SCIENCE AND REVOLUTION 



is based principally on the ethics of Helvetius." 

 The universality of the French materialists has 

 a lasting monument in the " Encyclopedic," which 

 was begun by Diderot and D'Alembert in 1751, 

 and in which Robinet, Buffon, Holbach, Condil- 

 lac, Lamettrie, Helvetius and Grimm collab- 

 orated. 



The French encyclopedists offer a fair standard 

 by which to judge the scientific position of their 

 age. Science was still in its rudimentary stage, 

 and this corresponded to the control of tools and 

 technique in keeping with the prevailing mode of 

 production. The two epoch-making works on 

 natural history typical for this period are the 

 " Systema Naturae," published by Linnaeus in 

 J 735> an d the " Histoire Naturelle," published by 

 Buffon in 1749. Franklin made his successful ex- 

 periments demonstrating the connection between 

 electricity and lightning in 1752. But neither his 

 work, nor the invention of the spinning- jenny by 

 Hargreaves in 1767, and the perfection of the 

 spinning frame by Arkwright in 1769, produced 

 any immediate effect on the ideas of scientific ex- 

 plorers. Cook was making his first voyage 

 around the world, about this time (1768), and 

 Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774, without, 

 however, knowing what he had discovered. 



