I've Never Seen A Diamond In The Flesh...

...Because Diamond never existed!

How do I know? Well how do you know that Diamond did exist? There is plenty of proof which disclaims that Diamond, the 'beloved' dog which tipped a candle over a pile of Isaac Newton's papers, never breathed life!

My first encounter with Diamond came quite far into my research on Newton. I'd read a couple of books about him, and none of them mentioned a dog. It was only when I was sitting one evening watching a dog training program on BBC, that one of the person's interviewed said that Isaac Newton owned a Pomeranian. My instant reaction was, '...WHAT?!' Nevertheless, I was completely thrown into the legend, and set about finding out why I hadn't heard of Newton's dog prior. It turned out that Diamond was a 'legend'. Most of the articles I read were adamant that Diamond was real and that Isaac Newton was calm and loving when finding the dog had managed to jump up, either onto or against  the table, and knock a candle over.

As an after thought, I couldn't believe that people were willing to simply accept Isaac Newton as a calm caring and stable man who would never throw a rage over almost 20 years of his work being burnt to a crisp because he was too soft to train a dog not to jump up.

Of course many people accept it because it's taught from an early age to children, who are to learn from Newton's calm way of dealing with events such as these.

Here's what most people who believe the Diamond myth find themselves saying:
[Link]

However, as is said in the article, the dog that is Diamond, was a Pomeranian. Pomeranians hadn't been introduced to Britain until after Isaac Newton's death in 1727. [Link]

Alright, so if it wasn't a Pomeranian, what was it then?

One legend of Diamond mentions that they were a Terrier. A little bit different from a Pomeranian I suppose. The breed of dog seems to change every time I find out more, there was a mention of a Spaniel at one point which would have been plausible, but it wasn't backed up with any sources. I think on it's own, this is more than enough evidence to prove Diamond's claim to fame. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!

Diamond has a reputation for knocking over the candle and burning the papers of Newton, but where exactly did Diamond commit this grievous act that Newton seemed so calm to forgive? Was it Cambridge? Or was it London? Well, according to Diamond fans, it was both. So the dog managed to live long enough to wreck both Cambridge and London? (Maybe the dastardly dog started the Great Fire of 1666!) In all seriousness, Diamond was more or less attributed to Cambridge, but because of the lack of evidence, believers seem to claim Diamond was at both.

The Diamond legend was pretty much spurred from the real event that happened during the winter of 1677. Newton was making a rare appearance to chapel, when his collection of scientific and alchemical papers caught fire and almost burnt down the laboratory. These laboratories were almost like wooden sheds attached to the rooms at Cambridge. This fire caused a major set-back to his work on Opticks, which is said to have been worked upon partly on the papers burnt.

An extract from Peter Ackroyd's 'Newton' says,
    'His relative, John Conduitt, left a note concerning Newton's memory of the fire. 'When he was in the midst of his discoveries', he wrote, 'he left a candle on his table amongst his papers & went down to the bowling green & meeting somebody that diverted him from returning as he intended the candle sett fire to his papers.' Newton recalled that these 'papers' were concerned with optics and with mathematics that he could never recover.'
    There are other reports of the fire (though these, in fact, may relate to other fires). In one of them Newton returned from the college chapel to find a book of his experiments incinerated, at which he became so agitated 'every one thought he would have run mad, he was so troubled thereat that he was not himself for a Month thereafter.'

If Isaac Newton's own absentmindedness allowed him to go outside without extinguishing a candle, how on Earth was he able to care for a dog? Other mentions of non-Diamond reference comes from his assistant Humphrey Newton (non-related), who claimed that he kept 'neither dog nor cat in his chambers [at Cambridge]'.

An early documented account of Diamond came from 'The Antiquary', written by Walter Scott in 1816 in his volume of the 'Waverley Novels' (Volume 2, Chapter 1). [Link]

So far, I've given more than enough evidence to scrap the idea of Diamond. If anyone has an inkling into Isaac Newton's life, they'll know of his temperament and of his personality. He was barely able to care for himself, let alone a dog. The 'facts' seem to contradict each other, where one account claims Diamond tipped the candle over in Cambridge, the same incident occurred in London. His cry of 'O Diamond, Diamond, thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done' in a calm manner, and the breed to which Diamond is attributed are all over the place.

But think of the children!

I have, and you know what? I'd rather teach my children that life is chock full of pain and events that will surely lead you to near insanity. There is no need to bring a dog into Newton's picture, where any Newtonian would surely realise that Newton's reaction would likely be to lock the dog outside, then pull at his hair from the loss of years of work, not 'Oh dear, nevermind, I'm not mad or anything, I'm completely calm.'

Thus, dear children, I hope you learn THIS lesson, never, I say, NEVER, leave a candle near papers that you have spent over a decade on, then leave said candle near a window and go to chapel. Don't expect God to maintain the wind for you if you don't think of the consequences! In light of all of this, if you do have a dog, please train it NOT to jump up tables, and incidentally, clear your head of Natural Philosophy before using fire.