THE REVIVAL OF SCIENCE 143 



entitled The Elephant in the Moon in short 

 verse, and was so pleased with it that he wrote 

 it over again in long verse. Though this 

 "Satire upon the Royal Society" remains a 

 fragment, enough of it is extant to show But- 

 ler did not appreciate what even in these days 

 is not always appreciated, that the minute in- 

 vestigation of subjects and objects which to 

 the ordinary man seem trivial and vain often 

 lead to discoveries of the profoundest import 

 to mankind. 



Ben Jonson, with his flair for presenting 

 what zoologists call "type species," showed, as 

 has been seen, in his Alchemist an unusual but 

 a thorough, mastery of the half scientific and 

 half quack jargon of the craft, so that this play 

 is a quarry for all interested in the history of 

 chemical and physical studies. To the play- 

 writer of the time, the man of science or of 

 pseudo-science was a vague, peevish pedant, 

 much occupied with physiognomies, dreams, 

 and fantastic ideas as to the properties and 

 powers of various substances. But there seems 

 to have been a clear distinction drawn between 



