The Vogue of Science in English Literature, 1600–1800

THE VOGUE OF SCIENCE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, 1600-1800 H. C. SIMPSON T HE importance of the study ohhe natural sc~ences, so slightly regarded, for the most part, m ~ the , older periods of history, has, during the last two, centuries, finally impressed itself upon the minds of men. The first stirrings of modern science may be dated with sufficient accuracy from the Renaissance, and it ,cannot 'be too often explained that this was an element in Humanism-a return to Greek thought ,and Greek method. Gilbert and Galileo, Copernicus and Vesalius are the direct spiricu"al descendants of Thales, Aristarchus , Eratosthenes and Erasistratus. It is impossible in the limits of this a'rticle to do more than mention the most ~mportant developments of science in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. First came the change in a.tronomy, from the older theory of a fixed earth to the Copernican system in which the earth is considered as a planet revolving round the sun: we owe this I,argely to Galileo and Kepler. Next came the great change in physics, which began with Galileo's work on falling bodies and was carried on to the theory of gravitation by Newton. Finally, the discovery of the circulation of the blood was announced by Wiliiam Harvey on April 17th, 1616, six days before the death of Shakespeare. With this brief statement of principal facts to I?e kept in mind we can proceed to consider the literature. Before the Restoration of Charles II and the ' foundation of the Royal Society there are, after Bacon, four seventeenth century writers who deserve some mention: Burton for The Anatomy oj Melancholy (1621); 143 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY Sir Thomas Browne for the Vulgar Errors " (1646) ;" Bishop Wilkins for various works of which we will speak presen tly; and Izaac Wal ton for the Compleat Angler of 1653. Milton's Paradise Lost, also; though published in 166j, belongs in a scientific sense to an earlier period. Burton is a writer of extraordinarily wide learning and "curiosity, but in his work we see that science is still in its early infancy, and a contemporary of Eratosthenes and Archimedes might have been almost as much "enlightened in this respect." He holds the ancient Hippocratic doctrine of the humours, and believeS that a subtle vapour, the spirit, is the chief instrument of the soul. Of these spirits, he says, there are three kinds, natural, vital and animal, of which the latter, begotten in the brairi, are diffused by the nerves, and give sense and motion to the body. " This is the Galenic conception, derived from Erasistratus. "Burton"holds, too, Galen's theory that the pulmonary vein conveys air from the lungs to the heart. He 'had apparently not heard of the" work of Harvey. In astronomy he is further " advanced. He is aware of the discoveries of Galileo, refers to Kepie" r, and criticises Tycho rather shrewdly. He refers to Tycho's proof that the heavens are penetrable, from the fact that the paths of the comets " cut the planetary orbits; and he has ceased to believe in the region of empyreal fire above the heavens. He still " speaks of the Ptolemaic theory as the most received opinion; yet he shows that he realises its difficulties and is aware of Galileo'sdiscoveries of the nature of the Milky Way a.nd the existence of the moons of Jupiter; in fact, he remarks in a note that he has"seen the latter through a telescope. He seems interested, however, in playing with problems rather than hopeful that definite scientific conclusions can really be obtained. ' 144 SCIENCE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE Sir Thomas Browne is a singular mixture of scepticism and credulity. He is a convinced believer in the witch supersti tion, and still holds the Pto.lemaic theor_ y in astronomy. He does not appear to be cognizant of the work of .Kepler, nor to appreciate that of Galileo, but he has a certain scientific quality, wide c~~josity, caution, commonsense, and willingness to apply the experimen tal test. He is familiar with Harvey's great discovery of the circulation, and with Gilbert's investigations in electricity and magnetism...