64 PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



of the senses of hundreds of generations, the weight attached 

 to fifty centuries of unanimous belief among kings, princes, 

 legislators, thinkers in all countries, the wisdom of humanity 

 may be dead against a theory held by a daring solitary man 

 and, yet, that one man, armed with a single physical fact, 

 is enough by himself to overthrow for ever the consensus of 

 mankind and the revered opinions of mighty men. ONE 

 FACT PROVES STRONGER THAN HUMAN WISDOM. A 

 Galileo or a Magellan outweighs a thousand generations. 



This lesson was the result of the wonderful development 

 of scientific activity and enlightenment in every direction. 

 This scientific activity was made still more evident by the 

 foundation of 



Learned Societies : 



The Natural Academy of Naples, created by Porta 

 in 1560; 



The Lyncean Academy of Rome, created by Prince 

 Cesi in 1603, soon followed by the creation of 

 The Accademia del Cimento at Florence (1637), 

 The Royal Society in London (1645), 

 The Royal Society of Sciences in Paris (1666). 

 The Practical Arts, by the side of all this, had advanced 

 immensely, witness Distillation, Glass Making, the Ceramic 

 Art, the application of Chemistry to Art, Medicine, Industry. 

 The Plastic Arts, besides Architecture, Sculpture, 

 Painting had reached incomparable perfection through 

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MICHAEL ANGELO (14741564), 



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RAPHAEL (14831520), 



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The logic of these facts is irresistible; they cannot be 

 explained away by any sophistry. It is in the face of this 

 surging progress that it has been asserted and repeated 

 again and again, that nothing worth mentioning had ad- 

 vanced since Aristotle until Francis Bacon's time. 



How the name of " Dark Ages " was ever given to the 



