and Progrefs of the Royal Society of London. 171 



Society, to the end of the feventcenth centurv, exhibited a 

 va'ietv of inventions cxallino; the power of that fcienec, and 

 furnilliing it w ith new arms to triumph over diffifuhie? of 

 in^'cftigation to which it u'as before unc(iual. The difcoveries 

 of Newton had been pronvj'tcd by that fpirit of mathematical 

 and phyfical refearch which the inititufion of the Society ex- 

 cited. Their communication did lionour to the mettin2;s of 

 the philofophcrs, and enriched their volmnes. WalHs, Gre- 

 gory, De Moivre, and Hallev foon communicated a numljer 

 of valuable problems, theorems, and new dcmonftrations, 

 important both in the ne •■ difplav of beautiful, and in their 

 fulceptibility of application to the improvement of the mathe- 

 matical arts. In mixed mathematics the optical cliicoveiie^ 

 of Newton, Hevelius, ajd iJuygcns were, in great part, 

 made firft known to the world through the medium of the 

 Royal Society. Leeuwenhoek and the illu'irious Dr. Robert 

 Hooke publilhed moll of then- microfcopical difcoverics^ in 

 the firlt inftance, through ihe fame cliannel. A multitude 

 of the mod important obfcrvations in aftronomv, the com- 

 munications chiefly of Flamfteed, Hevclkis, Caliini, liaHev, 

 Gregorv, Bullialdus, Auzout, fill the early volumes of thefa. 

 Tranfadions. Bernoulli, Huygens, Hooke, and Wallis com- 

 municated fbme highly curious papers in mechanics and 

 acouftics. Mr. Rovle, M. Hombcrg, Dr. Papin, Dr. Rei- 

 felius, and an inferior philoibphical fociety at Oxford, com- 

 nmnicated various experiments on the gravities oi different 

 fluids, their fuperficial figures, and their laws of movement. 

 Mr. Thomas Savery, in the year 1699, "''^"Je known to theiA 

 an engine of his invention for raifing water bv fteam 



Flamfteed, Borclli, liallcy, Mercalor, Caliini, Bnllialdus, 

 and Greaves, gave, for the improvement of geography and 

 navigation, many obfervatious of the longitudes and latitudes 

 of different places, of the variatiqns of the compafs, &c. &c. 



In architecture and fliip-building, their TranfaClions ex- 

 hibit the valuable papers of Leeuwenhoek *' on the dirterences 

 m timber as it grows in diflcrent countries, and is fcik-d iu 

 diflercnt feafons ;" of Mr. Bulteel " on the flieathing of (hips 

 with lead ;" of Dr. Liiter, Dr. T. Robinfon, and Dr". Wallis, 

 " on bridges, arclic-, \ni.\ chimneys, &c." Wallis and Sal- 

 vetti connnunicated fotne interefling papers (V.i the theory of 

 imific. Dr. Sherard g;ivc a receipt for niakina; china varniflies. 



In pliyliology, meteorology and pneumatics, the refearches 

 of this Society in the lalt thirty years of the Icventecth 

 century were no Icfs diligent and meritorious The baro- 

 meter, the hygrometer, the thermometer, were firlt put to 

 important ule in philofophicai obfcrvatiDn by its menilHTs. 

 6 The 



