170 Hijiorical Slttcb of the Lijli/tifion 



chickens and infc\4s, the vegetation of plants, liie produftinn 

 of certain foffils. and the iHtfcrvation of an equality in the 

 motions of watches, in order to the difcoverv of tlie longitude, 

 k.v. All thefe things he accomplifhed in a dilicent purfuit 

 *jf the oliject-s of the Society : and as his difcoveries were 

 made, lie communicated ihem, but with the greatefl; diffi- 

 ticncc and modefiv, at its mtetings. 



And yet, even ihis variety, aciivitv, and fuccefs in its re- 

 fearclies, could not f.itisfv the tyrannical impatience of pub- 

 lic expectation. The cavillers affainft the Society derided its 

 members as idle dreamers, or interelied impoflors, who ex- 

 cited hopes which they could not gratify, and wafted their 

 own lives and fortunes in purfuils having no rational attain- 

 able end. Others conceived prejudices ftill (Ironger againd 

 thefe fuidics ; accufing them as atheiftical, and adverfe to the 

 iliidv of purely moral and inlellcftual truth ; becaufe they 

 traced to fecond c'aufes phanomena, which had been ufually 

 referred to the immediate agcncv of the Divine Power ; and 

 withdrew attention from the logic, ethics, and theology, 

 which had hitherto reigned in the fchools. By others they 

 ■were abhorred as incapable of alliance with elegance and 

 grace, with the charms of poetry and eloquence, with the re- 

 linement of the language, or the improvement of the popular 

 parts of literary compolition. To many that tolerance was 

 extremely odious with vihich they received all men of in- 

 genious inquiry into their correfpondence, without diltinCtion 

 of nation or religion ; and the admirers of the ages of claffical 

 antiquitv derided, with the proudefl contempt, the very idea 

 upon which the Inftltution was founded, — that it was poHible 

 to extend the empire of human knowledge beyond thofe limits 

 tvirhin which the antients had left it confined. 



The Society, not unmoved by fuch cenfures and com- 

 plaints, vet not diverted by them from the profecution of its 

 \ievvs, advanced, though (lowly, yet with Iteady and vigorous 

 diligence, in its experiments and inquiries. Dr. Spratt s apo- 

 logetical hiftorv contributed to filence many prejudices. The 

 imitaticm of ihedefign of this Society, by fo many fimilar in- 

 Ititutions arifinsr after it in foreign countries, evinced the ge- 

 neral convirtion of mankind to be in its favour. Its memoirs 

 am! tranfactions were, from time to time, printed ; and, 

 among dilcoveries and incpiirics which could intcrelt none 

 but philofophers, failed nor to contain, likewife, others of 

 general utility and importance fo linking and palpable, that 

 evm the attention and approbation of the vulgar could not be 

 rtfufed. 



In pure mathenialics, the fuccefllive publications of the 



Society, 



