24 THE NEW SCIENCE AND ENGLISH LITERATURE 



to the understanding ' '. 95 This was the period of the beginning of 

 histology and anatomy, with the descriptions of bone structure, of 

 blood composition, of valves in the veins, etc. There were experi 

 ments in respiration, in the structure of the skin, and particularly 

 with medicinal plants. 98 ' ' A garden of medical plants was created 

 by the Company of Apothecaries as early as 1673, and it was greatly 

 improved in the early years of the 18th century, chiefly through 

 the influence of Sir Hans Sloane". 97 It is claimed that Leeu- 

 wenhoek really discovered the existence of bacteria by means of 

 his microscopes. 98 



Many of the members of the Royal Society were physicians, 

 who willingly accepted "the new Method of Philosophizing ". 

 Their interest concentrated all biological investigations upon their 

 relationship to medical practice. This, however, does not seem to 

 have been greatly improved. ' ' Medical science had been somewhat 

 improved, but the practice of lowering the constitution by exces 

 sive bleedings was so general that it may be questioned on the whole 

 whether it did not kill more than it cured". 99 Surgery, which was 

 differentiated from the practice of medicine, was not changed ap 

 preciably by the new science. It continued cruel and crude until 

 the discovery of anaesthetics. Perhaps the most striking single 

 thing in medical science during this period was the introduction 

 of inoculation against small-pox, in which Lady Mary Wortley 

 Montague took such an important part. 



Medical superstitions still persisted through this period. Sir 

 Kenelm Digby, a charter member of the Royal Society, believed 

 in the power of sympathetic powder ; 100 Robert Boyle defended the 

 mysterious power of "Amulets, or other external Remedies "; 101 

 Richard Wisemann, Surgeon- General to Charles II, assisted at 

 cures of scrofula by royal touch. 102 Elias Ashmole was an adept 

 in Rosicrucian mysteries. It was the period of the famous Great- 



^Hooke, Robert, Micrographia, Preface, p. 9, 1665. 



96 Lecky, W. E. H., England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. I, pp. 621-2. 



97 Ibid. vol. I, p. 622. 



98 Phil. Trans. 1675. 



99 Lecky, W. E. H., England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. I, p. 621. 



100 Phil. Trans. April-June, 1714. 



101 Boyle, Robert, Usefulness of Natural Experimental Knowledge, p. 238. 



102 Trail, H. D., Social England, vol. VI, p. 46. 



