THE CONDITION OF SCIENCE IN ENGLAND. 333 



of Hawkins and Drake and Frobisher, like the gauze 

 of the theatre, had obscured the stage when the fortunes 

 of the play were darkest, only to be swept aside to reveal 

 the glory of England's transformation. 



But national progress does not depend solely upon the 

 growth, however remarkable, of polite literature, nor even 

 of commerce. It finds another and potent aid in the labors 

 of the investigator and the inventor in the diffusion of a 

 knowledge of physical science among the people, and in an 

 environment wherein discovery and invention are certain 

 to be appreciated, stimulated and fostered. As will now 

 be seen, the intellectual conditions which existed in Eng- 

 land at the beginning of the seventeenth century were far 

 from favorable either to the development of inventive 

 genius or the encouragement of physical inquiry. 



Whatever of scientific knowledge there was in the 

 country was restricted to the physicians, and to perhaps a 

 few individuals who, like Lord Arundel, built for them- 

 selves huge magnets and other apparatus merely as play- 

 things. Certainly it was not to be found in the Universi- 

 ties. Oxford and Cambridge were under the rule of the 

 Star Chamber. Bruno describes the Dons, despite their 

 gorgeous robes and insignia, as ''devoid of courtesy as 

 cowherds." Student life combined the seclusion of the 

 monastery with the riotous dissipation of the tavern. The 

 Protestant sects wrangled ceaselessly among themselves, 

 or combined their jarring forces against Rome. Faith in 

 Aristotle, so greatly weakened abroad, here stood in unim- 

 paired vigor, and those who had not drunk deep at his 

 fountain, were denied, by statute, a degree either in phil- 

 osophy or theology. 1 There was no suggestion of new 

 advance which was not flouted, no tolerance save for end- 



1 Official statutes declared that Bachelors and Masters of Arts who did 

 not faithfully follow Aristotle were liable to a fine of five shillings for 

 every point of divergence or for every fault committed against the Or- 

 ganon. Bruno wittily called Oxford "the widow of sound learning." 

 Lewes: Biog. Hist, of Philosophy. New York, 1857. 



