Introduction
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.
THE Duke of Argyll was puzzled one day to find a copy of Newton’s recently-published ‘Principia’* lying on the grass. He summoned a passing gardener, an eighteen-year-old named Edward Stone, and instructed him to return the wandering book to his library.
Edward, however, replied that it was his own personal copy.
It turned out that Edward had taught himself to read ten years before, after some stonemasons working on the Duke’s house had stopped to answer his questions about their business.
They spoke of Arithmetic, and Geometry, and a fascinated Edward had immediately gone out to buy a book about each of them.
On being told of some good textbooks in Latin, he bought a Latin dictionary and worked his way through them, too. And then he did the same in French.
“It seems to me” he told the admiring Duke “that one does not need to know anything more than the twenty-four letters** to learn everything else that one wishes.”
‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ (1687), by Sir Isaac Newton. The events in this story took place in about 1720.
** There are twenty-four letters in the Latin alphabet, the language in which Newton’s ground-breaking book was written.
Précis
Edward Stone was working as a gardener when his employer, the Duke of Argyll, discovered him reading Newton’s ‘Principia’ in Latin. He told the Duke that his passion for mathematics had been inspired by stonemasons talking about Arithmetic and Geometry, and remarked on how the one skill of being able to read had allowed him to acquire so much besides. (60 / 60 words)
Edward Stone was working as a gardener when his employer, the Duke of Argyll, discovered him reading Newton’s ‘Principia’ in Latin. He told the Duke that his passion for mathematics had been inspired by stonemasons talking about Arithmetic and Geometry, and remarked on how the one skill of being able to read had allowed him to acquire so much besides.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, just, may, not, since, unless, whereas, whether.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Day. Way. Year.
2 One. Read. Return.
3 His. Letter. Summon.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
mtr (7+4)
amateur. mature. meteor. meter. metre. metro. motor.
mater. meatier. metier. mitre.
