THE REVIVAL OF SCIENCE 119 



illness disinclining him for his wonted exercise. 

 The king took a curious interest in anatomy; 

 on 11 May 1663, Pierce, the surgeon, tells 

 Pepys "that the other day Dr. Gierke and he 

 did dissect two bodies, a man and a woman 

 before the King with which the King was 

 highly pleased." Pepys also records, 17 Feb- 

 ruary 1662-3, on the authority of Edward 

 Pickering, another story of a dissection in the 

 royal closet by the king's own hands. 



It has, I think, seldom been pointed out 

 that Charles II's ancestry accounts for many 

 of his qualities and especially for his interest 

 in science. He was very unlike his father, 

 but his mother was the daughter of a Medici 

 princess, and the characteristics of that fam- 

 ily are strongly marked in the "merry mon- 

 arch." His gaiety and wit and his skill in 

 money matters when he chose to apply himself, 

 all bring to mind the Italian family from 

 which he sprang. Even the swarthy com- 

 plexion of Charles II was probably due to his 

 Italian blood, and his fondness for outdoor 

 sports is another trait which is often observed 

 in the Medici themselves. There is an old en- 



