to study plants and animals respectively. John Ray started the
science of zoology with his edition of Francis Willoughby's
"Ornithology" on birds and his own "History of Fishes". He also
attempted the first scientific classification of animals in his
"Synopsis of Quadrupeds". Ray compared anatomies and experimented
on movements of plants and the ascent of sap. He knew what fossils
were. Ray first suggested the concept of species in classification
of animals and plants. He opined that the goodness and wisdom of
God was shown not only by the usefulness of animals to man's uses
as taught by the church, but also by the adaption of animals to
their own lives and surroundings. The vast array and dispersal of
animals found by world explorers all over the world cast doubt on
the biblical story of Noah putting two of every kind of animal on
an ark. The science of botany began with Ray's "History of
Plants", and the researches of Robert Morrison, who was Charles'
physician and keeper of his gardens. The idea from fossils that
existing species of animals were modifications of predecessor
animals conflicted with the religious belief that Noah's ark had
preserved all the varieties of animals. The idea that fossils were
remnants of dead animals existing before man conflicted with the
religious idea that Adam's fall began sin and caused death.
Nicholaus Steno, a Danish physician, demonstrated in 1669 that
layers of strata of rock are always deposited with the oldest
layers on the bottom and the youngest layers on the top, which
began the science of geology. John Aubrey described Stonehenge,
thus founding prehistoric archaeology. He thought it to be a Druid
temple.
The telescope and compound microscope, which has an objective lens
and an eyepiece lens for producing a wide range of magnifications,
were further developed. Nehemia Grew, the son of a grammar school
master who later became a physician, observed and drew plant
anatomy, including leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, ovules, pollen
grains, and stamens. He was the first to observe the existence of
sex in plants. Italian Marcello Malpighi, a physician, used the
new compound microscope to study human skin, spleen, kidneys, and
liver and also compared the livers of several types of animals.
Dutchman Anton van Leeuwenhock, a cloth manufacturer who made
microscopes to inspect the quality of cloth, turned them to use in
understanding the life cycles of mites, lice, and fleas. He
correctly described human blood cells. When he found what he
described as tiny animals (bacteria, protezoa, and rotifers), he
sent clear descriptions of them to the Royal Society in London as
proof against the theory of spontaneous generation, which held
that lower forms of life could arise from nonliving matter. This
started the science of bacteriology. The cellular basis of life
was discovered. Human blood vessels were examined. When the egg in
the female reproductive system was discovered, the status of women
was lifted.
Physician Thomas Willis, son of a farmer, dissected brains of men
and animals to study the anatomical relations of nerves and
arteries. Excess urine had been associated with a wasting disease.
Willis identified diabetes mellitus with excess of urine with
sweetness. Physician Thomas Sydenham, son of a gentleman,
observed epidemic diseases of London over successive years, thus
founding epidemiology. He also furthered clinical medicine by
emphasizing detailed observations of patients and maintaining
accurate records. He wrote a treatise on gout and identified
scarlet fever. He introduced a cooling method of treating
smallpox. But he still relied on the big three treatments: blood-
letting, purging, and sweating. Blood-letting was to draw off bad
blood so that it could be replaced by a better fluid. Another
treatment used was cupping, whereby a vacuum was created by heated
glass cups to draw blood to the surface of the skin. John Locke
performed one of the first successful operations on a kind of
abscess of a man's liver. It was common for people who felt ill to
take a laxative and rest at home.
In 1690, physicians opened the first dispensaries, which gave
treatment and medicine together, to take business away from their
rivals: the apothecaries. London's apothecaries were released in
1694 from jury service and serving as constable, scavenger, or
other parish or ward office because it was necessary that they be
available to attend the sick at all times. Peruvian bark which had
quinine as its alkaloid had been introduced as a proven cure for
the ague, a fever with chills usually due to malaria, in 1653. The
English ceased to believe in holy wells, but went to spas such as
Bath for treatment for disease.
There was more bathing because private homes in towns now had
indoor baths. The public baths came into disuse.
For childbirth, only rich women were attended by physicians. Most
physicians used talismen such as the eagle stone at deliveries.
Caesarian section almost always led to the death of the mother.
Midwives were licensed by the church and could baptize babies.
Jane Sharp wrote "The Midwives Book" with anatomical
illustrations.
Women over thirty had fewer children and the last child born was
at an earlier age than before. This was in part due to birth
control such as coitus-interruptus, long breast-feeding of a
current child and/or the taboo against sex if the wife was still
breast-feeding. Women who were rich often employed wet-nurses.
Babies seldom thrived, or even survived, without out a regular
supply of breast milk.
John Locke, an Oxford don, physician, and son of an attorney,
expressed a view that the monarchy was based on a contractual
relationship with the people. This idea which was first adopted by
revolutionists and then became accepted as orthodoxy. Furthermore,
he articulated the right of resistance, the supremacy of
legislative assemblies, and the responsibility of rulers to answer
to their subjects. He theorized that men turn to forming a civil
government when there is a need to protect accumulated property.
This, along with the protection of life and liberty, was the
primary function of government, before royal pleasure, national
pride, or foreign conquest. He wrote theories on the interaction
of supply, demand, interest rates, rents, coinage, and foreign
exchange rates. He believed that interest rates should be the
natural ones determined by market forces rather than by the
legislature, especially if there was an attempt to lower interest
rates underneath their natural rate, which was not only
undesirable but easily circumvented. He thought that attempting to
legislate contrary to natural economic laws, e.g. prices, was
doomed to failure from unexpected consequences. He agreed with
most mercantilists that by maintaining a large inflow of precious
metals through consistent export of surpluses in foreign trade
would lead to low interest rates, increased trade, increased
capital stock, high employment, and high prices, and therefore a
healthy economy and enrichment of the nation.
John Locke theorized that propositions have probability rather
than certainty. His "Thoughts on Education" was a great book on
the formation of character. Locke also wrote about the large field
for knowledge in labor-saving and economic inventions. He espoused
freedom of thought in "Letters on Toleration" and wrote "An Essay
Concerning Human Understanding", which described how the mind
functions in learning about the world and which attempted to
reconcile science and Christianity. He was a great admirer and
friend of Newton and they shared religious views. He thought that
knowledge comes primarily from experience rather than from the
mind, so that observation and experimentation are necessary to
find truth. Immanuel Kant from Prussia, who became a professor of
logic and metaphysics, was also impressed by Newton's findings and
expressed his philosophy that man has perceptions in space and
time and can have some descriptive knowledge of his world by using
purely intellectual concepts such as possibility, existence,
necessity, and substance. He thought of God as theological
perfection, and morality as practical perfection. The British
primarily adopted the views of their own Hobbes and Locke, and
Bacon before them.
At Oxford and Cambridge Universities, there were the most
enlightened theologians, classicists, orientalists, philologists,
mathematicians, chemists, architects, and musicians. There were
professors of Anglo-Saxon, Hebrew, and Arabic. John Locke's
influence caused modern philosophy to supercede traditional
scholasticism. There were no more disputations to qualify for
degrees. Some of the students were the sons of noblemen and sat at
meals with the heads, tutors, and fellows of the colleges. Most
students were the sons of landowners, clergymen, professional men,
or prosperous men of business. They were known as the gentlemen
commoner students. The few poor students were known as servitors
and paid for their education by menial work. Corporal punishment
ceased. Instead there were fines, suspension, and expulsion.
Fellows of colleges had common rooms for drinking and smoking
together as they had done in taverns outside college walls. The
king had authority to grant licenses in sell or give land in
perpetuity, to encourage founding and augmenting colleges and
schools. The two universities were vested with the presentation of
benefices that had belonged to Papists.
English nonconformists such as Presbyterians were excluded from
Oxford and Cambridge Universities, so they were educated at
Glasgow in Scotland.
Grammar schools were blamed for the past civil war by educating
too many people above their station, so ecclesiastical control now
stifled them. A few dissenting schools were established. Charity
was given to schools for children of the poor for placement as
apprentices, but not to educate them above their stations.
In the 1670s, about 70% of males in London were literate. By 1680,
illiteracy was a special characteristic of the poor instead of a
characteristic of the vast majority of common people as in 1580.
Fountain pens came into use.
Many books written tended to be about the author's experiences,
for instance Samuel Pepys' "Diary", Gilbert Burnet's "History of
my own Times", John Evelyn's lifelong diary with vivid
descriptions of striking events of the day, and nonconformist
Celia Fiennes' description of her tour of England on horseback.
There were many political biographies. Historians did not yet
study history as a continuous process, but narrated self-contained
stories to instruct by example. William Fleetwood wrote about
economic history in "Chronicon Preciogum". George Hicks put
together a "Thesaurus" of the northern languages. Thomas Hyde
wrote on ancient Persian religion. John Spenser compared Jewish
rites with those of other Semitic people, thus starting
comparative religion. Richard Bentley, William's librarian, wrote
a "Dissertation" on the ancient Greeks. He compared the ancient
Greek life with modern life. He also confuted atheism on the
Newtonian system. A translated version of "Critical History of Old
Testament" by Frenchman Richard Simon identified the old testament
as history instead of divine revelation. John Milton wrote
"Paradise Lost", which retells the Biblical story of the Creation
and the fall of Adam and Eve against the backdrop of Satan's
rebellion and expulsion from heaven and emphasized God's justice
in spite of everything. The poem deals with the puritan struggling
against evil and the problem of sin and redemption. It has a cold
and severe conception of moral virtue and stoical self repression
in its characters. There is no sympathy with the human condition.
Reading this book made the English more serious, earnest, and
sober in life and conduct and more firm in the love of freedom.
John Bunyan wrote "Pilgrim's Progress" in which a tinker takes a
journey to find the Everlasting City of heaven and on the way
meets people who try to harm him. But he derives strength from his
adversities. The journey is a metaphor for the Christian soul
trying to find salvation. It is Puritan in its sympathies and has
insights into human nature. John Dryden wrote on large social,
political, and humanistic issues, often by political satire.
William Congreve wrote plays such as a comedy on manners. William
Wycherley wrote cynical satires and portrayed folly, affection,
and vice. John Vanbrugh wrote plays satirizing London high society
and social institutions. John Toland wrote "Christianity and
Mysterious" on deism. "Puss in Boots", "Red Ridinghood", and
"Cinderella" became available in print. There were many female
poets, bookwriters, and playwrights. Anne Finch, later Vicountess
Conway, wrote the philosophical book: "Principle of the Most
Ancient and Modern Philosophy" to reconcile the new science with
Christian belief. In it every creature had a body and a spirit.
Mrs. Aphra Behn wrote "Oroonoko", one of the first novels. Basua
Makin, governess of the little sister of Charles II wrote an essay
to revive the education of women, arguing that women's activity in
wartime showed that they were fit to be educated. Elizabeth
Elstob, who studied Teutonic languages, was one of the founders of
women's education. Mary Astell proposed a college for women. Some
women painted portraits.
There were rigid censorship acts from 1662 to 1695. The first
required that no one could print a book without first registering
it with the Company of Stationers of London and having it licensed
by appropriate authority: common law books by the Lord Chancellor
or the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, affairs of state and history
books by the Secretaries of State, heraldry books by the Earl
Marshall or Kings of Arms Garter, university books by the
Chancellor or Vice Chancellor of either of the universities, and
all others including divinity, physics, and philosophy by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, or Bishop of London. Books could be
imported only into London and not sold until approved by the
Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London after being opened
and viewed by a scholar appointed by these bishops and a
representative of the Company of Stationers. If heretical,
seditious, scandalous, schismatic or otherwise dangerous or
offensive, the importer could be punished. No one could print or
import copies of any books without consent of the owner with right
by letters patent. The penalty for not doing so was to forfeit
6s.9d. for each such book, of which the king would receive one
half and the owner one half. Printers had to set their own name to
the books they printed and also the name of the author or forfeit
such book. Only freemen of London who were members of the Company
of Stationers could sell books. The Company of Stationers had the
authority accompanied by a constable to search all houses and
shops where they knew or had "probable reason" to suspect books
were being printed. They could search houses of persons of other
trades only by special warrant. They could examine books found to
determine if they were licensed and, if not, to seize them.
Justices could imprison offenders. The first offense by offending
printers was to be punished by suspension from printing for three
years, the second offense by permanent disallowance from printing,
fine, imprisonment, and corporal punishment not extending to life
or limb. This statute was enforced by frequent prosecutions, such
as of publishers of pornographic books.
The only newspapers to appear between 1660 and 1679 were official
government sheets. But in 1695 freedom of the press was
established by the abolition of the licensing of publications,
including newspapers. Locke had argued for this freedom, stating
"I know not why a man should not have liberty to print whatever he
would speak and to be answerable for the one just as he is for the
other..."In 1702 the first daily newspaper in the world came into
existence in England. The Stationer's Company monopoly of printing
also ended in 1695. Printing was not regulated and no longer
criminal just because it was unauthorized. Printing could be done
in other places than London, York, Oxford, and Cambridge.
The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Many successful
merchants and manufacturers bought landed estates and established
a line of country squires or baronets or even peers. The fashion
started in the nobility and the richest mercantile families that
their wives should become ladies of leisure. For workers though,
there was constant underemployment. In periods of economic crisis
industrial workers lost their jobs. Much work was seasonal. Anyone
who could work most of the time was fortunate. Laboring and out-
servants, who comprised one fourth of the population, and
cottagers and paupers, who comprised another fourth of the
population, had to spend more than they earned. The poor rate
collected for the cottagers and paupers was 3d. per week. There
was an agricultural depression that was deepest in the 1680s after
the collapse of a boom. It was the only bad depression experienced
in peace time. There was famine in 1698.
Any person receiving relief from any parish and his family members
cohabiting with him was required to wear a badge with a "P" which
identified his parish. This was to differentiate them from idle,
sturdy, and disorderly beggars who were not entitled to relief.
There were more poor people and, despite the poor laws, many
became rogues or vagabonds or starved to death. Many went from
parish to parish to build cottages and consumed all the wood there
and then went to another parish. So the parishes were allowed by
statute to remove any person coming to settle in any tenement
under the value of ten pounds who was likely to be chargeable to
it. They were then removed to the last parish were they had
resided for at least forty days. Excepted were people temporarily
moving to another parish to work at harvest time. The overall
effect was to decrease the mobility of people. But a later statute
permitted greater movement of poor people by allowing those who
were poor for want of work to go to another parish where labor was
wanted. They had to bring a certificate of their present parish
membership to the new parish, where they could settle if they
rented a tenement worth ten pounds a year or served in a parish
office. Later, settlement had to be given to inhabitants paying
its rates, and unmarried inhabitants hired for one year, and
apprentices bound by indenture. But parishes were displeased with
the requirement to give settlements to these people because they
feared they would become poor and need parish assistance, thereby
increasing the rates to be paid.
Parish poor houses were converted into spinning schools to obtain
an income. Parishes of large towns were combined to set up large
workhouses, where the poor could be set to unskilled manufacture,
but the managers lacked the character and education to make them
work.
Because prisoners often died before trial and the poor prisoners
became instructed in the practice of thievery in prison, they were
set to work on materials provided to them at public expense. No
parish was rated at more than 6d. per week for such. The president
and governors of corporations oversaw rogues, vagrants, sturdy
beggars, and idle or disorderly persons working in corporations or
workhouses.
Assessments were made for building and repairing gaols in order to
maintain the health and safe custody of the prisoners. Also, gaol
fever, a virulent form of typhus, was so prevalent in the large
prisons for criminals and debtors that it frequently spread
through the adjacent towns. During some assizes, it killed
sheriffs, lawyers, and justices.
In 1692, London lands were taxed for the relief of orphans.
Churchwardens could seize the goods and chattels of putative
fathers and mothers deserting bastard children.
From 1691 to 1740, Societies for the Reformation of Manners
prosecuted poor people for moral offenses.
All hackney coaches and stage coaches in all the realm became
required to be licensed. The turnpike system came into use. Tolls
were paid for road upkeep and repair by private companies. The
local parishes ceased to have this responsibility. John Ogilby
wrote the first road book based on actual surveys of the roads.
Stage coaches cost a shilling for every five miles and went 40-50
miles a day. The trip from London to Oxford was twelve hours. The
company of Coach and Coach Harness Makers was founded with the
consent of the king. The body of a coach hung from the frame by
leather braces. One axle pivoted for turns. Plate glass was used
in the windows. Rivers improved so that most places were no more
distant from navigable waters than a long day's haul on land.
The several post offices were put under the authority of one
Postmaster General appointed by the king for the purpose of speed
and safety of dispatches, which were carried by horseback. One
sheet letter going less than 80 miles cost 2d., and more than 80
miles, 4d.
When the army was disbanded after the Restoration, its officers
and soldiers were allowed return to their trades and their
apprenticeships without serving the usual seven years. Parishes
were required to provide for poor and maimed officers and soldiers
who served Charles I or Charles II. The Royal Hospital founded by
Charles as a home for veteran soldiers opened in 1692. Greenwich
palace was converted to a hospital for seamen and their widows and
children to encourage men to become seamen: mariner, seaman,
waterman, fisherman, lighterman, bargeman, keelman, or seafaring
man in the king's Navy. Also, disabled seamen's children were to
be educated at the expense of the hospital.
Charles retained one regiment from which he started a small
standing army, which slowly increased in size ever after. The army
was primarily mercenary, as it had been in medieval times, with
officers buying their commissions. Colonels were the proprietors
of their regiments and captains were the proprietors of their
companies. The soldiers were ill mannered, swearing and cursing
and stealing, sometimes from peoples' homes, and intimidating
people with their swords. The bayonet was invented to attach onto
a gun, which were muzzle-loading with a match lock. So pikemen
with their long spears became obsolete. Hand grenades and small
explosive bombs came into use about 1670. Explosives were also
used in mines.
There was resort to many devices to fund wars. The land tax was
still the primary tax. The customs and excise taxes were often
extended to more goods and wares. Sometimes there were duties
imposed on marriages, births, and deaths. Also, hawkers, peddlers,
and other trading persons going from town to town to other men's
houses on foot or on horse carrying wares had to buy a license.
There were also loans from privileged companies such as the Bank
of England, East India Co., and the South Sea Co. Commissioners
were appointed to take and state the account of all money in the
public revenue. This discouraged the prevalent corruption of
government officials and thereby the people were encouraged to pay
their taxes.