The Royal Society was formed with the avowed object of increasing
knowledge by direct experiment; and it is worthy of remark, that the
charter granted by Charles II. to this celebrated institution declares
that its object is the extension of natural knowledge, as opposed to
that which is supernatural.
Dr. Paris (_Life of Sir H. Davy_, vol. ii. p. 178) says: “The charter
of the Royal Society states that it was established for the improvement
of _natural_ science. This epithet _natural_ was originally intended to
imply a meaning, of which very few persons, I believe, are aware. At
the period of the establishment of the society, the arts of witchcraft
and divination were very extensively encouraged; and the word _natural_
was therefore introduced in contradistinction to _supernatural_.”