13 



however, was not begun until the year 1665, and then only in the 

 form of a few pages, produced at uncertain intervals, which, being 

 collected, made a thin volume at the end of the year. 



" Many years elapsed before the * Philosophical Transactions' be- 

 came of larger dimensions. But we are not therefore to suppose, be- 

 cause so little was done in the way of publication, that little was really 

 done for the promotion of the objects which the Founders of the Royal 

 Society had in view. At this time Lord Bacon had already pointed 

 out the right method to be pursued for the advancement of learning; 

 and the abstract science of Geometry, inherited from an ancient na- 

 tion, had been partially applied in the investigation of the physical 

 sciences. Nevertheless it cannot be said that these sciences were more 

 than in an infant state ; and some which are now among the greatest 

 subjects of attention, for instance Chemistry and Geology, had barely 

 been called into existence. There was indeed as yet no sufficient 

 number of facts collected on which the superstructure of science 

 could be raised. The Founders of the Royal Society well compre- 

 hended what was required. If I may be allowed to use a homely 

 expression, they had the good sense to begin at the beginning ; and 

 their first endeavours were to collect a larger number of facts by a 

 course of experimental inquiry. Dr. Birch's * History,' which occu- 

 pies a period of twenty-seven years from the foundation of the Royal 

 Society, furnishes us with a great deal of valuable information as to 

 this part of their labours, and gives us a more just notion of what the 

 Royal Society accomplished in those days, than can be obtained from 

 the * Philosophical Transactions ' themselves. At the several Meetings 

 experiments were suggested, which were afterwards carried into 

 effect. Mr., afterwards Dr. Hooke, received a special appointment 

 as experimentalist ; for which office he was well qualified, not less by 

 his practical skill, than by his great and discursive genius. The col- 

 lection of the experiments proposed and made during the period which 

 I have mentioned would of itself form an instructive volume. It 

 might not indeed add much to our present knowledge, but it would 

 show us in what manner much of that knowledge with which we are 

 now familiar had its origin, and at the same time furnish a grand 

 example of the caution and circumspection with which all experi- 

 mental inquiries should be conducted. 



" With the gradual extension of knowledge, the method of inquiry 



