COÖPERATION IN SCIENCE--THE ROYAL SOCIETY
The period from 1637 to 1687 affords a good illustration of the value
for the progress of science of the coöperation in the pursuit of truth
of men of different creeds, nationalities, vocations, and social ranks.
At, or even before, the beginning of that period the need of coöperation
was indicated by the activities of two men of pronouncedly social
temperament and interests, namely, the French Minim father, Mersenne,
and the Protestant Prussian merchant, Samuel Hartlib.
Mersenne was a stimulating and indefatigable correspondent. His letters
to Galileo, Jean Rey, Hobbes, Descartes, Gassendi, not to mention other
scientists and philosophers, constitute an encyclopedia of the learning
of the time. A mathematician and experimenter himself, he had a genius
for eliciting discussion and research by means of adroit questions.
Through him Descartes was drawn into debate with Hobbes, and with
Gassendi, a champion of the experimental method. Through him the
discoveries of Harvey, Galileo, and Torricelli, as well as of many
others, became widely known. His letters, in the dearth of scientific
associations and the absence of scientific periodicals, served as a
general news agency among the learned of his time. It is not surprising
that a coterie gathered about him at Paris. Hobbes spent months in
daily intercourse with this group of scientists in the winter of
1636-37.
Hartlib, though he scarcely takes rank with Mersenne as a scientist, was
no less influential. Of a generous and philanthropic disposition, he
repeatedly impoverished himself in the cause of human betterment. His
chief reliance was on education and improved methods of husbandry, but
he resembled Horace Greeley in his hospitality to any project for the
public welfare.
One of Hartlib's chief hopes for the regeneration of England, if not of
the whole world, rested on the teachings of the educational reformer
Comenius, a bishop of the Moravian Brethren. In 1637, Comenius having
shown himself rather reluctant to put his most cherished plans before
the public, his zealous disciple precipitated matters, and on his own
responsibility, and unknown to Comenius, issued from his library at
Oxford _Preludes to the Endeavors of Comenius_. Besides Hartlib's
preface it contained a treatise by the great educator on a _Seminary of
Christian Pansophy_, a method of imparting an encyclopedic knowledge of
the sciences and arts.
The two friends were followers of the Baconian philosophy. They were
influenced, as many others of the time, by the _New Atlantis_, which
went through ten editions between 1627 and 1670, and which outlined a
plan for an endowed college with thirty-six Fellows divided into
groups--what would be called to-day a university of research endowed by
the State. It is not surprising to find Comenius (who in his student
days had been under the influence of Alsted, author of an encyclopedia
on Baconian lines) speaking in 1638 on the need of a collegiate society
for carrying on the educational work that he himself had at heart.
In 1641 Hartlib published a work of fiction in the manner of the _New
Atlantis_, and dedicated it to the Long Parliament. In the same year he
urged Comenius to come to London, and published another work, _A
Reformation of Schools_. He had great influence and did not hesitate to
use it in his adoptive country. Everybody knew Hartlib, and he was
acquainted with all the strata of English society; for although his
father had been a merchant, first in Poland and later in Elbing, his
mother was the daughter of the Deputy of the English Company in Dantzic
and had relatives of rank in London, where Hartlib spent most of his
life. He gained the good-will of the Puritan Government, and even after
Cromwell's death was working, in conjunction with Boyle, for the
establishment of a national council of universal learning with Wilkins
as president.
When Comenius arrived in London he learned that the invitation had been
sent by order of Parliament. This body was very anxious to take up the
question of education, especially university education. Bacon's
criticisms of Oxford and Cambridge were still borne in mind; the
legislators considered that the college curriculum was in need of
reformation, that there ought to be more fraternity and correspondence
among the universities of Europe, and they even contemplated the
endowment by the State of scientific experiment. They spoke of erecting
a university at London, where Gresham College had been established in
1597 and Chelsea College in 1610. It was proposed to place Gresham
College, the Savoy, or Winchester College, at the disposition of the
pansophists. Comenius thought that nothing was more certain than that
the design of the great Verulam concerning the opening somewhere of a
universal college, devoted to the advancement of the sciences, could be
carried out. The impending struggle, however, between Charles I and the
Parliament prevented the attempt to realize the pansophic dream, and the
Austrian Slav, who knew something of the horrors of civil war, withdrew,
discouraged, to the Continent.
Nevertheless, Hartlib did not abandon the cause, but in 1644 broached
Milton on the subject of educational reform, and drew from him the brief
but influential tract on _Education_. In this its author alludes rather
slightingly to Comenius, who had something of Bacon's infelicity in
choice of titles and epithets and who must have seemed outlandish to the
author of _Lycidas_ and _Comus_. But Milton joined in the criticism of
the universities--the study of words rather than things--and advocated
an encyclopedic education based on the Greek and Latin writers of a
practical and scientific tendency (Aristotle, Theophrastus, Cato, Varro,
Vitruvius, Seneca, and others). He outlined a plan for the establishment
of an institution to be known by the classical (and Shakespearian) name
"Academy"--a plan destined to have a great effect on education in the
direction indicated by the friends of pansophia.
In this same year Robert Boyle, then an eager student of eighteen just
returned to England from residence abroad, came under the influence of
the genial Hartlib. In 1646 he writes his tutor inquiring about books
on methods of husbandry and referring to the new philosophical college,
which valued no knowledge but as it had a tendency to use. A few months
later he was in correspondence with Hartlib in reference to the
Invisible College, and had written a third friend that the corner-stones
of the invisible, or, as they termed themselves, the philosophical
college, did now and then honor him with their company. These
philosophers whom Boyle entertained, and whose scientific acumen,
breadth of mind, humility, and universal good-will he found so
congenial, were the nucleus of the Royal Society of London, of which, on
its definite organization in 1662, he was the foremost member. They had
begun to meet together in London about 1645, worthy persons inquisitive
into natural philosophy--Wilkins, interested in the navigation of the
air and of waters below the surface; Wallis, mathematician and
grammarian; the many-sided Petty, political economist, and inventor of a
double-bottomed boat, who had as a youth of twenty studied with Hobbes
in Paris in 1643, and in 1648 was to write his first treatise on
industrial education at the suggestion of Hartlib, and finally make a
survey of Ireland and acquire large estates; Foster, professor of
astronomy at Gresham College; Theodore Haak from the Pfalz; a number of
medical men, Dr. Merret, Dr. Ent, a friend of Harvey, Dr. Goddard, who
could always be relied upon to undertake an experiment, Dr. Glisson, the
physiologist, author in 1654 of a treatise on the liver (_De Hepate_),
and others. They met once a week at Goddard's in Wood Street, at the
Bull's Head Tavern in Cheapside, and at Gresham College.
Dr. Wilkins, the brother-in-law of Cromwell, who is regarded by some as
the founder of the Royal Society, removed to Oxford, as Warden of
Wadham, in 1649. Here he held meetings and conducted experiments in
conjunction with Wallis, Goddard, Petty, Boyle, and others, including
Ward (afterwards Bishop of Salisbury) interested in Bulliau's Astronomy;
and the celebrated physician and anatomist, Thomas Willis, author of a
work on the brain (_Cerebri Anatome_), and another on fevers (_De
Febribus_), in which he described epidemic typhoid as it occurred during
the Civil War in 1643.
In the mean time the weekly meetings in London continued, and were
attended when convenient by members of the Oxford group. At Gresham
College by 1658 it was the custom to remain for discussion Wednesdays
and Thursdays after Mr. Wren's lecture and Mr. Rooke's. During the
unsettled state of the country after Cromwell's death there was some
interruption of the meetings, but with the accession of Charles II in
1660 there came a greater sense of security. New names appear on the
records, Lord Brouncker, Sir Robert Moray, John Evelyn, Brereton, Ball,
Robert Hooke, and Abraham Cowley.
[Illustration: _From a print of 1675_
WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD]
Plans were discussed for a more permanent form of organization,
especially on November 28, 1660, when something was said of a design to
found a college for the promotion of physico-mathematical experimental
learning. A few months later was published Cowley's proposition for an
endowed college with twenty professors, four of whom should be
constantly traveling in the interests of science. The sixteen resident
professors "should be bound to study and teach all sorts of natural,
experimental philosophy, to consist of the mathematics, mechanics,
medicine, anatomy, chemistry, the history of animals, plants, minerals,
elements, etc.; agriculture, architecture, art military, navigation,
gardening; the mysteries of all trades and improvement of them; the
facture of all merchandise, all natural magic or divination; and briefly
all things contained in the Catalogue of Natural Histories annexed to my
Lord Bacon's _Organon_." The early official history of the Royal Society
(Sprat, 1667) says that this proposal hastened very much the adoption of
a plan of organization. Cowley wished to educate youth and incur great
expense (£4,000), but "most of the other particulars of his draught the
Royal Society is now putting in practice."
A charter of incorporation was granted in July, 1662; and, later,
Charles II proclaimed himself founder and patron of the Royal Society
for the advancement of natural science. Charles continued to take an
interest in this organization, devoted to the discovery of truth by the
corporate action of men; he proposed subjects for investigation, and
asked their coöperation in a more accurate measurement of a degree of
latitude. He showed himself tactful to take account of the democratic
spirit of scientific investigation, and recommended to the Royal Society
John Graunt, the author of a work on mortality statistics first
published in 1661. Graunt was a shop-keeper of London, and Charles said
that if they found any more such tradesmen, they should be sure to admit
them all without more ado.
It was a recognized principle of the Society freely to admit men of
different religions, countries, professions. Sprat said that they openly
professed, not to lay the foundation of an English, Scotch, Irish,
Popish or Protestant philosophy, but a philosophy of mankind. They
sought (hating war as most of them did) to establish a universal
culture, or, as they phrased it, a constant intelligence throughout all
civil nations. Even for the special purposes of the Society, hospitality
toward all nations was necessary; for the ideal scientist, the perfect
philosopher, should have the diligence and inquisitiveness of the
northern nations, and the cold and circumspect and wary disposition of
the Italians and Spaniards. Haak from the German Palatinate was one of
the earliest Fellows of the Society, and is even credited by Wallis with
being the first to suggest the meetings of 1645. Oldenburg from Bremen
acted as secretary (along with Wilkins) and carried on an extensive
foreign correspondence. Huygens of Holland was one of the original
Fellows in 1663, while the names of Auzout, Sorbière, the Duke of
Brunswick, Bulliau, Cassini, Malpighi, Leibnitz, Leeuwenhoek (as well as
Winthrop and Roger Williams) appear in the records of the Society within
the first decade. It seemed fitting that this cosmopolitan organization
should be located in the world's metropolis rather than in a mere
university town. Sprat thought London the natural seat of a universal
philosophy.
As already implied, the Royal Society was not exclusive in its attitude
toward the different vocations. A spirit of true fellowship prevailed in
Gresham College, as the Society was sometimes called. The medical
profession, the universities, the churches, the court, the army, the
navy, trade, agriculture, and other industries were there represented.
Social partition walls were broken down, and the Fellows, sobered by
years of political and religious strife, joined, mutually assisting one
another, in the advance of science for the sake of the common weal.
Their express purpose was the improvement of all professions from the
highest general to the lowest artisan. Particular attention was paid to
the trades, the mechanic arts, and the fostering of inventions. One of
their eight committees dealt with the histories of trades; another was
concerned with mechanical inventions, and the king ordained in 1662 that
no mechanical device should receive a patent before undergoing
their scrutiny. A great many inventions emanated from the Fellows
themselves--Hooke's hygroscope; Boyle's hydrometer, of use in the
detection of counterfeit coin; and, again, the tablet anemometer used by
Sir Christopher Wren (the Leonardo da Vinci of his age) to register the
velocity of the wind. A third committee devoted itself to agriculture,
and in the Society's museum were collected products and curiosities of
the shop, mine, sea, etc. One Fellow advised that attention should be
paid even to the least and plainest of phenomena, as otherwise they
might learn the romance of nature rather than its true history. So bent
were they on preserving a spirit of simplicity and straightforwardness
that in their sober discussions they sought to employ the language of
artisans, countrymen, and merchants rather than that of wits and
scholars.
Of course there was in the Society a predominance of gentlemen of means
and leisure, "free and unconfined." Their presence was thought to serve
a double purpose. It checked the tendency to sacrifice the search of
truth to immediate profit, and to lay such emphasis on application, as,
in the words of a subsequent president of the Society, would make truth,
and wisdom, and knowledge of no importance for their own sakes. In the
second place their presence was held to check dogmatism on the part of
the leaders, and subservience on the part of their followers. They
understood how difficult it is to transmit knowledge without putting
initiative in jeopardy and that quiet intellect is easily dismayed in
the presence of bold speech. The Society accepted the authority of no
one, and adopted as its motto _Nullius in Verba_.
In this attitude they were aided by their subject and method. Search for
scientific truth by laboratory procedure does not favor dogmatism. The
early meetings were taken up with experiments and discussions. The
Fellows recognized that the mental powers are raised to a higher degree
in company than in solitude. They welcomed diversity of view and the
common-sense judgment of the onlooker. As in the Civil War the private
citizen had held his own with the professional soldier, so here the
contribution of the amateur to the discussion was not to be despised.
They had been taught to shun all forms of narrowness and intolerance.
They wished to avoid the pedantry of the mere scholar, and the allied
states of mind to which all individuals are liable; they valued the
concurring testimony of the well-informed assembly. In the investigation
of truth by the experimental method they even arrived at the view that
"true experimenting has this one thing inseparable from it, never to be
a fixed and settled art, and never to be limited by constant rules." In
its incipience at least it is evident that the Royal Society was filled
with the spirit of tolerance and coöperation, and was singularly free
from the spirit of envy and faction.
Not least important of the joint labors of the Society were its
publications, which established contacts and stimulated research
throughout the scientific world. Besides the _Philosophical
Transactions_, which, since their first appearance in 1665, are the most
important source of information concerning the development of modern
science, the Royal Society printed many important works, among which the
following will indicate its early achievements:--
Hooke, Robert, _Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of
Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses_. 1665.
Graunt, John, _Natural and Political Observations ... made upon the
Bills of Mortality, with reference to the Government, Religion,
Trade, Growth, Air, Diseases, and the several changes of the City_.
3d edition, 1665.
Sprat, Thomas, _The History of the Royal Society of London, for the
Improving of Natural Knowledge_. 1667.
Malpighi, Marcello, _Dissertatio epistolica de Bombyce; Societati Regiæ
Londini dicata_. 1669. (On the silkworm.)
Evelyn, John, _Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees_. 1670.
Horrocks, Jeremiah, _Opera [Astronomica] postuma_. 1673.
Malpighi, Marcello, _Anatome Plantarum_. 1675.
Willughby, Francis, _Ornithology_ (revised by John Ray). 1676.
Evelyn, John, _A Philosophical Discourse of Earth, relating to the
Culture and Improvement of it for Vegetation_. 1676.
Grew, Nehemiah, _The Anatomy of Plants_. 1682.
Willughby, F., _Historia Piscium_. 1686.
Ray, John, _Historia Plantarum_. 2 vols., 1686-88.
Flamsteed, John, _Tide-Table for 1687_.
Newton, Isaac, _Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica_. Autore
Is. Newton. Imprimatur: S. Pepys, Reg. Soc. Præses. Julii 5, 1686.
4to. Londini, 1687.
After the Society had ordered that Newton's _Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy_ should be printed, it was found that the funds had
been exhausted by the publication of Willughby's book on fishes. It was
accordingly agreed that Halley should undertake the business of looking
after it, and printing it at his own charge, which he had engaged to do.
Shortly after, the President of the Royal Society, Mr. Samuel Pepys, was
desired to license Mr. Newton's book.
It was not merely by defraying the expense of publication that Halley
contributed to the success of the _Principia_. He, Wren, Hooke, and
other Fellows of the Royal Society, concluded in 1684 that if Kepler's
third law were true, then the attraction exerted on the different
planets would vary inversely as the square of the distance. What, then,
would be the orbit of a planet under a central attraction varying as the
inverse square of the distance? Halley found that Newton had already
determined that the form of the orbit would be an ellipse. Newton had
been occupied with the problem of gravitation for about eighteen years,
but until Halley induced him to do so, had hesitated, on account of
certain unsettled points, to publish his results.
He writes: "I began (1666) to think of gravity extending to the orb of
the moon, ... and thereby compared the force requisite to keep the moon
in her orb with the force of gravity at the surface of the earth, and
found them answer pretty nearly." As early as March of that same year
Hooke had communicated to the Society an account of experiments in
reference to the force of gravity at different distances from the
surface of the earth, either upwards or downwards. At this and at every
point in Newton's discovery the records of co-workers are to be found.
By Flamsteed, the first Royal Astronomer, were supplied more accurate
data for the determination of planetary orbits. To Huygens Newton was
indebted for the laws of centrifugal force. Two doubts had made his
meticulous mind pause--one, of the accuracy of the data in reference to
the measurement of the meridian, another, of the attraction of a
spherical shell upon an external point. In the first matter the Royal
Society, as we have seen, had been long interested, and Picard, who had
worked on the measurement of the earth under the auspices of the
Académie des Sciences, brought his results, which came to the attention
of Newton, before the Royal Society in 1672. The second difficulty was
solved by Newton himself in 1685, when he proved that a series of
concentric spherical shells would act on an external point as if their
mass were concentrated at the center. For his calculations henceforth
the planets and stars, comets and all other bodies are points acted on
by lines of force, and "Every particle of matter in the universe
attracts every other particle with a force varying inversely as the
square of their mutual distances, and directly as the mass of the
attracting particle." He deduced from this law that the earth must be
flattened at the poles; he determined the orbit of the moon and of
comets; he explained the precession of the equinoxes, the semi-diurnal
tides, the ratio of the mass of the moon and the earth, of the sun and
the earth, etc. No wonder that Laplace considered that Newton's
_Principia_ was assured a preëminence above all the other productions of
the human intellect. It is no detraction from Newton's merit to say that
Halley, Hooke, Wren, Huygens, Bulliau, Picard, and many other
contemporaries (not to mention Kepler and _his_ predecessors), as well
as the organizations in which they were units, share the glory of the
result which they coöperated to achieve. On the contrary, he seems much
more conspicuous in the social firmament because, in spite of the
austerity and seeming independence of his genius, he formed part of a
system, and was under its law.
[Illustration: _Portrait by John Van der Bank_ _By permission of W. A.
Maxwell & Co._
SIR ISAAC NEWTON]
Shortly after the founding of the Royal Society, correspondence, for
which a committee was appointed, had been adopted as a means of gaining
the coöperation of men and societies elsewhere. Sir John Moray, as
President, wrote to Monsieur de Monmort, around whom, after the death of
Mersenne, the scientific coterie in Paris had gathered. This group of
men, which toward the close of the seventeenth century regarded itself,
not unnaturally, as the parent society, was in 1666 definitely organized
as the Académie Royale des Sciences. Finally, Leibnitz, who had been a
Fellow of the Royal Society as early as 1673, and had spent years in
the service of the Dukes of Brunswick, was instrumental in the
establishment in 1700 of the Prussian Akademie der Wissenschaften at
Berlin.
REFERENCES
Sir David Brewster, _Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton_.
E. Conradi, Learned Societies and Academies in Early Times,
_Pedagogical Seminary_, vol. XII (1905), pp. 384-426.
Abraham Cowley, _A Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental
Philosophy_.
D. Masson, _Life of Milton_. Vol. III, chap. II.
Thomas Sprat, _The History of the Royal Society of London_.
_The Record of the Royal Society_ (third edition, 1912).