examination to the very last possibility, and so it was that men, 

 who were filled with this spirit of inquiry, took the conventional 

 current beliefs of their fellows and, like Socrates of old, subjected 

 them to close and accurate analysis. But their method led them 

 further than this. It was not destructive only. Time and labour 

 were expended without ceasing upon the problems that now pre- 

 sented themselves, and the arduous work that was undertaken was 

 not without its reward. 



What matter if ridicule was poured upon them, what matter if 

 contempt and invective were hurled against them, what matter if 

 their labours were condemned by many as sheer waste of time and 

 energy! They were building upon a foundation of fact which, they 

 firmly believed, was not to be a foundation upon the shifting sand 

 of assumption, but upon which a future science was to rest safely 

 and securely. "The philosophy, I recommend", said Robert 

 Boyle, "is much more difficult, laborious and expensive than that 

 of Aristotle and the schools, but," he continues in language becom- 

 ing a noble yet humble man, "I am content provided experimental 

 knowledge be really promoted, to contribute to the meanest way to 

 advance it and had rather be an underbuilder and even dig in the 

 quarry for materials towards so useful a structure than not assist 

 in erecting it." The inscription, which one might well place upon 

 the corner-stone of the great building, the foundation of which such 

 men as Boyle were laying, is splendidly expressed by the great poet : 



"Not clinging to some ancient saw; 

 Not mastered by some modern term ; 

 Not swift nor slow to change, but firm : 

 And in its season bring the law." 



A further glimpse into this interesting and important period in 

 the history of science and philosophy may be had by turning to the 

 works of the literary writers of the day. In Gulliver's "Voyage to 

 Laputa", 1 Swift has given us an inimitable piece of satire upon the 

 work of the Royal Society. Gulliver is introduced into the learned 

 academy of Lagado. There he finds the natural philosophers all 

 busy with projects and all honoured by the dignified title of pro- 

 jectors. One has been for eight years engaged on a project for 



1 Gulliver's Travels, Pt. Ill, Ch. 5 and 6. 



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