The Wilkins Lecture, 1967 - Bacon, Harvey and the originators of the Royal Society

Much has been written on the origin and originators of the Royal Society, since 1662 the most effective body ever assembled for the true advancement of science and scientific method. There are two aspects of this climacteric event to be con­sidered in relation to the history of our civilization. The first is, how was the atmosphere, or climate of opinion, created for the blossoming and consolidation of the resulting conquests of science? The second is the identification of the indi­vidual human beings whose minds were first set to envisage the vast problems presented to them and what exactly did they do. Thomas Sprat, the first historian of the Royal Society, in his book published in 1667 only five years after the Society received its Charter, had no doubt about the answer to the more general question as to the climatic origin. He was discussing the old philosophy based on Aristotle and the new sort of philosophers ‘who have not only disagreed from the Antients, but have also proposed to themselves the right course of slow and sure Experimenting’. Of these, Sprat said, he would ‘mention only one great Man, who had the true Imagination of the whole extent of this Enterprize, as it is now set on foot, and that is the Lord Bacon’. There should be, he wrote, no preface to the History of the Royal Society other than some of Bacon’s writings. He was a man of strong, clear and powerful imagination, with a vigorous and majestical style, a bold and familiar wit. In fact Sprat seemed to answer both my questions by reference to a single name. Nevertheless, he had to admit that no one mind, not even Bacon’s, could grasp the whole design, for he tried to take all that comes, and to ‘heap rather than to register’. He might have added, as we shall see, that Bacon was no advocate of ‘the slow and sure experi­menting’ he had just mentioned. From that time to the present, Bacon as the Great Originator has received the lip-service of many people, few of whom have read his works. It would be well to examine a little more closely the role filled by Bacon. It is perhaps fair to say that he was the human mouth-piece of that impalp­able thing, the Zeitgeist , a presence which would have made itself felt even if Bacon had never been born. The scientific revolution was in the air. It had been slowly gathering force in Europe through the sixteenth century and questions of the old dogmatism were beginning to be asked. It fell to the lot of Bacon to be the voice of this spirit in England as the first statesman of science. His main interest, it has been said, was in ‘the science of science’. His grand idea was to establish a view of scientific possibilities so all-embracing that it would restore mankind to his position as it was before his fall in the Garden of Eden. Man was to re-establish his conquest of the universe and Bacon was to be his prime agent; but in order to organize science for the benefit of the human race he needed power, a thing only obtainable through politics.