Diamond (dog) 254922 223043408 2008-07-02T09:20:57Z Trippz 2985883 adding image [[Image:Isaac Newton Labratory Fire.jpg|thumb|right|An 1874 engraving showing the probably apocryphal account of Newton's lab fire.]] '''Diamond''' was, according to legend, Sir [[Isaac Newton]]'s favorite [[dog]], which, by upsetting a candle, set fire to manuscripts containing his notes on experiments conducted over the course of twenty years. According to one account, Newton is said to have exclaimed: "O Diamond, Diamond, thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done."<ref name = Hall>Alfred Rupert Hall, ''Isaac Newton: Eighteenth Century Perspectives'', Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 175. ISBN 0198503644.</ref> The story is largely apocryphal: according to another account, Newton simply left a window open when he went to church, and the candle was knocked over by a gust of wind.<ref>Jason Socrates Bardi, ''The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Times''. Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006, p. 159. ISBN 1560257067.</ref> In fact, some historians claim that Newton never owned pets.<ref name = Hall /> The story of "Diamond's Mischief" has been reproduced over the centuries as early as 1833 in [http://books.google.com/books?id=9fQ4AAAAMAAJ The Life of Sir Isaac Newton] by David Brewster and later in [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15331/15331-h/15331-h.htm ''St. Nicholas'' magazine, Vol. 5, No. 4, (February 1878)] Nevertheless, Diamond is the subject of several anecdotes concerning Newton. In another tale, Newton is said to have claimed that the dog discovered two theorems in a single morning. He added, however, that "one had a mistake and the other had a pathological exception."<ref>"[http://sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/animals/breeds/dogtopics/dog_history.htm Historical Canines]," Shepherd Software. Retrieved September 16, 2007.</ref> ''See also [[List of historical dogs]].'' ==Notes== <references /> [[Category:Famous dogs]] [[nl:Diamond (hond)]]