IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE 21 



Thus it was that the half-dozen young men, studious 

 of the "New Philosophy," who met in one another's 

 lodgings in Oxford or in London, in the middle of the 

 seventeenth century, grew in numerical and in real 

 strength, until, in its latter part, the "Royal Society for 

 the Improvement of Natural Knowledge" had already 

 become famous, and had acquired a claim upon the 

 veneration of Englishmen, which it has ever since re- 

 tained, as the principal focus of scientific activity in 

 our islands, and the chief champion of the cause it was 

 formed to support. 



It was by the aid of the Royal Society that Newton 

 published his "Principia." 9 If all the books in the world, 

 except the "Philosophical Transactions," 10 were destroyed, 

 it is safe to say that the foundations of physical science 

 would remain unshaken, and that the vast intellectual 

 progress of the last two centuries would be largely, 

 though incompletely, recorded. Nor have any signs of 

 halting or of decrepitude manifested themselves in our 

 own times. As in Dr. Wallis' days, so in these, "our 

 business is, precluding theology and state affairs, to dis- 

 course and consider of philosophical enquiries." But 

 our "Mathematick" is one which Newton would have to 

 go to school to learn; our "Staticks, Mechanicks, Mag- 

 ne ticks, Chymicks, and Natural Experiments" consti- 

 tute 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 



9 Newton's Principia, or The Mathematical Principles of Natu- 

 ral Philosophy, was published by the Royal Society in 1686. 



10 The Philosophical Transactions has been since 1665 one of 

 the regular publications of the Royal Society. 



