In an earlier message to the List I pointed out the
connection between ADA's Abraham Milton, the founder of Amerussia (1.3),
and Abraham, the Biblical patriarch.
Abraham was the father of Isaac (who was born by Sarah, Avraham's wife and
half-sister, when Avraham was hundred years old: Gen.
21). Isaac was the first name of John Milton's younger
contemporary, Isaac Newton (1642-1727), English philosopher and
matematician, formulator of the law of gravitation (Van tries to overcome
it in his difficult gymnastical stunt: 1.13 and 1.30).
Newton famously made his discovery when an apple fell upon
his head. The Tree of Knowledge (a specimen of it, imported from the Eden
National Park, also grows at Ardis: 1.15) is traditionally
believed to be an apple tree, and one wonders if Newton, like Eve and Adam
who were exposed from Paradise for this (see also Milton's Paradise
Lost, Book IX), tasted the fruit that had hit him? As far as I know,
some say (hinting at Newton's life-long chastity) that he didn't. One also
wonders, if Ada sampled the forbidden fruit (I suspect that she did, and it
was probably Dr. Krolik's brother who debauched her) before
offering it to Van in the Night of the Burning Barn (1.19)? However that may be,
two amusing facts are worth noting:
the name Isaac comes from the old Hebrew word for
"laughter;"
YUNYI MIL'TON ("young Milton") = MILYI
N'YUTON ("dear Newton").
Alexey Sklyarenko