" But,
nevertheless, his excessive grief is said for a time to have affected
his mind.

In 1695 Newton was appointed Warden of the Mint, and his mathematical
and chemical knowledge were of eminent use in carrying on the recoinage
of the mint. Four years later he was made Master of the Mint, and held
this office during the remainder of his life. In 1701 he was elected one
of the members of parliament for Oxford University, and in 1705 he was
knighted.

Towards the end of his life Newton began to devote special attention to
the theological questions, and in 1733 he published a work entitled
"Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St.
John," which is characterised by great learning and marked with the
sagacity of its distinguished author. Besides this religious work, he
also published his "Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of
Scripture," and his "Lexicon Propheticum."

In addition to theology, Newton also studied chemistry; and in 1701 a
paper by him, entitled "Scala graduum caloris," was read at the Royal
Society; while the queries at the end of his "Optics" are largely
chemical, dealing with such subjects as fire, flame, vapour, heat, and
elective attractions.

He regards fire as a body heated so hot as to emit light copiously; and
flame as a vapour, fume, or exhalation, heated so hot as to shine.

In explaining the structure of solid bodies, he is of the opinion "that
the smallest particles of matter may cohere by the strongest
attractions, and compose bigger particles of weaker virtue; and many of
these may cohere and compose bigger particles whose virtue is still
weaker; and so on for diverse successions, until the progression end in
the biggest particles on which the operations in chemistry and the
colours of natural bodies depend, and which, by adhering, compose bodies
of a sensible magnitude. If the body is compact, and bends or yields
inward to pressure without any sliding of its parts, it is hard and
elastic, returning to its figure with a force arising from the mutual
attraction of its parts.

"If the parts slide upon one another the body is malleable and soft. If
they slip easily, and are of a fit size to be agitated by heat, and the
heat is big enough to keep them in agitation, the body is fluid; and if
it be apt to stick to things it is humid; and the drops of every fluid
affect a round figure by the mutual attraction of their parts, as the
globe of the earth and