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Diamond (Newton’s favourite little dog)

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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 yearsʹ 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.”

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Dew-beaters
Dew-bit (A)
Dew-drink
Dexterity
Dgellabæan
Dhuldul
Diable (Le)
Diadem
Dialectics
Diamond
Diamond (Newton’s favourite little dog)
Diamond Hammer (A)
Diamond Jousts (The)
Diamond Necklace (The) (1785)
Diamond Sculls (The)
Diana
Diana of Ephesus
Dian’s Worshippers
Dianora
Diapason
Diaper