SUBJECTS DISCUSSED AT EARLY MEETINGS 33 



his Majesty had expressed his desire of having determined the 

 measure of a degree upon the Earth, and did expect the assistance 

 of this Society in it '. A committee, consisting of the President 

 (Lord Brouncker), the Bishop of Salisbury (Seth Ward), the 

 Bishop of Chester, Sir Robert Moray, Sir Paul Neile, Dr. Wallis, 

 Dr. Christopher Wren, Dr. Goddard, and Mr. Hooke, was 

 nominated to consider the subject and report to the Society. 



In those days the insatiable curiosity that had been stimulated 

 by the ' Novum Organon ' led men to pry with eager enthusiasm 

 into every department of Nature. Bacon had complained that 

 * things of familiar and frequent occurrence do not arrest and 

 detain the thoughts of men, but are received in passing without 

 any inquiry into their causes '. He insisted that * things that are 

 mean or even filthy, no less than the most splendid and costly, 

 must be admitted into Natural History. Nor is Natural History 

 polluted thereby ; for the sun enters the sewer, no less than the 

 palace, yet takes no pollution.' It was in this spirit that the 

 philosophers of the middle of the seventeenth century originated 

 and organized their Society. Naturally they took a more com- 

 prehensive view of their aims and sphere of work than has in later 

 times been deemed necessary or expedient. Not only did they 

 deal with pure and applied science, but they extended their 

 inquiries far and wide among arts and industries, carrying out the 

 view of their great predecessor, that one of their paramount duties 

 lay in the fostering of the progress of discovery and invention in 

 all that concerned the material well-being of society. 



The enumeration of topics discussed at the meetings of the 

 Royal Society during the first years of its history, contained in 

 the letter of Dr. Wallis already quoted, shows over what a wide 

 range the interest of the members extended. But the pages of 

 the Journal-book contain references to many other matters that 

 were considered, and sometimes made the subject of experiment. 

 How keenly alive the Society was to take advantage of every 

 opportunity of advancing knowledge may be estimated from the 

 elaborate series of observations on the depth, movements, and 

 composition of the ocean which were devised to be carried out 

 by the Earl of Sandwich on his voyage to Lisbon to bring over 

 the bride of Charles II. As the Society included some able 



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