The Copybook
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
The Duke of Argyll was pleasantly surprised to find one of his gardeners reading a learned book of mathematics - in Latin.
Edward Stone (1702-1768), mathematician, Fellow of the Royal Society, and the man who gave us aspirin, was self-taught. His story reminds us that the purpose of education is not to tell us what to think, but to give us the tools we need to think for ourselves.
Edward Stone wondered if the willow tree might have more in common with the Peruvian cinchona tree than just its damp habitat.
Edward Stone was a mathematician and a Fellow of the Royal Society, so when he discovered something interesting about willow bark, he thought he would write to the President and tell him about it.
St Wilfrid finds comfort during his tussle with the King of Northumbria
St Wilfrid was made Bishop of York, capital of the ancient Kingdom of Northumbria, in 665. He was involved in constant controversy as he resented King Ecgfrith’s interference, but he was also a key figure in keeping the English Church in close contact with the Orthodox churches of Rome and Greece, for which Bede praises him.
The chapel of Bede’s monastery in Sunderland was full of the colours and sounds of the far-off Mediterranean world.
In 678, the new Pope, a Sicilian Greek named Agatho, decided to continue a recent trend of introducing Greek elements into Roman worship. St Benedict Biscop, an English abbot who visited Rome for the fifth and final time the following year, brought the sights and sounds of the eastern Mediterranean back home.