IX THE HISTORY AND SCOPE OF ZOOLOGY 299 



tive anatomists of the nineteenth century and the 

 introduction of the microscope as a serious instrument 

 of accurate observation. 



The influence of the scientific academies and the 

 spirit in ^Yhich they worked in the seventeenth century 

 cannot be better illustrated than by an examination of 

 the early records of the Eoyal Society of London. The 

 spirit which animated the founders and leaders of that 

 society is clearly indicated in its motto '^ Nullius in 

 verba." Marvellous narrations were not permitted at 

 the meetings of the society, but solely demonstrative 

 experiments or the exhibition of actual specimens. 

 Definite rules were laid down by the society for its 

 guidance, designed to ensure the collection of solid 

 facts and the testing of statements embodying novel 

 or remarkable observations. Under the influence of 

 the touchstone of strict inquiry set on foot by the 

 Eoyal Society, the marvels of witchcraft, sympathetic 

 powders, and other relics of mediaeval superstition 

 disappeared like a mist before the sun, whilst accurate 

 observations and demonstrations of a host of new 

 wonders accumulated, amongst which were numerous 

 contributions to the anatomy of animals, and none per- 

 haps more noteworthy than the observations, made by 

 the aid of microscopes constructed by himself, of Leeu- 

 wenhoek, the Dutch naturalist (1683), some of whose 

 instruments were presented by him to the society. 



It was not until the nineteenth century that the 

 microscope, thus early applied by Leeuwenhoek, Mal- 

 pighi. Hook, and Swammerdam to the study of animal 

 structure, was perfected as an instrument, and accom- 



