THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN SCIENCE 89 



reformers of the Renaissance, the universities appeared as 

 strongholds of the old order. They were, according to 

 Petrarch, "nests of gloomy ignorance." Even later, the 

 humanists were grudgingly received within the schools; and 

 not infrequently, when the humanistic learning had been 

 assimilated, it was rendered sterile by the erection of the 

 ancient masters to a place of authority, not in harmony with 

 the spirit that had developed with the advance of critical 

 scholarship. Under these circumstances, the more independ- 

 ent spirits sought their inspiration in organizations outside 

 the established intellectual institutions, where freedom of 

 thought was unhampered. 12 These early scientific societies 

 were reproductions of similar organizations which had 

 formerly existed among the Moors, in Grenada and Cordova. 

 Some of them, like the Academy of Toulouse, founded in 

 1345, have survived to the present day. As the Renaissance 

 spreads northward, the same tendency is apparent. The 

 Royal Society of London was incorporated in 1662 and has 

 survived through a long and illustrious career. In the 

 beginning, it was accused of " destroying the established 

 religion, of injuring the universities, and of upsetting ancient 

 and solid learning. " 13 Eventually, there was not a capital 

 in Europe without these organizations which were thus inde- 

 pendent of the formal educational system. Thus ended the 

 isolation of the workers in science. Moreover, the academies 

 gave the scientists a degree of solidarity, and encouraged all 

 who opposed the traditional doctrines. 



12 "The Accademia del Cimento, established at Florence, 1657, held its 

 meetings in the ducal palace. It lasted ten years, and was then suppressed 

 at the instance of the papal government; as an equivalent, the brother of the 

 grand-duke was made a cardinal. It numbered many great men, such as 

 Torricelli and Castelli, among its members. The condition of admission into 

 it was an abjuration of all faith, and a resolution to inquire into the truth." 

 Draper, J. W., " History of the Conflict between Religion and Science." p. 300. 



13 Draper, he. cit., pp. 307-310. 



