206 



SAVAXS OP F3AXCE. 



clierislied national relic of the time 

 of Old Knoll, who rises in popular 

 estimation as the character of 

 Charles II. sinks. 



SCIENCE AND SUPERSTITION. 



This great scientific body was 

 established in 1660, deriving its 

 origin from previous societies of 

 learned men, who met together for 

 the discussion of subjects of science 

 and art. The meetings were some- 

 times held at Dr. Goddard's lodg- 

 ings in Wood Street, where he kept 

 an operator for grinding lenses; 

 sometimes at the Bull Head Tavern 

 in Cheapside ; and sometimes at 

 Gresham College. Amongst the 

 celebrated names connected with 

 the proceedings of the infant asso- 

 ciation, are those of Boyle, Evelyn, 

 Cowley the poet, and Wren the 

 architect. One result of its labours 

 was remarkable. During the civil 

 war, no fewer than eighty persons 

 were executed in Suffolk for witch- 

 craft ; and, in 1649, fourteen men 

 and women were burned for witch- 

 craft in a little village near Ber- 

 wick, where the entire population 

 consisted only of fourteen families. 

 It is stated by Hutchinson that 

 there were but two witches exe- 

 cuted in England after the Eoyal 

 Society published their Transac- 

 tions, and Sir Walter Scott has 

 given it as his opinion, that the 



establishment of the Eoyal Society 

 tended greatly to destroy the be- 

 lief in witchcraft and superstition 

 generally. The discontinuance of 

 " touching " for scrofula, or " king's 

 evil," by the royal hand, was due 

 to the same wholesome influence, 

 although this superstition held 

 out the longest. Dr. Samuel John- 

 son was "touched" by Queen Anne 

 so late as 1712. 



TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD. 



In the year 1667, the Eoyal So- 

 ciety successfully performed the ex- 

 periment of transfusing the blood 

 of a sheep into a man in perfect 

 health. The subject of the experi- 

 ment was Arthur Coga, who, as 

 Pepys says, was a kind of minister, 

 and, being in want of money, hired 

 himself for a guinea. Drs. Lower 

 and King performed the experi- 

 ment, injecting twelve oz. of sheep's 

 blood, without producing any in- 

 convenience. The patient drank 

 a glass or two of Canary, took a 

 pipe of tobacco, and went home 

 with a stronger and fuller pulse 

 than before. The experiment was 

 in a day or two afterw;irds repeated 

 on Coga, when fourteen oz. of 

 sheep's blood was substituted for 

 eight oz. of his own. Pepys went 

 to see him, and heard him give an 

 account in Latin of the operation 

 and its effects. 



SAVINS OF FEANCE, 



The following reminiscences of 

 Cuvier, Humboldt, Gay-Lussac, 

 Berthollet, and La Place are from 

 memoranda by Sir Humphry 

 Davy: 



" Cuvier had even in his address 

 and manner the character of a su- 

 perior man ; much general power 

 and eloquence in conversation, and 

 ,a great variety of information on 

 scientific as well as popular sub- 



jects. I should say of him, that he 

 is the most distinguished man of 

 talents I have known ; but I doubt 

 if he is entitled to the appellation 

 of a man of genius." 



" De Humboldt was one of the 

 most agreeable men I have ever 

 known; social, modest, full of in- 

 telligence, with facilities of every 

 kind : almost too fluent in conver- 

 sation. His travels display his 

 spirit of enterprise. His works are 



