24 \ IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE i 



state affairs, to discourse and consider of philo- 

 sophical enquiries." But our " Mathematick " is 

 one which Newton would have to go to school to 

 learn; our "Staticks, Mechanicks, Magneticks, 

 Chymicks, and Natural Experiments " constitute 

 a mass of physical and chemical knowledge, a 

 glimpse at which would compensate Galileo for 

 the doings of a score of inquisitorial cardinals ; 

 our " Physick " and " Anatomy " have embraced 

 such infinite varieties of being, have laid open such 

 new worlds in time and space, have grappled, not 

 unsuccessfully, with such complex problems, that 

 the eyes of Vesalius and of Harvey might be 

 dazzled by the sight of the tree that has grown 

 out of their grain of mustard seed. 



The fact is perhaps rather too much, than too 

 little, forced upon one's notice, nowadays, that 

 all this marvellous intellectual growth has a 

 no less wonderful expression in practical life ; and 

 that, in this respect, if in no other, the movement 

 symbolised by the progress of the Royal Society 

 stands without a parallel in the history of 

 mankind. 



A series of volumes as bulky as the "Transactions 

 of the Royal Society" might possibly be filled 

 with tin- subtle speculations of the Schoolmen ; 

 not improbably, the obtaining a mastery over the 

 products of mediaeval thought might necessitate' 

 an i-vun greater expenditure of time and of energy 

 than tin- arqniivmeiit of the " N-w Philosophy;" 



