dvantage when the Accademia del Cimento was suppressed. Nor was the
sentiment restricted to Catholicism. When the Royal Society of London
was founded, theological odium was directed against it with so much
rancor that, doubtless, it would have been extinguished, had not King
Charles II. given it his open and avowed support. It was accused of
an intention of "destroying the established religion, of injuring the
universities, and of upsetting ancient and solid learning."

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. We have only to turn over the pages of its
Transactions to discern how much this society has done for the progress
of humanity. It was incorporated in 1662, and has interested itself in
all the great scientific movements and discoveries that have since been
made. It published Newton's "Principia;" it promoted Halley's voyage,
the first scientific expedition undertaken by any government; it made
experiments on the transfusion of blood, and accepted Harvey's discovery
of the circulation. The encouragement it gave to inoculation led Queen
Caroline to beg six condemned criminals for experiment, and then to
submit her own children to that operation. Through its encouragement
Bradley accomplished his great discovery, the aberration of the fixed
stars, and that of the nutation of the earth's axis; to these two
discoveries, Delambre says, we owe the exactness of modern astronomy. It
promoted the improvement of the thermometer, the measure of temperature,
and in Harrison's watch, the chronometer, the measure of time. Through
it the Gregorian Calendar was introduced into England, in 1752, against
a violent religious opposition. Some of its Fellows were pursued through
the streets by an ignorant and infuriated mob, who believed it had
robbed them of eleven days of their lives; it was found necessary to
conceal the name of Father Walmesley, a learned Jesuit, who had taken
deep interest in the matter; and, Bradley happening to die during the
commotion, it was declared that he had suffered a judgment from Heaven
for his crime!

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. If I were to attempt to do justice to the
merits of this great society, I should have to devote many pages, to
such subjects as the achromatic telescope of Dollond; the dividing
engine of Ramsden, which first gave precision to astronomical
observations, the measurement of a degree on the earth's surface by
Mason and Dixon; the expeditions of Cook in connection with the transit
of Venus;