4 RECORD OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 



them has recorded, * their first purpose was no more than only the 

 satisfaction of breathing a freer air, and of conversing in quiet one 

 with another, without being ingag'd in the passions and madness 

 of that dismal age.' ' For such a candid and impassionate company 

 as that was, and for such a gloomy season, what could have been 

 a fitter subject than Natural Philosophy ? ' l 



As the ' first ground and foundation ' of the Royal Society was 

 laid at these meetings, it is interesting to have an authoritative 

 account of them from one who took part in them the mathema- 

 tician Dr. John Wallis : 2 



'About the year 1645, while I lived in London (at a time when, 

 by our civil wars, academical studies were much interrupted in 

 both our Universities), beside the conversation of divers eminent 

 divines, as to matters theological, I had the opportunity of being 

 acquainted with divers worthy persons, inquisitive into natural 

 philosophy, and other parts of human learning ; and particularly 

 of what hath been called the New Philosophy or Experimental 

 Philosophy. We did by agreements, divers of us, meet weekly in 

 London on a certain day [and hour, under a certain penalty, and 

 a weekly contribution for the charge of experiments, with certain 

 rules agreed upon amongst us], 3 to treat and discourse of such 

 affairs ; of which number were Dr. John Wilkins (afterwards 

 Bishop of Chester [then chaplain to the Prince Elector Palatine, in 

 London]), Dr. Jonathan Goddard, Dr. George Ent, Dr. Glisson, 

 Dr. Merret (Drs. in Physick), Mr. Samuel Foster, then Professor 

 of Astronomy at Gresham College, or some place near adjoyning, 

 Mr. Theodore Haak* (a German of the Palatinate, and then 

 resident in London, who, I think, gave the first occasion, and first 

 suggested those meetings), and many others. 



Sir Peter Ball, of Devon, in the Middle Temple. They had meetings at Taverns before, 

 but 'twas here where it formally and in good earnest sett up.' ' Brief Lives/ ii, p. 322. 

 William Ball, or Balle, was an astronomer and a man of influence among the philosophers. 

 He was named a member of Council in the first Charter, and was designated as the first 

 Treasurer of the Society in the second Charter. 



1 Sprat, ' History of the Royal Society,' pp. 53, 55. 



2 'Account of some Passages of his own Life,' addressed to Dr. Thomas Smith and 

 dated from Oxford, January 29, 1696-7. It was published in the Appendix to the Preface 

 by the editor, Thomas Hearne, to his edition of ' Peter Langtoft's Chronicle '. Oxford, 

 1725, pp. clxi-clxiv. 



3 The passages in square brackets are taken from Wallis's ' A Defence of the Royal 

 Society ', 1678. 4 Misprinted Hank. 



