Yes, it was the dog’s fault!

As I was preparing my notes for last Thursday (“To Offer a New Vision”), I came across the following incident in the life of Sir Isaac Newton:

One winter’s morning, while attending early service in Trinity College, Newton inadvertently left Diamond shut up in his room. On returning from chapel he found that the little fellow had upset a candle on his desk, by which several papers containing minutes of many years’ experiments were destroyed. On perceiving this irreparable loss, he exclaimed, “Oh, Diamond, Diamond, thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done!” (Diffusion of Useful Knowledge: Life of Newton, p. 25, col. 2)

Huygens, 1694, referring to this accident says: “Newtonum incidisse in phrenitin abhinc anno ac sex mensibus. An ex nimia studii assiduitate, an dolore infortunii, quod in incendio laboratorium chemicum et scripta quædam amiserat.”

I guess that we can say that the dog in fact did eat the homework.