Book 6: Chapter 6 Summary

London, late February, 1714

Daniel meets Sir Christopher Wren, architect and mathematical prodigy, to ascertain whether Mr. Hooke, a natural philosopher, has left any philosophy tools elsewhere. When Daniel is satisfied he has collected all he can for Leibniz, he takes the goods to the docks and inquires when the ships will sail to St. Petersburg.

Book 6: Chapter 6 Analysis

Stephenson highlights the need for concealment and secrecy as Daniel searches for the tools of Hooke, who is now deceased. This suggests that inventors and natural philosophers are enigmatic and fearful that their ideas might be stolen in a time when patenting was not enforced. In today's society, patenting laws and intellectual property rights protects these ideas, but these laws were not introduced until the 1830s, well before Sir Isaac's and Daniel Waterhouse's time.