall little boards or tiles, or such like for the birds.

A secret for travellers.

Let travelers take a peece of Roch allum, & hold it now & then for a small time in their mouths for when they are hot it will coole them & refresh them & quench their thirst more then beer will. There is also a stone (which the Mounte bancks call a Celestiall or miraculus stone & the Apothecarys lapis prunella) which dos mot much differ from this it is onely better.

A Salve for all sores.

Take a pound of sheeps tallow a pound of turpentine & a pound of Virgin wax, a pint of sallet oyle, a quarter of a pound of Rosin: take also of Bugle, Smalsach, & plantaine halfe the quantity of the other or so much as will make a pinte boyle all these together on a soft fire of coles, always stir it till a 3d part be con-

sumed, then tak it from the fire & straine it through a new canvas cloth, into an earthen pot.

How to write on black paper.

Take the yolk of a new layd egg & grind it on a marble with faire water so as you may write with it. then write what you will with it & when it is dry black all the paper over with ink & when it is dry, you may scrape all the letters that you wrot of with a knife.

A speciall remedy of his, for the tooth-ach, which never failed to give ease to hollow tooth, or other, for a time.

Take Pellitory of Spaine, long paper, Ginger, & Cloves, of each one dram; Ginny-pepper halfe a dram beate all these into a very fine powder; then with Chimicall oyle of cloves, oyle of thyme, & spirit of salt of each a like quantity, make it up into a past & out of that past make little pellets, or cakes, & dry them in the sun; & so use them.

Helpes for the eye sight.
Things hurtfull for the eyes.

Garlick Onions & Leeks. over much Lettice. Goeing too suddaine after meat. Hot wines. Cold ayre. Dunknes. Gluttony. Milke. Chese. White & red coulors. Much sleepe after Meate. Much blood-letting. Cold worts. dust. ffire. much weeping. & watching.

Things good for the sight.

Measurable sleepe. red roses. ffennell. Selandine Vervaine rootes X Pinpernell. Oculus Christi. To wash your eyes in faire running water, & your hands & feet often. To looke on any greene or pleasant colours, or in a faire glasse.

A Water to cleane the sight.

Take greene Wallnuts husks & all as they come from the trees & a few of X the leaves & distill them. Then drop the water thereof into your eyes morning & night for 6 or 7 days together.

Drop 3 or 4 drops of thewater of rotten apples at a time into your eyes. Wash your eyes with the water of Dasies, both roots & leaves being cleane washed, then stamped & strained.

The juice of the hearbe Euphasia, or the water.

Certaine tricks To turne waters into wine.
1 Into Claret. X

Take as much lockwood as you can hold in your mouth without discovery tye it up in a cloth, & put it in your mouth, then sup up some wather & champe the lockwood 3 or 4 times & doe it out into a glass.

2 ffor White wine.

Chew the Ball once or twice lightly. &c as you did for claret.

ffor Sack.

Take a drop of Wine or beare vinegar & put it in the Glasse shakeing it about the sides of the Glasse. &c: as you did for claret.

ffor Strong Waters.

Have a cup of Strong Water by you like the other of water which drinke up as if it was the water & doe it out againe into one of the Glasses.

To Cut a Glasse.

Take a plaine Glasse, hold it up side downeward over a candle till it bee pritty hott then take a match of rope, & blowing it all the while run it ouer the Glasse as you would have it cut.

Against the Plague.

Take Alloes, Hepatick, [illegible] cinamon Myrrh of each 3 drams. Cloves, Mace, Wood of Alloës or Lignum Alloës, Mastick, Bole armoniack, of each halfe an ounce. Make a fine powder thereof, which take early in the Morning with white Wine mixt with a little Water.

An Excellent water for Vlcers.

Heate faire water in a vessell never before used: yn power it into quick lime in another new vessell. Let it stand till the lime sink to the bottome & you have taken all the spume from the top. then pour the cleare water from the Lime into a cleane Glasse & stop it well up. Wash the Vlcer with it: & lay a cloth diped in it, on the sore. & it cleanses it.