PERIOD II. 

 1661-1740 



Characteristics of tlie Period. 



In Western Europe this was a time of consolidation 

 succeeding to one of violent change. Religious wars 

 gave place to dynastic and political wars. In France 

 the tumults of the preceding hundred years sank to 

 rest under the rule of a strong monarchy ; order and 

 refinement became the paramount aims of the governing 

 classes ; literature, the fine arts, and the sciences were 

 patronised by the Court. Other nations imitated as 

 well as they could the example of France. Learning 

 was still largely classical, but the anti-scholastic revolt, 

 which had first made itself felt three hundred years 

 earlier, steadily gained ground ; Descartes, Newton, 

 and Locke were now more influential than the Aris- 

 totelians. This was an age of new scientific societies 

 (Royal Society, Academy of Sciences of Paris, Academia 

 Naturae Curiosorum, etc.). 



The MinutB Anatomists. 

 Magnifying glasses are of considerable antiquity. 

 Seneca mentions the use of a glass globe filled with 

 water in making small letters larger and clearer. Roger 

 Bacon (1276) describes crystal lenses which might be 

 used in reading by old men or those whose sight was 

 impaired. As soon as Galileo had constructed his first 

 telescopes, he perceived that a similar instrument 

 might be caused to enlarge minute objects, and made 



28 



