228 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



The universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Dub- 

 lin, and Glasgow l are older than most of the German 

 universities which have done the great scientific work 

 of this century. So far as wealth is concerned, no in- 

 stitution on the Continent could compare with the two 

 older English universities, and the Royal Society had 

 in the beginning of this century long emerged from the 

 poverty which characterised her early history during the 

 lifetime of Newton. 2 Let us look at the subject from a 



ophy, . . . and particularly of what j 

 hath been called the N e w Philosophy 

 or Experimental Philosophy." It 

 formed a branch at Oxford in 1649, 

 and received a royal charter in 

 1662, four years before the "Acad- 

 emic des Sciences " at Paris which 

 had also previously existed as a 

 private gathering of savants at the 

 houses of Mersenne, Montmort, and 

 Thevenot was formally installed in 

 the Bibliotheque du Roi. The 

 " Accademia del Cimento " at Flor- 

 ence was established in 1657 ; but 

 it only lasted ten years. Very 

 irregular were also the life and 

 labours of the "Academia natune 

 Curiosorum" (later called A. 

 Csesarea Leopoldina), founded at 

 Vienna in 1652. The Accademia 

 del Cimento printed an important 

 volume of Transactions in 1666. 

 The Royal Society published its 

 first volume in 1665. The first 

 volume of the 'Journal des Sa- 

 vants ' is of the same year. Very 

 complete information will be found 

 on all foreign Academies in the 

 'Grande Encyclopedic,' art. "Acad- 

 emic." 



1 Although the dates of the foun- 

 dation of Oxford and Cambridge are 

 uncertain, they were certainly more 

 than a century probably two cen- 

 turies older than Prague, the first 

 German university, founded by the 

 Emperor Charles IV. in 1347. The 



older Scotch universities were found- 

 ed in the course of the fifteenth 

 century, about the same time that 

 Leipsic appears to have had its 

 origin through a secession from 

 Prague. The German universities 

 Halle, Gottingen which were 

 the seat of modern erudition, have 

 a much later date, as given in chap, 

 ii. p. 159, above. Edinburgh was 

 founded at the end of the six- 

 teenth century, and Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin, about the same time. 

 Ley den, which exerted a great in- 

 fluence both on Scotch and German 

 higher education during the seven- 

 teenth century, was somewhat older 

 than Edinburgh. 



2 It appears from Weld ('History,' 

 &c., vol. i. pp. 231, 241, 246, 316, 46*2, 

 473) that the financial position of 

 the Royal Society was precarious, 

 and frequently engaged the serious 

 attention of the Council, during 

 the whole first hundred years of its 

 existence ; that as late as 1740 the 

 whole revenue of the Society was 

 only 232 per annum. An effort 

 was then made to get in the large 

 arrears of subscriptions and other 

 contributions. In the following 

 year the income seems to have 

 exceeded the expenditure by 297. 

 Weld adds, " It is a painful task to 

 record these periodical visitations 

 of poverty, which threatened the 

 very existence of the Royal Society ; 



