86 THE PATH OF SCIENCE 



search rather than as a free association of scientific workers. 

 The results of this co-operative work were of some value but, 

 as a whole, the method proved a failure, and the most im- 

 portant discoveries were made by individuals. The most 

 distinguished physicist, Huygens, was so dissatisfied that he 

 withdrew. 



In comparing the Academic with the Royal Society, we 

 must remember that it had no member whose influence could 

 rival Newton's, for which reason its work was of the greatest 

 value toward the end of the eighteenth century, whereas the 

 Royal Society had become world-famous a century earlier. 

 The Berlin Academy was founded by Gottfried Wilhelm von 

 Leibniz, whose life span was approximately contemporaneous 

 with Newton's. Leibniz was, above all, a mathematician. 

 His work covered the whole field of physics, however, and, 

 in addition, he was determined to effect a reform of the edu- 

 cational system, especially that of the universities. He be- 

 lieved in the teaching of science and of "modern" subjects 

 such as history, geography, and mathematics, and was strongly 

 opposed to the emphasis placed on Latin, which acted as a 

 barrier to the extension of education to the people. Leibniz 

 made a series of proposals for the organization of a scientific 

 society in Germany and finally seized an opportunity created 

 by the formation of a commission to adopt the Catholic cal- 

 endar. Leibniz proposed that the Elector of Brandenburg 

 (the ruler of Prussia) should keep the monopoly of calendars 

 and use the receipts to establish a learned society and an 

 observatory. In 1700 the charter of the Berlin Academy was 

 granted, with Leibniz as its president. The results, however, 

 were disappointing, and Leibniz continued to agitate for the 

 formation of other societies in Dresden, St. Petersburg, and 

 Vienna. 



The American Philosophical Society, the oldest scientific 

 society in the United States, was founded by Benjamin Frank- 

 lin in 1743 as the successor to a small group of enthusiasts, 

 the "Junto," which dated from 1727. In 1769 the American 

 Philosophical Society and the American Society joined to 



