One of the arguments I got into with a member of the Woolsthorpe Manor volunteer staff was about Newton's affiliation with animals. Many people, including vegetarians like to think that Newton was an animal lover and would never harm or eat animals - despite the fact that Newton wasn't a vegetarian when he ordered meat in his food delivery, especially during his early and middle years.
But when I debated that Isaac Newton never owned a cat, the volunteer in question told me I was wrong. I knew of the quote she was referring to, which was:
"His cat grew very fat on the food he left standing on his tray" - 'Never at Rest', Richard S Westfall.
The source in the book states that (apparently) Newton told this to his niece, Catherine Conduitt (nee Barton) in the early 1700's, whose husband John Conduitt credited to "C.C." [Catherine Conduitt] and that it was specifically his cat at university. (Keynes MS 130.6, Book 2).
However, Humphrey Newton, a fellow at Cambridge (and surprisingly no relation) recalled that he 'kept neither dog nor cat in his chamber'. Humphrey was Newton's assistant for five years after John Wickens, who had been a chamber fellow and assistant for twenty years prior. This makes me wonder whether the quote from Westfall related to a cat that came into Newton's life much later on, perhaps a stray that gave regular visits to Newton and which fed upon Newton's leftovers. It could also have been tale told by Newton to explain why he rarely ate!
As I explained in an earlier post, it is extremely unlikely Newton owned a cat at Cambridge anyway, given the myth surrounding him about the invention of the cat-flap.
So, either Catherine Conduitt had been told a lie by Newton, or Newton really did have a cat, or it was a cat that belonged to someone else or a stray that wandered in and grew accustomed to eating Newton's food, and perhaps even 'adopted' by Newton to some degree, although that the cat isn't mentioned by name from any source suggests that it was just one from the street.
However, Humphrey Newton, a fellow at Cambridge (and surprisingly no relation) recalled that he 'kept neither dog nor cat in his chamber'. Humphrey was Newton's assistant for five years after John Wickens, who had been a chamber fellow and assistant for twenty years prior. This makes me wonder whether the quote from Westfall related to a cat that came into Newton's life much later on, perhaps a stray that gave regular visits to Newton and which fed upon Newton's leftovers. It could also have been tale told by Newton to explain why he rarely ate!
As I explained in an earlier post, it is extremely unlikely Newton owned a cat at Cambridge anyway, given the myth surrounding him about the invention of the cat-flap.
So, either Catherine Conduitt had been told a lie by Newton, or Newton really did have a cat, or it was a cat that belonged to someone else or a stray that wandered in and grew accustomed to eating Newton's food, and perhaps even 'adopted' by Newton to some degree, although that the cat isn't mentioned by name from any source suggests that it was just one from the street.
Despite all this, it is true that Newton became more compassionate towards others in his later life, and his attitude towards meat changed as well, choosing not to eat rabbit 'because it had been strangled', and eating more vegetables than meat than he did in his youth (likely due to health reasons relating to kidney stones), so any feelings he might have had about having an animal live with him possibly weren't rejected anyway. And I also doubt that Newton would have ever harmed an animal regardless (he was more likely to harm himself in the name of science!). Yet this still doesn't solidify the notion that Newton purposely wanted a pet, nor purposely chose to have one, but simply the idea that a situation came about that he then had the cat at his place, and didn't object to its being there.
In conclusion, Newton wasn't a vegetarian because he didn't like meat, but rather because of health reasons and possibly due to specific ways certain animals had been killed, and his unnamed 'pet' cat, owned in later life, was likely a stray or neighbouring cat.
Links:
https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A72024031
Links:
https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A72024031
