ijct. ir.] DISSERTATION SECOND. 1 S& 



5. ESTABLISHMENT OF ACADEMIES, &C. 



About the middle of the seventeenth century were form- 

 ed those associations of scientifick men, which, under the 

 appellation of Academies or Philosophical Societies, have 

 contribute:! so much to the advancement of knowledge in 

 E'irope. The Accidentia del C intent o of Florence, found- 

 ed in 1651, carried in its name the impression of the new 

 philosophy. It was in Ihe country of Galileo where the 

 first institution for the prosecution of experimental know- 

 ledge might be expected to arise, and the monuments which 

 it has left behind it will ever create regret for the shortness 

 of its duration. 



England soon after showed the same example. It has 

 been already remarked, that, during the civil wars, a num- 

 ber of learned and scientifick men sought, in the retirement of 

 Oxford, an asylum from the troubles to which the country 

 was then a prey. They had met as early as 1645; most 

 of them were attached to the royal cause ; and after the 

 restoration of Charles the Second, they were incorporated 

 by a royal charter in 1662. 



The first idea of this institution seems to have been sug- 

 gested by the writings of Baeon, who, in recommending the 

 use of experiment, had severely censured the schools, col- 

 leges, and academies of his own time, as adverse to the 

 advancement of knowledge ;* and, in the Nova Atlantis, had 



1 " In moribus et instifutis scholarum, academiarum, collegio- 

 rum, et similium conventuum quae doctorum hominum sedibuset 

 eruditionis culturae destinata sunt, omnia progressui scientiarum. 

 ad versa inveniuntur. Lectiones entm exercitia ita sunt disposi- 

 ta, ut aliud a consuetis baud facile cuiquam in mentem veniat 

 cogitare, aut contem[;lari. Si vero unus aut alter fortasse judicii 

 libertale uti sustinuerit, is si'ji soli banc oper.^m imponere possit; 

 ab aliorura autem consortio nihil capiet utilitatis. Sin et hoc 



