Newton's Researches on Light. In 1665, when but 23 years old, Newton invented the binomial theorem and the infinitesimal calculus, two phases of pure mathematics which have been the cause of many a sleepless night to college freshmen. Had Newton done nothing else his fame would have been secure. But we have already glanced at his law of inverse squares and the law of gravitation. We now have to turn to some of Newton's contributions to optics, because here more than elsewhere we shall find the starting point to a series of researches which have culminated so brilliantly in the work of Einstein. Newton turned his attention to optics in 1666 when he proved that the light from the sun, which appears white to us, is in reality a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow. This he showed by placing a prism between the ray of light and a screen. A spectrum showing all the colors from red to violet appeared on the screen. Another notable achievement of his was the design of a telescope which brought objects to a sharp focus and prevented the blurring effects which had occasioned so much annoyance to Newton and his predecessors in all their astronomical observations. These and other discoveries of very great interest were brought together in a volume on optics which Newton published in 1704. Our particular concern here is to examine the views advanced by him as to the nature of light. That the nature of light should have been a subject for speculation even to the ancients need not surprise us. If other senses, as touch, for example, convey impressions of objects, it is true to say that the sense of sight conveys the most complete impression. Our conception of the external world is largely based upon the sense of sight; particularly so when we deal with objects beyond our reach. In astronomy, therefore, a study of the properties of light is indispensable. [1] But what is this light? We open our eyes and we see; we close our eyes and we fail to see. At night in a dark room we may have our eyes open and yet we do not see; light, then, must be absent. Evidently, light does not wholly depend upon whether our eyes are open or closed. This much is certain: the eye functions and something else functions. What is this "something else"?