Alphabet of History, An

<p><SPAN name="NEWTON" id="NEWTON"></SPAN></p> <ins class="caption">NEWTON</ins> <div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_018.jpg" height-obs="640" width-obs="236" alt="Newton underneath an apple tree." /></div> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Now, Newton in the orchard felt an apple strike his head.<br/></span> <span class="i0">"'Tis gravity! 'Tis gravity!" excitedly he said.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Had you or I been sitting there a-thinking of this earth,<br/></span> <span class="i0">As Newton was, and wondering about its size and girth,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And just when we were figuring a long and heavy sum,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The apple hit us on the mind and made our bald spot numb!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">We say, had you or I been there, as Newton was that day,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Would there have been much gravity in what we had to say?<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">This shows how great it is to have a scientific mind&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">An intellect that reaches out to see what it may find.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Perchance an ordinary man in such a circumstance<br/></span> <span class="i0">Would have got up and rubbed his head and done a little dance,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And muttered things that gentle folks should scarcely ever state,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And not concede the apple simply had to gravitate.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Again we say, if Newton's place was held by you or I,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Instead of gravity we might have thought of apple pie.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">You see (again we make the point that scientific minds<br/></span> <span class="i0">Discover facts which any brain that's common never finds),<br/></span> <span class="i0">You see, when Newton felt the jolt, his science did not stop&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">He simply meditated on "What made the apple drop?"<br/></span> <span class="i0">And while in cogitation deep beneath the tree he lay,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He mused: "It's odd that apples never drop the other way."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Once more: If you or I had been beneath the apple tree,<br/></span> <span class="i0">We might have howled: "Who was it threw that apple and hit me?"<br/></span> <span class="i0">To finish this, however, with becoming gravity,<br/></span> <span class="i0">We'll state that Newton lingered there beneath the apple tree;<br/></span> <span class="i0">With logarithmic tables he discovered that the speed<br/></span> <span class="i0">At which the apple fell was based on whence it fell&mdash;indeed,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Had it dropped from the moon, we'll say, it would have grown so hot<br/></span> <span class="i0">That it would have been melted up before to earth it got.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Again, and finally, had you or I held Newton's seat,<br/></span> <span class="i0">We should, like he did, take the apple up and start to eat.<br/></span> <br/></div> </div> <div style="clear: both;"></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />