48 
She comes!—the Goddess!— through the whispering air. 
Bright as the morn, descends the blushing car; 
Each circling wheel a wreath of flowers entwines. 
And gem’d with flowers the silver harness shines; 
The golden bits with flowery studs are deck’d, 
And knots of flowers the crimson reins connect. 
And now on earth the silver axle rings, 
And the shell sinks upon its slender springs; 
Light from her airy seat the Goddess bounds, 
And steps celestial press the pansied grounds.—• 
And soon the Goddess, with attention sweet. 
Turns to the Gnomes , who circle round her feet. 
After the discovery of the air-pump by Boyle, it was natural to expect 
that experiments would be made with it upon plants, as well as animals. 
Accordingly we find in the first volumes of the Philosophical Transactions, 
published in 1 665 * 
“PROPOSALS” 
“ To try the Effects of the Pneumatic Engine exhausted, in Plants, Seedd, 
Eggj of Silkworms, &c.” 
“ The noble Mr. Boyle suggests, as proper for the approaching spring, 
that it may be tried,” 
* The idea of a literary society seems first to have originated with the great Lord Bacon, the father 
of modern philosophy, who recommended to the reigning prince to institute societies of learned men, 
who should give to the world from time to time a regular account of their researches and discoveries. 
It was the idea of this great philosopher, that the learned should be united, as it were, into one im¬ 
mense republic; which, though consisting of many detached states, should hold a strict union and pre¬ 
serve a mutual intelligence with each other, in every thing that regards the common interest. The 
want of this union and intelligence he laments as one of the chief obstacles to the advancement of 
science; and, justly considering the institution of public societies, in the different countries of Europe, 
under the auspices of the sovereign, to be the best remedy for that defect, he has given, in his fanciful 
work, the New Atalantis, the delineation of a philosophical society on the most extended plan, for the 
improvement of all arts and sciences; a work which, though written in the language, and tinctured 
with the colouring of romance, is full of the noblest philosophic views. The plan of Lord Bacon, 
which met with little attention from the age in which he lived, was destined to produce its effect in a 
period not very distant. The scheme of a philosophical college by Cowley is acknowledged to have 
had a powerful influence in procuring the establishment of the Royal Society of London by charter 
from Charles II.; and Cowley’s plan is manifestly copied in almost all its parts from that in the New 
Atalantis. 
At this period Mr. Boyle, Mr. Wren, Lord Brounker, Dr. Wallis, and other learned men, held meet¬ 
ings at Oxford, in which were received accounts of whatever was doing in the study of Nature; 
and many experiments were exhibited. The researches of Galileo, Toricelli, and Paschal, concerning 
