SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP, - A History of the Royal Society, with Memoirs of the Presidents. Compiled from Authentic Documents, by Charles Richard Weld, Esq., Barrister-at-law, Assistant. Secretary and Librarian to the Royal Society. In two volumes. Parker. Concauka. Hurroay, The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen ; being a Narratp,ivcekoerif Pickering. Principal Events which led to Negro Slavery in the West Indies and America.

Vol. I FICTION,

The Bee-Hector; or the Oak Openings. By the Author of "The Pioneers," "Last of the Mohicans," &c., &c. In three volumes Bentley.

MR. WELD'S HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

THERE are several ways of writing the history of a learned or scientific body. The highest and most difficult, if not the most entertaining, would be a digested account of the discoveries of which the society was the me- dium, 80 as to present a general view of the progress of science with ex- positions of any great advance : and this plan would require a philoso- pher, master of a popular style. Perhaps the pleasantest way would be a graphic sketch of the members and their meetings' noting the charac- teristics of each, and describing philosophy in its "harsh and crabbed" as well as its " divine" condition : but this could only be done by a con- temporary member, since personal knowledge and actual presence are necessary; unless the historian possessed a regular series of such sketches. A third way would be, to look upon the society as a corporation, and treat it much as national historians handle their larger themes. The origin of the society would be traced, till it vanished in the obscurity which veils the primordia of all things. The formal foundation by charter, analogous to the Conquest with its Domesday Book, would be elabo- rately exhibited ; any change in constitution, place, or fortune, would be dealt with, as akin to those epochs which mark changes in a nation's growth,—as in England the wars of the Barons, the destruction of their power, the overthrow of the Popish Church, and the rise of the middle classes. The great men of the society would emerge like a national hero, with a biographical notice rather than a biography, a sketch instead of a career; the commoner events of the society, as in the larger histo- ries of nations, would fill up the intermediate periods with the more level incidents of humanity. The chronicler of a society might have an ad- vantage in curious details, personal anecdotes, lively little squabbles, and gossipy narratives, which the dignity of a nation's historian must eschew. The plan Mr. Weld has adopted in his History of the Royal Society is the last method ; giving a full but not undue prominence to personal anecdotes, antiquarian gossip, and those alterations of charter, changes of domicile, and alternations of financial prosperity or difficulty—the last, alas, greatly predominating with the philosophic band—that appropriately fall under the head of "civil history"; and to delineate this last is avow- edly the main object of his work. Science is not altogether neglected, especially when it takes the form of a controversy in which the Society itself was in any way implicated : but such notices are popular, not profound. Scientific men are rather fully dealt with. Biographical notices of all the Presidents are given, from Sir Robert Moray, who was the first formally elected, in 1661, till Mr. Davies Gilbert resigned in 1830, and the Duke of Sussex was chosen in opposition to Sir William Herschel, but, to the honour of the Society be it said, by a majority of 8 only. The different subjects to which the attention of the Society was directed are also exhibited, especially in its earlier stages when natural philosophy, stimulated by the writings of Bacon, was feeling its way by means of experiment, and had to prove the falsehood of many hypotheses as well as to search for the truth. Brief sketches of other societies, either antecedent or subsequent to the foundation of the Royal Society in 1660, are introduced, as well as anecdotes and correspondence. Some of these topics are occasionally overdone, especially in the original documents and formal communications. The lives of the more eminent Presidents were scarcely needed for the information they im- part. Persons who are likely to open these volumes already know as much about Newton and Davy as the volumes will tell them. Davy, indeed, has touches of stuffing, as if Mr. Weld were tempted by the plentifulness of the materials; but he has a few original stories charac- teristic of the spoiled gentleman of science,—for after his marriage to a fortune the philosopher became aristocratic. "It may not be generally known, that Sir H. Davy unsuccessfully petitioned Government for the lied Riband of his predecessor in the chair of the Royal So- ciety. He felt so certain his request would be granted, that his name was printed with the coveted letters K.B. appended. Captain Smyth, to whom I am indebted for this anecdote, assures me that he saw these letters attached to Davy's SWIG in a printed and published document."

Notwithstanding the drawbacks of over detail in parts, and rather too full an infusion of formal documents or well-known matter, Mr. Weld's History of the Royal Society is a more interesting book than might have been supposed possible. In that part which is more directly the object of the author, the civil history of the Society as a body owl"- rate, he had two advantages. His predecessors, Sprat, Birch, and Thom- son, scarcely touched upon this branch of the subject, except Bishop Sprat for the six or seven years of which he treated. In the second place, Weld's materials were original. His position as Assistant-Secretary gave him access to the archives of the Society, so that he has the accuracy and freshness of truth.

There is an interest, too, in the variety of treatment—one topic is sel- dom continued long enough to tire ; some arises from the extensive field over which the reader is carried, and the great men which the narrative continually turns up. From the time of its institution to the present_ day, the loftiest names in British science have been enrolled in the list of members, and esteemed its honours as their highest conventional reward, while distinguished foreigners have been frequently connected with it. The Society, however, has a closer relation to many of the greatest die* ooveries than would arise from membership or medals. Some they stimulated, by raising the questions and pointing out the way ; others they were the means of bringing before the world. Newton's first dis- covery cm Optics) was submitted to the Society, in 1671; and after the author had been "solemnly thanked," he was requested to permit it to he published, "as well for the greater conveniency of having it well considered by philosophers, as for securing the considerable notions thereof to the author, against the arrogations of others" ; and they accordingly appeared in the 80th Number of the Transactions. "At the ordinary meeting on the 28th April 1686," Dr. Vincent presented the Society with the manuscript of the first book of the Principiss, which Newton dedi- cated to the Society; the whole was printed under its auspices and the editorship of Halley, Newton bearing no part of the expense. The follow- ing is the bibliography of the early editions. "The Principia contains the dedication to the Royal Society, a brief 'reface, verses by Halley in honour of Newton, definitions, axioms, a short book on un- resisted motion, a second on resisted motion, and a third on the system of the universe. Halley's verses were somewhat altered by Bentley in the second edi- tion, but the original readings were very nearly restored in the third. Newton wrote a short preface for each of the editions, and Cotes one of considerable length for the second. The dates of the Newtonian prefaces are May 8, 1686, and March 28, 1713.

"The manuscript of this immortal work, entirely written by Newton's own hand, is in admirable preservation, and is justly esteemed the most precious scientific trea- sure in the possession of the Royal Society. A fac-simile of the title is annexed; which, as will be observed, was first written De Motu, and subsequently altered to Philosophia3 Naturalis Prtncipia Mathematica."

The Transactions of the Society, though, of course, unequal in merit, and some scarcely worthy of the character of the body, contain an amount of scientific observation and discovery which the papers of no other asso- ciation can pretend to equal ; and if it may not be affirmed that the dis- coveries were all preserved by means of the convenient medium the Trans- actions offered, such is probably the case with more than might be sup- posed. In many instances, doubtless, they did what the Society glanced at in the case of Newton's Optics—secured the due praise to the first dis- coverer. In some cases this was not without challenge; either from kindred minds having been simultaneously directed to the same experi- ments, or from unscrupulous persons dabbling in the subjects and endea- vouring to achieve a distinction they had not earned.

Questions like these, and squabbles by scientific men of a less scienti- fic nature, are handled freely by Mr. Weld, and on a scale proportioned to other parts of his work. The attacks upon the Society by professed wits, especially during the earlier period of its existence, he passes by, as either derogatory to dignity or a sore to be avoided. Yet there is some- thing to be said on both sides. Struggling to establish a better philoso- phical system of proceeding, and to overthrow existing errors or super- stitions, the early members of the Royal Society had to handle many matters tentatively, that had rather a ridiculous air than were actually ridiculous in themselves, since we know that nothing in nature is slight if it be properly studied. It is clear, too, that some of the members were not devoid of unphilosophical notions ; which is scarcely to be wondered at, considering that they were trained in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, when witchcraft was recognized by law and universal opinion, and astrologers were regularly consulted by kings and states ; though the errors of men who assumed a self-constituted power of instructing others were fair game for satire. In its younger days, when the Society was struggling with difficulties, and could confer little reputation, the mem- bers were mostly hard students of natural philosophy, or men of rank who really had a taste for it. When the discoveries of Newton, the spread of science, and its juster appreciation, lent a factitious repute to the "dignity of F. R. S., many sought the membership who were not altogether proper persons to be elected; and we fear it cannot be denied that the Society choose Associates for other reasons than their scientific eminence or their love of science. Amid all their excellences, the Royal Society did not quite escape the besetting vice of Britain, and a little of tufthunting spirit mingled more and more with their graver ideas. The rarer minds floated the heavier; and something of truth has, we sus- pect, at all times mingled with the satirical description in the Duncittd,

when the Goddess is classifying and rewarding her sons.

"Then, bidding all draw near on bended knees, The Queen confers her titles and degrees.

Her children first of more distinguish'd sort, Who study Shakspere at the Inns of Court, Impale a glowworm, or vend profess, Shine in the dignity of F. R. S."

The body ought to be able to bear this and such as this, if it will not amend it ; and the assault of wits upon the Royal Society would form a relieving chapter in its history. The Royal Society had its origin about 164.5, in the private meetings of some studious individuals, that were held in London, or at Ox- ford, according to the locality of members, tossed about by the troubles of the times. Very soon after the Restoration in 1660, this body was incorporated by Charles the Second, and began a more regular series of experiments and reports than had yet been done. Some of them partook of the mistaken views of the times, and the first President signalized his election by a paper of this kind.

"At the same meeting that Sir Robert Moray was elected President, he sent in a paper entitled A Relation concerning Barnacles. In this he declares, that When he was in the Western Islands of Scotland he saw multitudes of little shells adhering to trees, having within them little birds, perfectly shaped. He opened several of their shells, and found, as he states, nothing wanting for making up a perfect sea-fowle." He honestly adds, however, that he never saw any of the birds alive nor met with any person who did. Here we have the absurd notion of the -Leecis Anatifera breeding geese, brought before the Society by their President, In a paper which was subsequently printed in the 137th No. of the Transactions."

About the same time, there are entries indicative of similar erroneous views, but directed, as Mr. Weld observes, by an inquiring spirit.

"' Mr. Boyle was desied to bring in the name of the place in Brasil' where that wood is that attracts fishes; and Wso of the fish that turns to the wind when uspended by a thread. 4' March 27. To enquire whether the Bakes of snow are bigger or less in Tens- e than here.

""That adders be provided to try the experiment of the gone. • • •

" a Dr. Clarke was intreated to lay before the Society Mr. Pellina relation of the production of young vipers from the powder of the liver and hand. of vipers. Sir

K. . Digby promised such another under my Lord ,a " Mr. Povey was intreated to send to Bantam for that poyson related to be so quick as to tame a man's blood suddenly to gelly. • • • " June 5. Col. Take related the manner of the rain like corn at Norwich ;and Mr. Boyle and Mr. Evelyn were intreated to sow some of those rained seeds to try their product.'"

The following title belongs to the celebrated Villiers, who furnished a theme both to Dryden and Pope. His object in attending the meetings it is easy enough to divine: indeed, he seems to have disguised it thinly to lookers-on.

" The Duke of Buckingham promised to cause charcoal to be distilled by his chemist

" Hie Grace promised to bring into the Society a piece of a nnicorne's horn. " 'Sir Kenelme Digby related that the calcined ..wder of toads reverberated, applied in bagges upon the stomach of a pestiferate y, cures it by severall appli- cations. * •

"' July 24. A circle was made with powder of unicorns's horn, and a spider set in the middle of it, but it immediately ran out severall times repeated. The spider once made some stay upon the powder.'" There is nothing new under the sun. The " powder of sympathy" might attract now, and dispense with the " passes." " Magnetical cures were then discoursed of. Sir Gilbert Talbot promised to bring in what he knew of sympatheticall cures. Those that had any powder of sym- pathy were desired to bring some of it at the next meeting. • •

" June 26. Dr. Ent, Dr. Clarke, Dr. Goddard, and Dr. Whistler, were appointed Curators of the proposition made by Sir G. Talbot, to torment a man presently with the sympathetical' powder. " Sir G. Talbot brought in his experiments of sympathetic cures.' " These are entered in the first volume of the Register-book. They are ex- ceedingly curious as emblematic of the superstition of the times. The following extract from the paper, hitherto unpublished, will not be uninteresting.

"‘An English mariner was wounded at Venice in four severall places soe mortally, that the murderer took sanctuary; the wounded bled three days without inter- mission; fell into frequent convulsions and swounings, the chirurgeons despayr- ing of his recovery, forsook him. His comrade came to me, and desired me to de- mand justice from the Duke upon the murderer, (as supposing him already dead); I sent for his blond and dressed it, and bade his oomrade haste back and swathe up his wounds with clean linen. He lay smile distant from my house; yet before he could gett to him, all his wounds were closed, and he began visibly to be com- forted. The second day the mariner came to me, and told me his friend was per- fectly well, but his spirits soe exhausted, he thirst not adventure soe long a walke. The third day the patient came himself to give me thanks, but appeared like a ghost; noe blond left in his body. "Incredible as it seems, yet this relation of Sir G. Talbot, who, be it remem- bered, held high offices under the Crown, was believed; and, as some proof of this, it may be adduced, that a minute in the Journal-book, under the same date as the above, informs us, that Mr. Evelyn was intreated to briog in next day that pow- der of simpathy he has of Sir Gilbert's Talbot's making.'"

The transfusion of blood, attempted to be revived within the last twenty years, was a subject of experiment two hundred years ago.

"Among the most remarkable experiments prosecuted at this period was that of transfusing the blood of a sheep into a man, which was successfully performed for the first time in England in the month of November 1667. The subject of the experiment was apoor student, named Arthur Cogs, who, hearing that the Society were very desirous to try the experiment of transfusion upon a man, and being in want of money, offered himself for a guinea; which was immediately se- cepted on the part of the Society. The operation was performed by Drs. Lower and King at Arundel House, on the 23d November 1667' in the presence of seve- ral spectators, among whom were Mr. Henry Howard, the Bishop of Salisbury, and some Members of Parliament Oldenburg, in a letter to Boyle giving an ac- count of the experiment, observes, 'Dr. King performed the chief part of it with great dexterity, and so much ease to the patient, that he made not the least cam- plaint nor so much as any grimace during the whole time of the operation; that he found himself very well upon it, his pulse and appetite being better than be- fore, his sleep good, his body as soluble as usual, it being observed that the same day he had three or four stools, as he used to have before.' "Dr. King stated, that after the operation 'the patient was well and merry, and drank a glass or two of canary and took a pipe ot tobacco in the presence of forty or more persons; he then went home, and continued well all day, his pulse being stronger and fuller than before, and he very sober and quiet, more than be- fore, as the people of the house said, who thought that he had only been let blood. In the night he slept well, but sweat two or three hours, and next day was my well; and so remained, and was very willing to have the experiment repeated, his arm being, he said, weli. A person asking him why he had not the blood of some other creature instead of that of a sheep transfused into him, he answered, San- guis ovis symbolicamquandam facultatem habet coin sanguine Christi, gala

Christus eat Agnus . •

"The most sanguine anticipations appear to have been indulged by uninquiring minds, and the new process was almost expected to realize the alchemical reve- ries of an elixir of life and immortality. Dr. Terne, physician to one of the Lon- don hospitals, expressed his willingness to try the experiment of transfusion upon morbid persons; but there is no record of any of his patients undergoing the operation. About this time' however, some papers were received from Dantzic, giving an account of trials made of injecting liquors into human veins; in two cases the individuals received great benefit, but a third person died. In 1668, a lunatic in Paris, on whom the experiment of transfusion had been tried without success, was again operated upon, but with fatal results, as explained in the an flexed letter from M. Justel to Oldenburg. " Paris, 3 Vvr. 1668. "'II faut que,je vous diae qu'on seek quo M. Denis et le Sieur Ernerez voulant remedier I la folio du phrenetique, stir lequel ils avaient fait Is transfusion, font repetia, et lui out onvert Is jugulaire et ample au pied; mass il eat mort entre leur bras. Sans Is credit de M. de Montmor Hs auroient ete en peine, en ayant use un pen hardiment. Cette aventure decriem la transfusion, et on n'oeera plus la faire sur lea hommea: "These failures turned the current of public opinion, and led to the immediate abolition of the process, which was not practised again by the Society." It is widely believed that the mace belonging to the Royal Society is the identical "bauble" that Cromwell ordered to be taken away from the table of the House of Commons ; and visiters to the Royal Society fre- quently display more anxiety to see that than any other relic. The 1111.■ probability of the fact struck Mr. Weld at an early period of his Secretary ship ; and he pursued a series of researches, which rendered it exceedingly unlikely that such could be the case. At last he proved it conclusiv

by discovering the original warrant for the manufacture of the mace in the. Lord Chamberlain's Office.

"Subjoined is a copy of this important and valuable document. The book ha which it exists is entitled The Book of Warrants of the Lord Chamberlain, Edward Earl of Manchester, of his Majesty's Household, for the Years 1663, 4, 5,6, and 7'; and the warrant is entered under the head of Jewell House '—

"' A warrant to prepare and deliver to the Rt. Hon. William Lord Viscount Brouncker, President of the Royal Society of London, for the Improving of Na- tural Knowledge by Experiments, one guilt mace, of one hundred and fifty

ccbeing warrant gift ftrois among those m his Matic to the eSociety.' I

issued in 1663; and as several previous war- rants exist, bearing the dates of January, February, March, and April, and others, entered subsequently, are dated May, June, and July, we may reasonably =elude that the warrant for making the Society's mace was issued early in 1668; and this is strengthened by the fact that the Society received the mace in the mouth of August in the same year. "This discovery not only destroys the long-entertained belief, that the mace be- longing to the Royal Society and the bauble' are identical, but also affords con- clusive evidence that the former was made expressly for the Royal Society.

"On a minute examination of this mace, in order to detect if possible the maker's name or a date, neither of which exists, I observed that the chasing on the stem consists entirely of thistle-leaves and flowers: at the time this fact passed unnoticed, but it is now evident that the thistle was employed as the prin- cipal ornament on account of its being symbolical of St. Andrew, the patron saint of the Society, in whose honour the fellows of the Society were accustomed at the early anniversary meetings to wear a St. Andrew's cross in their hats.

"This use of the thistle is another proof that the mace was made for the Society."

For nearly a hundred years after its first inception, the Society seem to have confined their attention to intelligent matters, except occasionally. In 1743, the philosophers founded a club for the regular discussion of creature comforts. These were the rules.

"They are dated October 27, 1743.

"'Rules and Orders to be observed by the Thursday's Club, called the Royal Philosophers.

"'A dinner to be ordered every Thursday for six, at is. 6d. a head for eating: as many more as come to pay la. 6d. per head each: if fewer than six come, the deficiency to be paid out of the fund subscribed.

"'Each subscriber to pay down 6a., viz, for four dinners, to make a fund. "'A pint of wine to be paid for by every one that comes, be the number what it will, and no more, unless more wine is brought in than that amounts to."

In five years they seemed to have turned their attention to acquisitions of matter for the cuisine, and improved upon the maxim the true Amphy- tryon is the Amphytryon where one dines.

"Under the date of May 3, 1750, it is recorded—' Resolved, nein. con., that any nobleman or gentleman complimenting this company annually with venison not less than a haunch, shall during the continuance of such annuity be deemed an honorary member, and admitted as often as he comes without paying the fine which those members do who are elected by ballot.' At another meeting in the same year a resolution was passed, 'That any gentleman complimenting this society annually with a turtle should be considered as an honorary member,' and that the treasurer do pay keeper's fees and carriage for all venison sent to the society, and charge it in his account.' Such a resolution seems to have been de- sirable, for I find very frequent entries of gifts of venison, which are thus re- corded—' Paid keeper's fee and carriage of half a buck, from Honourable Philip York, 14s.; ditto from Earl of Hardwick, 11. 5s: The more general entry is simply fees for venison; but the drib were not regaled by venison alone: _pre- sents of salmon and turtle are also duly chronicled, and the gift of good old Eng- lish roast beef was not despised, as appears by the subjoined minute, under the data of June 27, 1751, when Martin Yolkes presided. " William Banbury, Esq., having this day entertained the company with a chine of beef which was thirty-four inches in length, and weighed upwards of 140 pounds, it was agreed, nem. con., that two such chines were equal to half a bucke, or a turtle, and entitled the donor to be an honorary member of this society."

The following brings down the dinner history to the present time.

"The minutes record that the club met at the Mitre Tavern in Fleet Street, from the data of their institution until December 1780, on the 21st of which month the members dined for the first time at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand, where they continued to meet until that tavern was converted in 1847 into a club-house. It is interesting to observe the periodical increase in the charges for dinner, &c. From 1743 to 1756, the cost was la. 6d. per head. In the latter year it was resolved to give 8s. per head for dinner and wine; the com- mons for absentees to remain at is. 6d. as before. In 1775, the price was in- creased to 4s. a head, including wine, and 2d. to the waiter; in 1801, to 58. a head, exclusive of wine, the increased duties upon which made it necessary for the members to contribute an annual sum for the expense of wine, over and above the charge of the tavern-bills; and in successive years the sum increased to 10s., which is the amount now paid per head, any deficiency being made up by the an- nual subscriptions of mems."- Besides his researches among the archives of the Society, the State Paper Office, &c., and the manuscripts of the British Museum, Mr. Weld has had recourse to contemporary publications, from which he sometimes digs up curious particulars. Enough, however, has been said and quoted to show the scope and character of this various and curious History of the Royal Society.