On reading Isaac Newtons Priiwipia in

the 18th century

Stephen D. Snobelen

When Newtons Principia first appeared, only the most advanced mathematicians were able to fathom
its depths. This, with the discoveries in physics it contained, led to the work acquiring a reputation as an
impenetrable treatise presenting almost divine revelations about nature. Yet while Newton strove to
restrict access to its meaning, a growing number of popularizers began to craft ways of rendering the
Principia easy for the less mathematically astute. These entrepreneurs of natural p&osophy made
Newton public through an enormous industry of popular textbooks, engravings and experimental lecture
courses. In so doing, they were not only largely responsible for the reception of Newtons natural
philosophy, but also transformed its very nature.

Little Smatterers need not apply
Isaac Newtons Principia was a notoriously
difficult book to read. What is more, he
intended it to be so. When the Philosophiae
naturalis principia mathematics
(Mathematical principles of natural
philosophy) first appeared in 1687, only a
handful of exceptionally competent scholars
could comprehend its involved mathemati-
cal physics. Partly because of the disputes
arising from his 1672 paper on colours, and
partly because he had come to believe that
the weightier matters of truth - whether natu-
ral philosophical or theological - should be
handled only by the mature and adept,
Newton wrote his Principia in a difficult
style and thereby excluded all but the ablest
mathematicians. After eight years of labour-
ing to perfect his theory of colours through
experiments, and after proving the truth of
these optical discoveries to himself beyond
a shadow of a doubt, Newton was exasper-
ated beyond measure when natural philoso-
phers like Christiaan Huygens, Robert
Hooke and the English Jesuits Linus and
Lucas raised objections to his work and
drew him into a protracted dispute. A frus-
trated Newton told Henry Oldenburg in late
1674 that he had long since determined to
concern my self no further about ye promo-
tion of Philosophy. In a 1676 letter to
Hooke, Newton wrote: There is nothing
wch I desire to avoyde in matters of
Stephen D. Snobelen
Completed his Honours BA and MA in history at the
University of Victoria and his M.Phil. in history and
philosophy of science at the University of
Cambridge. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the
same department at Cambridge. His research
focuses on eighteenth-century science populariz-
ation, and the natural philosophy and theology of
Newton and his followers. His doctoral thesis
explores the natural philosophical and theological
careers of the Newtonian William Whiston. He has
written on Newton, Whiston and Samuel Clarke,
and is a contributing editor of the Newton
Manuscript Project.
Philosophy more then contention, nor any Like many others, John Locke stumbled
kind of contention more then one in print. over the mathematics in his attempt to read
And so, after this dkbficle, Newton retreated the Principia and was forced to apply to
to his private world in Cambridge and Huygens for assurance that the mathemati-
attempted to extricate himself from corre- cal argumentation was sound. Having
spondence on natural philosophyz. received this confirmation, Locke skipped
It was against this backdrop that Newton the mathematics and went on to tackle the
developed and composed his Principia in proseT. Locke was not the only one to seek
the mid-1680s. To this can be added the irri- such help. In 1691 William Wooton asked
tation of Hookes claim to priority in con- the Scottish mathematician John Craig how
ceiving the inverse-square law, which came his friend Richard Bentley should prepare
while Newton was working on the text and himself to read the Principia; Craig
caused him to expostulate: Philosophy is responded by drafting an imposing list of
such an impertinently litigious Lady.3 titles to read, telling Wooton that nothing
Thus, although Newton committed himself less than a thorough knowledge of all that is
to publication, he was not about to write his yet known in most curious parts of the
treatise for hoi polloi. As Newton later told Mathematicks can make him capable to
William Derham, to avoid being baited by read Mr. newtons book*. When the over-
little Smatterers in Mathematicks . . . he whelmed Bentley went straight to the author
designedly made his Principia abstruse; but himself, he was presented with a slightly
yet so as to be understood by able less onerous list of preparatory readings
Mathematicians.4 This was not a book for and, with additional guidance from Newton
the masses.
The difficulty with the Principia
There is ample testimony that Newton suc-
ceeded in baffling even many of his most
able readers. When Newton had his amanu-
ensis distribute 20 copies of his newly
printed Principia to some of the College
Heads and his other acquaintances at
Cambridge, his messenger later recalled that
some of them said That They might study
seven years, before They understood any
thing of it.5 After attempting to understand
the newly released book in 1687, the ageing
former Cambridge mathematician Gilbert
Clerke admitted to Newton: I doe not as yet
well understand so much as your first three
sections, for wch you do not require yt a man
should be a mathematice doctus. The exas-
perated Clerke later chastised Newton: you
masters doe not consider ye infirmities of
your readers, except you intended to write
only to professours or intended to have your Figure 1 Isaac Newton in 1689 (courtesy
books lie, moulding in libraries or other men of the Syndics of Cambridge University
to gett the creditt of your inventionse. Library).

0160-9327/98/$19.00 -see front matter 0 1998 Elsevier Science. AII right reserved. PII: SO160-9327(98)01148-X Endeavour vol. 22(4) 1998 159

NATURALIS
I
Figure 2 Title page of the first edition of the Principia, 1687 (courtesy of the Syndics of
Cambridge University Library).
directing him to start with the easier pas-
sages first, Bentley embarked on the task.
With much more experienced men stag-
gering, it is hardly surprising to find that
William Whiston, who, as a young under-
graduate, attended one or two of Newtons
lectures in the late 168Os, later confessed
that he understood them not at all at that
time9. Whistons peers evidently agreed.
Newtons chamber-fellow from the 1680s
said of Newtons lectures that so few went
to hear Him, & fewer yt understood him, yt
oftimes he did in a manner, for want of
Hearers, read to ye wall~~o. And, as Newton
walked by one day shortly after the release
of his Principia, a group of students at
Cambridge were heard to remark there
goes the man who has writt a book that nei-
ther he nor any one else understandsll. The
Reverend Thomas Byrdall in 17 10 summed
it up in a letter to Edmond Halley when he
160 Endeavour Vol. 22(4) 1998
j f,E.
Adams.S.68.&
.
i own beliefs about his work, fellow mil-
said that tis almost as difficult, fully to
comprehend the Author as sufficiently to
admire himlz.
The divine status of the Principia
and its author
Such was the admiration for a man who had
produced a work of such depth, impenetra-
bility and profound discoveries in physics,
that Newton soon assumed in the minds of
many a god-like status - an image culti-
vated in no small part by Newton himself,
along with his devotees. Soon after the
Principias appearance, a growing cadre of
Newtonian advocates began to compete for
superlatives to describe the achievements of
the Cambridge Professor. Halley, respon-
sible for editing the first edition, did much
to initiate this construction. He was careful
to preface the Principia with a rapturous
ode to its author, the ultimate line saying of
Newton: Nearer the gods no mortal may
approach.13 In his review of the Principia for
the Philosophical Transactions, Halley wrote
of what he had termed Newtons divine
Treatise by declaring that it may be justly
said, that so many and so Valuable
Philosophical Truths, as are herein discovered
and put past Dispute, were never yet owing to
the Capacity and Industry of any one Manl4.
Others followed in this worship of the
author. The mathematician David Gregory
praised Newton and offered him thanks for
having been at the pains to teach the world
that which I never expected any man should
have knownl5. In a 1699 discussion
between Dr John Arbuthnot and the
Marquis de lHapita1, upon being told that
Newton had in the Principia also solved
the problem of what curve would find the
least resistance in a fluid, the astounded
Marquis cried out with admiration Good
god What a fund of knowledge there is in
that book? He then asked the D* every par-
ticular about Sr I. even to the colour of his
hair [and] said does he eat & drink & sleep?
is he like other men? 16
Far from ending with his death, such adu-
lation ascended to new heights. Visiting
from France, Voltaire was dumbfounded to
see Newton buried like a king who had
befitted his subjects17. An inscription on
Newtons tomb at Westminster Abbey pro-
claims: Let Mortals rejoice That there has
existed such and so great an Ornament of
the Human Racel8. The poet Alexander
Pope contributed to the panegyrics with his
famous couplet:
Nature, and Natures Laws lay hid in
Night.
God said, Let Newton be! And All was
Light.
Perhaps more in keeping with Newtons
lenarian Whiston characterized the won-
derful Newtonian philosophy in decidedly
prophetic terms, referring to it as an emi-
nent prelude and preparation to those happy
times of the restitution of all things, which
God has spoken qf by the mouth of all his
holy prophets, since the world began, Acts
iii. 2119.
Making Newton public
But the early Newtonians also paid a more
substantive tribute to their master.
Capitalizing on their privileged knowledge
of the text, a series of popularizers began
early on to produce more digestible rendi-
tions of the Principia. The earliest popular
use of Newtonian natural philosophy came
in Richard Bentleys 1692 Boyle Lectures,
which were intended to reveal the Creator
and confute atheism. The first full-length
work to showcase Newtons new philoso-
phy was Whistons New theory qf the earth
(1696), a study of geology and astronomy
that relied on many aspects of the physics
and cometography of Newton, to whom it
was also dedicated.

Figure 3 Title page of William Whistons
popular account of Newtonianism (courtesy
of the Syndics of Cambridge University
Library).
Whiston, who succeeded Newton in his
Cambridge Professorship in 1702, stands
out as the most important popularizer of
Newtonianism of the fist generation. While
Newton had lectured to mystified students
and even sometimes empty halls with his
recondite renditions of his natural philoso-
phy, Whistons tenure as Lucasian Professor
of Mathematics was much otherwise.
Always more concerned with pedagogy
than Newton, Whiston in 1707 initiated an
experimental lecture course with newly
appointed Plumian Professor Roger Cotes
(who was also to edit the 1713 second edi-
tion of the Principia). Whiston also
embarked on a vigorous publishing cam-
paign, printing not only his own Lucasian
lectures, but also a students edition of
Euclids Elements (1703), which went
through many editions, and even some of
Newtons lectures on algebra (Arithmetica
universalis, 1707). Whistons Newtonian
astronomical lectures appeared in 1707
(Praelectiones astronomicae, and were
released subsequently in English
(Astronomical lectures, 1715, 1728). In
1710, the year of his expulsion from
Cambridge for heresy, Whiston published
his Praelectiones physico-mathematicae, a
text made up largely of extended quotations
from, and near paraphrases and expansions
of, the Principia. A main purpose of
Whistons work is revealed in the title of its
1716 English translation: Sir Zsaac
Newtons mathematick philosophy more
easily demonstrated. It was, as I.B. Cohen
has stated, the first extended commentary
on the Principia to have been published.
Cohen also points out that in this text,
Whiston, like other enthusiastic early
Newtonians, read Newton as presenting his
ideas with more certainty than is necessarily
implied by the more tentative and theoreti-
cal language of the author of the
Principia*O.
Whiston helped pave the way for what
soon became a massive industry. Some
works, like Willem SGravesandes
Philosophiae Newtonianae institutiones in
usus academicos (1723) and Whistons pub-
lished Lucasian lectures, had been aimed
originally at university undergraduates.
Others were intended for a broader and
often non-academic audience. John
Theophilus Desaguliers was one of the first
to realize the potential of the latter market.
An Oxford-educated Newtonian,
Desaguliers made the pilgrimage to London
and began lecturing on experimental philos-
ophy around the same time as Whiston.
Acting as curator of experiments at the
Royal Society from 1714 under Newtons
Presidency, Desaguliers became one of
Newtons ablest apologists. Along with sev-
eral lecture course manuals and other minor
works, Desaguliers is known for his partisan
The Newtonian system of the world, the best
model of government (1728) and his impor-
tant two-volume A course of experimental
philosophy (1734-44).
Other public lecturers also made contribu-
tions. In 1743 Benjamin Martin published
his A course of lectures in natural and ex-
perimental philosophy, ... explain d on the
principles of the Newtonian philosophy.
James Fergusons Astronomy explained
upon Sir Isaac Newtons Principles, and
made easy to those who have not studied
mathematics (1756), was reprinted at least
16 times in Britain into the early nineteenth
century. In 1761 there appeared the equally
successful and often-reprinted The
Newtonian system of philosophy adapted to
the capabilities of young gentlemen and
ladies, . . . six lectures read to the Lilliputian
Society by Tom Telescope, A.M., which was
presented as a series of private lectures. The
works dedication to the young gentlemen
and ladies of Great Britain and Ireland char-
acterizes its contents as the Philosophy of
Tops and Balls.
Samuel Clarkes celebrated epistolary
debate with Leibniz on Newtons behalf
appeared in print form in 1717 - the year
following the German philosophers death.
Whiston himself continued his earlier work
with further popularizations, such as his
Astronomical principles of religion (1717,
1725), an apologetically-driven book that
reads like a textbook compendium
Newtonian astronomy. Not as populist as
the texts of some of the lecturers, the vari-
ous editions of Voltaires Elemens de la
philosophie de Neuton (1738) - including
three Italian printings - went a long way to
bringing Newton to the attention of aca-
demics on the Continent. Like many similar
texts, Voltaire included in his account ma-
terial from Newtons Opticks. John Hannas
translation of Voltaires work into English
(The elements of Sir Isaac Newtons
Philosophy, 1738), also brought the results
of the philosophes efforts to British intel-
lectuals. Of a similar nature was Colin
Maclaurins An account of Sir Isaac
Newtons philosophical discoveries, in four
books (1748). In all these productions, the
popularizers exploited a perceived problem
with the Principia: it was simply too diffi-
cult for the common reader. Newton had
manifestly not designed his magnum opus
for entry-level undergraduates or coffee-
house dilettanti. Newton aimed high; men
like Whiston, Desaguliers, Martin and
Ferguson aimed much lower.
Demonstrating the Principia
In early eighteenth-century London, lecture
courses on experimental philosophy were
all the rage. Lecturers such as Francis
Hauksbee, Sr and Jr, Whiston and
Desaguliers placed advertisements in the
growing number of London newspapers and
marketed their courses to aristocratic elites,
tradesmen and aspiring students.
Desaguliers spoke of his great Pleasure at
having seen the Newtonian Philosophy so
generally received among all Persons of all
Ranks and Professions, and even the Ladies,
by the Help of Experiments*t. Although the
courses contained a wide range of experi-
mental demonstrations, including the
famous air-pump experiments of Robert
Boyle, a major aim of the lectures was to
explicate Newtons Principia and Opticks
through spectacular and entertaining
demonstrations. A host of ancillary products
were also offered for sale, including popular
texts, astronomical charts, course manuals
of
Figure 4 Title page of Willem
sGravesandes Newtonian Mathematical
Elements of Nafufal Philosophy, 1721
(courtesy of the Syndics of Cambridge
University Library).

Endeavour Vol. 22(4) 1998 161


Figure 5 Plate from William Whistons Astronomical Principles of Religion, 1717 (courtesy
of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library).
complete with engraved depictions of
experiments, and, since many lecturers were
in league with instrument-makers, natural
philosophical instruments. Through the
course manuals the influence of the original
lectures was also extended to a virtual
audience - who need not even travel to
London. Indeed, the course manual used by
Whiston and Hauksbee the younger was
used as the basis for a similar course at
Oxford University.
It was the firm belief of the experimental
lecturers that they could overcome their
162 Endeavour Vol. 22(4) 1998
students lack of mathematical expertise by
resorting to experimental demonstrations.
Thus, one of the most common advertising
pitches for the courses was that those
attending need not concern themselves with
the rigours of mathematics. In a catalogue
for his course, Desaguliers assured potential
auditors that any one, &ho unskilld in
Mathematical Sciences, may be able to
understand all those Phaenomena
Nature, which have been discovered by
Geometrical Principles, or accounted for by
Experiments. Instead of geometrical defi-
nitions, axioms and postulata, experiments
are employed to prove the Precepts. This
methodology, said Desaguliers, refrains
from the mereZy speculative, and appeals
to the senses to allow for a quick accumu-
lation of knowledge, as well as a way to
avoid a Years close application to
Books22. As in the popular textbooks, the
rhetoric of demathematization is very much
in evidence in the marketing of these
courses. Similar testimony is provided by
scravesande, who, writing to Newton per-
sonally in 1718, spoke of his efforts at pro-
moting Newtons philosophy in Holland
and explained that
As I talk to people who have made very
little progress in mathematics 1 have
been obliged to have several machines
constructed to convey the force of
propositions whose demonstrations they
had not understood. By experiment I
give a direct proof of the nature of com-
pounded motions, oblique collisions,
and the effect of oblique forces and the
principal propositions respecting central
force+.
Thus the experimental lecturers dealt with
the perceived difficulties of abstraction and
mathematics by resorting to the direct
proofs of nature.
What did the master himself think of such
performances? While Newton famously
carried out his own experiments and
although he supported a policy of experi-
mentation during his tenure as President of
the Royal Society, he may have had mixed
feelings about the public experimental
courses. John Conduitt relates that
Mr Machin said to SI I. N when courses
of experiments were first in vogue what
a pity it was that when people had a
demonstration by Geometry they should
trust to their senses w~h might be
deceived, upon wChSir Isaac said he had
first proved his inventions by Geometry
& only made use of experiments to
make them intelligible & convince the
vulgar24.
For the great man himself, much of the truth
lay in the mathematics.
The democratization of Newton?
Not only was Newton more accessible
through the popular texts because of their
easier style and use of illustrations, but the
popular renditions were made available
much less expensively and in much greater
numbers. By 1710 copies of the Principia
had become so rare that when they could be
found they sold for as much as two guineas.
This was well above the means of many stu-
dents, and at least one is said to have
resorted to copying out the entire text in his
of own hand25.
A brief comparison of the print runs of the
Principia and those of one of Newtons
most vigorous apologists will establish the

Figure 6 Title page of Voltaires Elements of Sir Isaac Newtons Philosophy, 1738 with
enaravina showina Newton in a divine motif (courtesy of the Syndics of Cambridge
UnTversit$ Library$
importance of the popularizers. A mere
3-00 copies of the first edition were
printed, and it retailed at the booksellers for
nine shillings. By way of contrast,
Whistons New theory was released in 1500
copies and sold for six shillings, while the
second edition of the same (1708) sold for
the same price in a run of 500 copies. The
Praelectiones astronomicae appeared in
1000 copies at 5s.6d. and the Praelectiones
physico-nzathematicae in 1000 at 4s.6d.
Thus before the appearance of Newtons
second edition of the Principia, Whiston
had released 4000 copies of popular
Newtonian texts while readers desiring to
read the original source text had to fend for
less than a tenth of this number (or less) -
and even then at inflated prices. Whiston, of
course, was but one of the popularizers and
since by the 1710s and 1720s the market
was being flooded by popular Newtonian
texts and their reprints, the additional copies
of the Principia that were produced in the
second 1713 (750) and third 1726 (1250)
editions did little to offset this imbalance.
Nor were these editions cheap: bound
copies of the second edition sold for
El or one guinea. Needless to say, most
would-be natural philosophers first encoun-
tered Newton through the poor mans
Principias.
The Principia, written as it was in Latin
and the language of mathematics, was not a
public book. For most, it remained a veiled
and difficult treatise, replete with mathe-
matical abstractions and incomprehensible
geometrical diagrams. Much of the early
mythology about Newton reinforced this
perception by constructing an image of the
Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge the kind per-
mission of the Provost and Fellows of
Kings College, Cambridge to quote from
manuscripts in their archive.
Notes and references
1 Tumbull, H.W., Scott, J.F., Hall, A.R.
and Tilling, L., eds (1959-77) The
Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton, Vol.
1, pp. 1, 328, 416, Cambridge University
Press
2 On the controversies surrounding Newtons
1672 paper on colours, see Westfall, R.S.
(1980) Never at Rest: a Biography of
Isaac Newton, pp. 238-280, Cambridge
University Press
3 The Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton
(Ref. l), Vol. 2, p. 437
4 Kings College, Cambridge, Keynes MS
133, p. 10. For greater detail on Newtons
obscuring the meaning of the Principia, see
Iliffe. R. (1995) , Is he like other men? The
meaning of the Principia Mathematics,
and the author as idol, in Culture and
Society in the Stuart Restoration:
Literature, Drama, History (Maclean, G.,
ed.), pp. 159-76, Cambridge University
Press
Keynes MS 135, f. lr
The Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton
Vol. 2, pp. 485,492
Westfall, R.S. (Ref. 2) p. 470.
Cited in Stewart, L. (1992) The Rise of
Public Science: Rhetoric, Technology,
Principia as an almost other-worldly docu- and Natural Philosophy in Newtonian
ment, thereby creating immense distance Britain, 1660-1750, p. 102, Cambridge
between its author and its readers. Yet University Press
Newtons very manner of obscure writing 9 Whiston, W. (1753) Memoirs of the Life
itself indirectly spawned a movement intent and Writings of Mr William Whiston,
Second edition, Vol. 1, p. 32
on removing the obstructions he had set up.
10 Keynes MS 135, f. Iv
Some of those who could grasp the signifi- 11 Keynes MS 130.5, f. 2r
cance of the physics presented in the 12 Byrdall to Halley, Royal Astronomical
Principia, also soon understood the practical Society, MSS. Add. 4, f. 12. Cited in
utility of many of its mechanical principles Stewart, L. (Ref. 8), p. 103
and that they could be demonstrated in an 13 Halley in Newton (1962) Sir Zsaac
intuitive manner. Here is a crucial aspect of Newtons Mathematical Principles of
the success of the popularizing programme: Natural Philosophy, Vol. 1, p. xv,
divested of its mathematical garb and theo- University of California Press
14 Halley, E. (1686-87) Philos. Trans. 16,
retical presentation, the new physics could
291,297
be brought to a wider range of people. The 15 The Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton
democratization of Newton? Not exactly. Vol. 2, p. 484
When Newton met Grub Street a great deal 16 Keynes MS 130.5, f. 3r
changed. The popularizers transformed the 17 Voltaire (1961), Philosophical Letters,
Principia from an abstract, philosophical translated by Ernest Dilworth, p. 61,
and mathematically-based text into a form of Macmillan
knowledge much more spectacular, practical 18 Westfall, R.S. (Ref. 2), p. 874
and entertaining in its applications. 19 Whiston, W. (Ref. 9), Vol. 1, 34
20 Cohen, I.B. (1972) Introduction, in
Moreover, these writers and lecturers in their
Whiston, W. Sir Isaac Newtons
enthusiasm presented Newtonian natural Mathematick Philosophy More Easily
philosophy as certain and true, when Demonstrated, pp. v, xxxi, Johnson
Newton himself was often more restrained. Reprint
And, while the popularizers certainly went a 21 Desaguliers (1734) A Course of
long way to broadening the appeal of Experimental Philosophy, Vol. 1, sig. Clv,
Newton, it was not everyone who could London
afford the two- to three-guinea entrance fee 22 Desaguliers (c.1725) A Course of
for a six-week experimental course. Still, the Mechanical and Experimental Philosophy,
pp. 3,4, [London]
importance of the popularizers contribution
23 Hall, A.R., ed. (1982) Further Newton
is not in doubt. For while Newton wrote his Correspondence, Notes Rec. R. Sot. Land.
great work for his intellectual peers, it was 37.26
the apologists, popularizers and entrepre- 24 Keynes MS 130.9, ff. 2r-v
neurs among them who were largely respon- 25 Westfall, R.S. (Ref. 2) p. 699; cf. Roger
sible for the spectacular introduction of the Cotes, Preface, in Newton, Principles,
Principia into the public sphere. Vol. 1, xxxiii
Endeavour Vol. 22(4) 1998 163