138 THE MINUTE ANATOMISTS 



In 1662 Hooke was appointed Curator to the Eoyal 

 Society, which had been founded two years before ; his 

 duties were defined in these words : — " to furnish the 

 Society every day they meet with three or four con- 

 siderable experiments, expecting no recompense till the 

 Society get a stock enabling them to give it." Hooke 

 seems to have performed faithfully his part of this 

 exorbitant bargain. The numerous experiments de- 

 manded were performed ; and performed " with the 

 least embarrassment, clearly and evidently."^ 



Hooke was ready to attack by reasoning or experiment 

 every kind of physical question, and the list of his dis- 

 coveries or anticipations is a long one.^ He invented 

 air-pumps, diving bells, micrometers, hygroscopes, arith- 

 metical machines, triple writing machines, wind-gauges, 

 rain-gauges, watch-movements, a screw-divided quadrant, 

 and a variety of optical instruments. He was also an 

 architect and a surveyor. His employment as city- 

 surveyor after the great fire brought him in thousands 

 of pounds, much more, doubtless, than all his experi- 

 ments. 



Waller tells us that Hooke was despicable in person, 

 being crooked and low of stature. He went stooping and 

 very fast. He was of an active, restless, indefatigable 

 spirit, and slept little to the day of his death, often 

 continuing his studies all night. His temper was 

 "melancholy, distrustful and jealous." He could not 

 forget that he had anticipated much that others carried 

 nearer to perfection, and his claims to recognition as the 

 first discoverer involved him in endless controversy of a 

 sordid kind. Newton was driven to resolve never to 

 publish his Optics so long as Hooke lived. 



' Weld's History of the Royal Society ; Waller's Life of Hooke. 



^ Several are mentioned in Rouse Ball's History of MathemoUics, Chap. XV. 



