CHAPTER IV 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 



Introduction 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY is soiTietimes Called the Insurgent Cen- 

 tury or the Century of Genius; certainly it was an Age of Inquiry. 

 At this time actual search for the causes of luminescence, as con- 

 trasted with mere record of the existence of the phenomena, made a 

 valiant start, largely as a result of Francis Bacon's influence. No 

 better evidence of the success of the new approach in science can be 

 found than a statement of John Dryden (1631-1700) , made in 1668 

 during the height of the change: 



Is it not evident, in these last hundred Years (when the Study of Phi- 

 losophy has been the business of all the Virtuosi in Christendom) that 

 almost a New Nature has been revealed to us? that more Errors of the 

 School have been detected, more useful Experiments in Philosophy have 

 been made, more noble Secrets in Optics, Medicine, Anatomy, Astronomy, 

 discovered, than in all those doting Ages, from Aristotle to us? So true 

 it is, that nothing spreads more fast than Science, when rightly and 

 generally cultivated." ^ 



Despite the boasting of John Dryden, a few atithors continued 

 the obscure phraseology and mystical philosophy of the previous 

 centuries. One of them was Robert Fludd or Flud (Robertus de 

 Fluctibus, 1574-1637) the physician, whose many works contain a 

 remarkable combination of scientific observation and religious inter- 

 pretation. A second was Eugenius Philalethes (Thomas Vaughan, 

 1622-1666) , another English mystic who continued the secret tradi- 

 tion of the alchemists. His last work was A Brief Natural History, 

 intermixed with variety of Philosophical Discourses . . . with Refuta- 

 tion of such Modern Errours as our Modern Authors have omitted 

 (London, 1669) . Vaughan's book contains many references to the 

 Bible and quotes from Aristotle and Pliny. There is no mention of 

 luminescence, but his general attitude is exemplified by a remark 

 concerning light, to which he attributed " a Masculine vertue, it 

 quickens all kinds of Seeds, it makes them vegetate, blossom and 

 fructifie. . . ." 



It is fortunate that many men, imbued with a philosophical atti- 

 tude and a rational and experimental approach were to follow, and 



^John Dryden, An essay of dramatic poesy, 1668. Works 1:22, London, 1717. 



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