William Hyde Wollaston

“ In practical mechanics, however, it is at least very rarely that the momentum of bodies is in any degree an object of consideration: the strength of machinery being in every case to be adapted to the quantitas motrix, and the extent and value of the effect to be produced depending upon the quantitas mechanica of the force applied, or in other words to the space through which a given vis motrix is exerted. ”

“ Let a ball of clay or of any other soft and wholly inelastic substance be suspended at rest, but free to move in any direction with the slightest impulse; and let there be two pegs similar and equal in every respect inserted slightly into its opposite sides. Let there be also two other bodies, A and B, of any magnitude, which are to each other in the proportion of 2 to 1 ”

“ It may be of use also to consider another application of the same energy, and to shew more generally that the same quantity of total effect would be the consequence not only of direct action of bodies upon each other, but also of their indirect action through the medium of any mechanical advantage or disadvantage ”

“ Leibnitz and his followers have maintained that the forces of bodies, are as the masses multiplied into the squares of their velocities, (a multiple to which I shall for conciseness give the name of impetus) ; while those, who are considered as Newtonians, conceive that the forces are in the simple ratio of the velocities, and consequently as the momentum or quantitas motus, a name given by Newton to the multiple of the velocity of a body simply taken into its quantity of matter. ”

“ It cannot be expected that at this time any new experiment should be thought of, by which the controversy can be decided, since the most simple experiments that have already been appealed to by either party have received different interpretations from their opponents, although the facts were admitted. ”

“ When they say that action is equal to reaction, they mean not only that the instantaneous intensity of the moving forces, or pressures opposed to each other, are necessarily equal, but conceive also a species of accumulated force residing in a moving body, which is capable of resisting pressure during a time that is proportional to its momentum or quantitas motus. ”

“ The momentum, which is in the simple reciprocal ratio of the bodies, might consequently be increased at pleasure by the means proposed, in the subduplicate ratio of the bodies employed; and if momentum were an efficient force capable of reproducing itself, and of overcoming friction in proportion to its estimated magnitude, the additional force acquired by such a means of increase, might be employed for counteracting the usual resistances, and perpetual motion would be easily effected. ”

“ As the simplest case of entire transfer, the body A may be supposed to act upon B in a direct line through the medium of a light spring, so contrived that the spring is prevented by a ratchet from returning in the direction towards A, but expands again entirely in the direction towards B, and by that means exerts the whole force which had been wound up by the action of A, in giving motion to B alone. ”

“ Wollaston, Francis Hayles, 1814-15. Son of Ven. Francis John Hyde Wollaston, Archdeacon of Essex and Vicar of South Weald, b. 1803. Pemb. Coll. Cam. Rector of Dereham. Resigned his Orders; deceased.
Wollaston,* John Ramsden, 1802-8, b. 1791. Ch. Coll. Cam. Holy Orders. Emigrated to Australia. Wood, Alexander, 1802-3; deceased.
Wood, Alfred Richard, 1872.
Wood,* Charles, 1801-7. Son of Thomas Wood, of Littleton, Middlesex, b. 1790. Served in 52nd Regt. and 10th Hussars in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. Colonel. ”

“ The constant outward occupation prevented any eating of the heart or undue brooding over problems which were insoluble, at least for my intellect, and on that very account fascinated me the more.
I do not think that Wollaston cared much for me personally. He was a curious compound, materialistic yet impulsive, and for ever drawn to some new thing; without any love for anybody particularly, as far as I could see, and yet with much more general kindness and philanthropy than many a man possessing much stronger sympathies and antipathies. ”

“ WOLLASTON, WILLIAM (1660–1724) , moral philosopher, born on 26 March 1659–60 at Coton-Clanford, Staffordshire, was son of William Wollaston by Elizabeth (Downes) . The Wollastons were an old Staffordshire family. One, Henry Wollaston (d. 1616) , went to London and returned with a fortune made in trade. A dispute between his sons as to the succession was finally compromised. The eldest, William, got most of the property, saved money, bought the manor of Shenton, near Market-Bosworth, Leicestershire, and, dying in 1666, left a good estate to his son William. ”

“ He is not good for you.”
My work was so hard, and the hours were so long, that I had little or no time for reading, nor for thinking either, except so far as Wollaston and Theresa made me think. Wollaston himself took rather to science, although he was not scientific, and made a good deal of what he called psychology. He was not very profound, but he had picked up a few phrases, or if this word is too harsh, a few ideas about metaphysical matters from authors who contemned metaphysics, and with these he was perfectly satisfied. ”

“ When almost at the point of death, one of his friends [Pg 144] having observed, loud enough for him to hear, that he was unconscious of what was passing around him, Wollaston made a sign for pencil and paper, and then wrote down some figures, and after casting up the sum, returned the paper: the amount was found to be correct.
Dr. Wollaston died on the 22nd of December, 1828, at the age of sixty-two—only a few months before his great scientific contemporaries, Sir Humphry Davy and Dr. Thomas Young. He was buried in Chiselhurst churchyard, Kent. Dr. ”

“ WOLLASTON, FRANCIS (1731–1815) , author, born on 23 Nov. 1731, was the eldest son of Francis Wollaston (1694–1774) by his wife Mary (1702–1773) , eldest daughter of John Francis Fauquier, and sister of Francis Fauquier [q. v.] , the writer on finance. William Wollaston [q. v.] was his grandfather. During his earlier years he received much friendly assistance in his studies from Daniel Wray [q. v.] (Nichols, Illustr. of Lit. Hist. i. 12) . He was educated at Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, matriculating in June 1748, and graduating LL.B. in 1754. ”

“ Wollaston starts with the assumption that religion and morality are identical, and labours to show that religion is “the pursuit of happiness by the practice of truth and reason.” He claims originality for his theory that the moral evil is the practical denial of a true proposition and moral good the affirmation of it (see Ethics) . Wollaston also published anonymously a small book, On the Design of the Book of Ecclesiastes, or the Unreasonableness of Men’s Restless Contention for the Present Enjoyments, represented in an English Poem (London, 1691) . ”

“ To treat a man as if he were a post is to tell a lie, and therefore wrong. In the main, however, it is an able illustration of the position, and Wollaston had considerable authority as a moralist during the century (see Hunt, Religious Thought in England, ii. 338 n.) He appears to have ceased to act as a clergyman, and his rationalism led to suspicions of his orthodoxy. He was occasionally confounded with the deist Thomas Woolston [q. v.] , who was at the same college.
Portraits of Wollaston are at Shenton and at the master's lodgings at Sidney-Sussex College. ”

“ But when they reached her door and managed to open it she stood for a moment peering through the dusk into his face.
"If it's true..." she said. "If you really want a home and a wife—like me... Oh, yes, I know it's true!"
CHAPTER XXVI JOHN ARRIVES Two or three hours after March and Mary came to the Dearborn Avenue house that Sunday morning, a little before eight o'clock to be precise, John Wollaston, deterred by humane considerations from ringing the door-bell, tried his latch-key first and found it sufficient. ”

“ Its forces, recruited chiefly from among the younger stars at the Metropolitan, give performances that want no apologetic allowance from anybody. It has become an institution of which the town and especially the North Shore is boastful.
Paula foresaw no easy conquest here. Her social prestige, part of which she enjoyed as John Wollaston's wife and part of which she had earned during the last four years for herself, counted as much against her as it did in her favor. ”

“ The old master retired to live with a brother near William Wollaston of Shenton, to whom they were both known. This William had no surviving sons and was in bad health, and looking out for an heir to his estates. The other William was, according to his own account, the only relative who ‘never stirred’ to court the rich cousin. Once, indeed, he preached a sermon to his cousin, who ‘thanked him heartily.’ The cousin also secretly obtained information as to Wollaston's habits, listened to the good accounts given of him by the retired schoolmaster, and finally made a will in his favour. ”

“ But all, the same ...
"Couldn't Rush do better for you than that?" he said. "There must be a dozen beds in the house."
"Rush isn't here," March answered. "I believe he went to Lake Geneva yesterday, for over Sunday."
John Wollaston felt the blood come up into his face as the conviction sprang into his mind that Lucile wasn't here, either. She'd never have left the front door unbolted. She'd never have permitted a guest, however explicit his preferences, to sleep upon the cane davenport in the drawing-room with his coat for a pillow. ”

“ And he does speak nicely, though I think Paula exaggerates about that."
"Sensible or not, he's fallen wildly in love with her, of course," Mary observed. "The more so they are the more instantaneously they do it."
But this lead was one Miss Wollaston absolutely declined to follow. "If that clock's right," she exclaimed, gazing at a little traveling affair Mary had brought home with her, "I haven't another minute." It was not right, for it was still keeping New York time, but the diversion served. "Wallace Hood spoke of coming in to see you about tea-time," she said from the doorway. ”

“ It was as if March had followed his train of thought step by step.
"Miss Wollaston isn't here either," he said. "She was detained by a broken spring in the car. I believe she expects to arrive this morning."
A faint amusement showed in his face and presently brightened into a smile. "I'm really very relieved," he added, "that it was you who got here first."
And then the smile vanished and his voice took a new timbre, not of challenge, certainly not of defiance, but all the more for that of authority. "The only other person in the house is Mary." ”

“ Her father was well and was stopping on with Paula for a day or two.
"He's taken over my job," she concluded mischievously, "maid, chauffeur and chaperon. Paula doesn't mind now that she's made such an enormous hit and she doesn't sing again until Thursday. Pete will take you in the big car to Durham."
"Well, that's Heaven's mercy," exclaimed Miss Wollaston. "I don't like to drive with Sylvia in any car and I don't like riding in a Ford no matter who drives. But Sylvia driving a Ford—her own car's broken down somehow—is simply frightful." ”

“ His inflection struck Mary as a little too casual and reminded her that it was his first mention of her stepmother's name. This roused her attention.
"Oh, Paula's off playing with Rush," she said. "I believe they went to a matinée."
He exclaimed at that, over Paula's stores of energy and her reckless ways of spending them. He said she gave him the impression of being absolutely tireless, superimposing a high speed society existence which John Wollaston and he, in relays, could hardly keep up with, upon the heavy routine of work in her studio. ”

“ No one else would have answered it at all.
"I don't think it can be because he feels he has to," she said. "To earn the money, I mean. Of course, he's been buying a big farm, half of it, for Rush. But he said the other day that if I needed any extra money for this"—she nodded toward the score on the piano—"I was to let him know. Of course, he isn't happy about it and I suppose it makes him take things harder."
Naturally enough, March agreed with her here. John Wollaston was clearly a member of the gold coast class. It wasn't thinkable that his financial difficulties could be real. ”

“ John's face beamed triumph. "I might have known you had an unselfish reason for it," he said. He didn't look at his sister but, of course, the words slanted her way.
It was perfectly characteristic of Miss Wollaston that she did not, however, make any immediate attempt to set herself right. She attended first very competently to all of Paula's wants in the way of breakfast and saw her fairly launched on her chilled grapefruit. Then she said, "A man is coming to tune the piano this morning." ”

“ Mary dropped down, limp with a sudden premonition, upon the gloucester swing in the veranda. The maid of all work, who had heard his call, came from the kitchen just as he was returning down the stairs. Mrs. Wollaston had gone away, she said. Pete had reported with the big car at eleven o'clock and Paula, who apparently had been waiting for him, had driven off at once having left word that she would not be back for lunch. ”

“ And when they asked about John Wollaston, as most of them did, there was an undertone almost of commiseration about their inquiries, though on the surface this didn't go beyond an expressed regret that he hadn't been here to witness the triumph.
Mary drove them all away at last, even the lingerers in Paula's dressing-room, left her safely in the hands of her dresser and went out into the automobile park to get her car. Coming up softly across the grass and reaching in to turn on the lights, she was startled to discover that there was a man in it. ”