IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE 17 



our " Mathematick " is one which Newton would have to go 

 to school to learn ; our " Sta ticks, Mechanicks, Magneticks, 

 Chymicks, and Natural Experiments" constitute a mass of 

 physical and chemical knowledge, a glimpse at which would 

 compensate Galileo for the doings of a score of inquisitorial 5 

 cardinals; our "Physick" and "Anatomy" have embraced 

 such infinite varieties of being, have laid open such new worlds 

 in time and space, have grappled, not unsuccessfully, with 

 such complex problems, that the eyes of Vesalius and of 

 Harvey might be dazzled by the sight of the tree that hasio 

 grown out of their grain of mustard seed. 



The fact is perhaps rather too much, than too little, forced 

 upon one's notice, nowadays, that all this marvellous intel- 

 lectual growth has a no less wonderful expression in practical 

 life ; and that, in this respect, if in no other, the movement 15 

 symbolized by the progress of the Royal Society stands with- 

 out a parallel in the history of mankind. 



A series of volumes as bulky as the Transactions of the 

 Royal Society might possibly be filled with the subtle specula- 

 tions of the Schoolmen ; not improbably, the obtaining a 20 

 mastery over the products of mediaeval thought might necessi- 

 tate an even greater expenditure of time and of energy than 

 the acquirement of the "New Philosophy"; but though 

 such work engrossed the best intellects of Europe for a longer 

 time than has elapsed since the great fire, its effects were " writ 25 

 in water," so far as our social state is concerned. 



On the other hand, if the noble first President of the Royal 

 Society could revisit the upper air and once more gladden his 

 eyes with a sight of the familiar mace, he would find himself in 

 the midst of a material civilization more different from that of 3 

 his day, than that of the seventeenth, was from that of the 

 first, century. And if Lord Brouncker's native sagacity had 

 riot deserted his ghost, he would need no long reflection to 

 discover that all these great ships, these railways, these tele- 



