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The Universities and Science in Seventeenth Century England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Extract

In the course of the debate over Puritan contributions to the scientific movement it sometimes has been asserted, and even more often assumed, that the English universities of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were either unsympathetic towards or even hostile to the “new philosophy,” and that scientific studies had no place within their confines. Proponents of this position acknowledge one major exception to the scientific hiatus at Oxford and Cambridge, that of the Wadham group organized by John Wilkins in the 1650s which was the precursor of the Royal Society. However, the exception itself is said to result from Puritan intervention in the universities, and the dissolution of the group to follow from the demise of the Puritan regime.

It will be the purpose of this paper to examine the state of the sciences in Oxford and Cambridge prior to, during, and after the Interregnum in order to suggest that universities had shown a continuous interest in science, that Puritan intervention did not significantly alter the pattern of scientific concerns and that the existence of the Wadham group of the 1650s does little to lend support to the notion of a connection between Puritanism and the development of science.

The evidence for science in the universities before the Puritan Revolution is necessarily incomplete and scattered as is much of our knowledge of university life in that period. It might be best to begin with the work of Mark Curtis and F. R. Johnson who have already shown that the traditional framework of studies permitted the introduction of new ideas. By 1610 Oxford men had been disputing about such topics as the Copernican thesis, the infinity of the universe, the plurality of worlds, the habitability of the moon, and the earth as a magnet in formal university exercises.

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Research Article
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Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1971

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49. The Vice Chancellors of the Interregnum, Reynolds, Greenwood, Owen, and Conant, were all able men widely admired for their piety, learning, and preaching. Most of the new heads of houses were men of the same type and stature as Fell and Sheldon, leading Anglican divines.

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77. There has been considerable discussion and some disagreement recently concerning the contribution of the hermetic and Paracelsean tradition to the development of science. See Yates, F. A., Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (London, 1964)Google Scholar; Debus, Allen, The English Paracelsians (London, 1965)Google Scholar; Debus, Allen and Multhauf, Robert, Alchemy and Chemistry in the Seventeenth Century (Los Angeles, 1966)Google Scholar; Rattansi, P. M., “The Intellectual Origins of the Royal Society,” Royal Society, Notes and Records, XXIII (1968), 129143CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Even if the more occult aspects of Paracelseanism were rejected by those seriously interested in “chemistry” and chemical medicine, the religious radicals were not so sophisticated and frequently retained the mystical and occult.

78. The complaints of Thomas Hobbes were also rejected by Ward and Wilkins. Hobbes in 1651 indicated that the universities were out of touch with scientific advance and taught only scholastic philosophy. Ward responded that Hobbes was hopelessly out of date. Ward, and Wilkins, , Vindiciae, pp. 6, 7, 58Google Scholar. Hobbes had left Oxford nearly a half century earlier and had little to do with the universities since. For a fuller discussion of the educational controversies of the 1650s, see Shapiro, Barbara, John Wilkins, pp. 81147Google Scholar; R. Greaves, Educational Revolution.

79. Hill, , Intellectual Origins, p. 125Google Scholar. See also Hill, , “The Intellectual Origins of the Royal Society — London or Oxford,” Royal Society Notes and Records, XXIII (1968), 145Google Scholar. He thus views the Royal Society as a royal, aristocratic “cover-up,” Ibid. Miss Purver, too, insists that with the Restoration “Aristotelianism closed in again,” Purver, , The Royal Society (London, 1967), p. 67Google Scholar. She attributes this to the end of the Wadham group. Miss Allen, too, insisted that there was a “general housecleaning” and “sweeping away” of “Puritan modernization,” Allen, , “Scientific Studies,” Journal of the History of Ideas, X, 238Google Scholar. See also 'Espinasse, M., “The Decline and Fall of Restoration Science,” Past and Present, XIV (1958), 7189CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

80. Quoted in Burrows, Registers, p. cv. Clarendon became a F.R.S. in 1665.

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82. Seven reclaimed headships at Oxford. Varley, F. J., The Restoration Visitation of the University of Oxford and its Colleges (London, 1948)Google Scholar, passim. Five heads were reinstated at Cambridge. John Wilkins lost his post at Trinity College, Cambridge, under similar circumstances.

83. Seth Ward and Matthew Wren are examples of this development.

84. Willis owed his appointment to Archbishop Sheldon. Willis, ignoring the Sedleian Statute, gave up-to-date lectures on physiology and medicine. Dewhurst, K.Thomas Willis, (Los Angeles, 1964), pp. 910Google Scholar.

85. When Willis died Bathurst used his influence to secure the appointment of Dr. Millington because “naturall philosophy is of a fare large extent; and its late improvements have been so great, that no ordinary things are expected from the professors of it.” Warton, Thomas, Life of Ralph Bathurst (London, 1761), p. 138Google Scholar.

86. It is true that Christopher Wren did not attend to his professorial duties as faithfully as he might have, but this was due to the great demands for his services, not hostility to science on the part of the regime.

87. Robb-Smith, A. H. T. and Sinclair, H. M., A Short History of Anatomical Teaching at Oxford (Oxford, 1950), pp. 14, 21Google Scholar.

88. Dewhurst, Kenneth, John Locke, Physician and Scholar (London, 1963), pp. 1213Google Scholar. Instruction in anatomy was often available. Wallis, John, “A Letter from a Friend of the Universities,” in Collectanea Curiosa, ed. Gutch, John (Oxford, 1781), II, 30Google Scholar.

89. Arber, Agnes, “Robert Sharrock (1630-1684), a Predecessor of Nehemiah Grew,” Isis (1969), pp. 4, 6Google Scholar. Sharrock's History of Vegetables, published by the university was dedicated to Boyle. Instruction in botany was provided in the garden by Dr. Morison for “such as desire it.” Wallis, “A Letter,” p. 30.

90. Joster, C. H., Elias Asbmole (Oxford, 1966), I, 255Google Scholar. An earlier organizer of chemical experiments in Oxford, Peter Sthael, also had connections with the Royal Society. He was successively an operator for the Society at Oxford, and then again for the Royal Society. Gunther, , Early Science at Oxford, IX, xviii, xxivGoogle Scholar. Dr. Martin Lister, a well-known scientific figure, left his library to the old Ashmolean Museum. Gunther, , Science at Cambridge, p. 353Google Scholar. Wallis emphasized the “convenient” chemical laboratory “built by the University” and described it as “well furnished with furnaces and Utensils. …” Wallis, , “A Letter,” p. 30Google Scholar. Cambridge was not far behind in chemical instruction. John Vigani, a skilled chemist, began to teach in 1683. He taught for many years and held the honorable title of Professor of Chemistry from 1703-1713. Although chemical facilities in Cambridge did not equal those available to Plot, there were several attempts to improve them. The Master of Trinity College built a chemical laboratory and Vigani gave his lectures, which were illustrated by experiments, there. Queens College, too, aided his teaching by purchasing a “collection” for him. Ibid., pp. 221, 222, 223.

91. Crombie, A. C., Oxford's Contribution to the Origins of Modern Science, a, paper read to the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Oxford, 1954), pp. 1314Google Scholar.

92. Hone, C. R., The Life of Dr. John Radcliffe (London, 1950), pp. 24, 25, 27Google Scholar.

93. Allen, , Journal of the History of Ideas, X, 239Google Scholar.

94. Ibid., 244-245. Funds were also provided for the purchase of mathematical instruments.

95. Between 1660 and 1760 Cambridge provided acceptable and, at times, a high standard of medical education. This was less true, however, after 1730. See Rook, Arthur, “Medicine at Cambridge, 1660-1760,” Medical History, XIII (1969), 107122CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Although the early years of Trinity College, Dublin were dominated by Puritans its scientific offerings were not noteworthy. Nor did its essentially traditional curriculum significantly alter with either Laudian rule or the Commonwealth regime. Some mathematics, however, was provided by a mathematical lectureship founded in 1612 which lasted through the 1630s and by another which was instituted in 1632. Mathematics was put on a more permanent foundation, however, with the foundation of a chair in mathematics in 1668 and the appointment of Narcissus Marsh, later Archbishop of Armagh, as Provost in 1678. Marsh, a mathematician of some stature, for several years gathered a circle of virtuosi in his lodgings to discuss matters of mutual interest. This group later developed into the Royal Dublin Society. Although there was no administrative connection between the Dublin Society and Trinity College several important members of the scientific society were prominent members of the college. Both Robert Huntington and St. George Aske, a mathematics professor, were key members of the Society who also served as Provosts of Trinity. Although there were complaints about the scientific education available, William Molyneux developed an interest in the new philosophy while a Trinity student. In 1685 the college purchased a telescope and began to develop an observatory. Two years later the college decided to establish a physic and herbal garden at college expense. If Aske felt that Trinity was not receptive enough to the new science it is clear that mathematical and scientific discussion were not excluded from Trinity College. Dixon, W. Mackneil, Trinity College, Dublin (London, 1902), pp. 5478Google Scholar; Hoppen, T. K., The Common Scientist in the Seventeenth Century: A Study of the Dublin Philosophical Society 1683-1708 (Charlottesville, 1970), pp. 59–61, 63, 64Google Scholar.

96. It is true that Newton's public lectures were sparsely attended. It should be remembered, however, that Newton never repeated a lecture series and began where he left off the previous year, a practice that would have made it difficult for the uninitiated to learn a great deal. It is equally true that Isaac Barrow was accustomed to “talk to the walls,” but that was in his capacity of Regius Professor of Greek. Osmond, P. H., Isaac Barrow (London, 1944), p. 92Google Scholar. It seems that the general habits of students rather than a preference for traditional over scientific and mathematical subjects were responsible for the scarcity of Newton's auditors. John Flamsteed at Gresham College also complained that his lectures were very badly attended. Hoppen, , Common Scientist, p. 5Google Scholar.

97. Among those who owed their positions to Newton's patronage were David Gregory, who became Savilian Professor of Astronomy in 1692, and Roger Cotes, who became Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge in 1706. Newton was also responsible for establishing the terms on which the latter chair would be held. The Plumian Professor was required to publish regularly at Cambridge or in the Philosophical Transactions. William Whiston owed his nomination to the Lucasian chair to Newton. John Keill, Savilian Professor of Astronomy in 1712, owed a great deal to Newton, as did Edmund Halley, who obtained the same post in 1703. Manuel, Frank, A Portrait of Isaac Newton (Cambridge, Mass., 1968), pp. 212214Google Scholar.

98. North, Roger, The Lives of the Norths (London, 1826), p. 259Google Scholar. The fact that both North and Barrow were famous Greek scholars should suggest that the common assumption of the incompatability between scientific and humanistic learning was not an assumption of the seventeenth century.

99. An anonymous defense of the Royal Society published in 1670 indicated that although scientific studies were “not the chief business of those Illustrious Nurseries of Learning, where the youth of the Kingdom is fitted for the service of the Church and State, yet they are countenanced there and persuaded within their walls by some of their most worthy members, as far as their other studies and exercise … will permit.” A Brief Vindication (London, 1670) p. 70Google Scholar. See for example Luttrell, N., A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs, (London, 1857)Google Scholar; Ramesey, William, The Gentleman's Companion (London, 1672)Google Scholar; Sir Balthazer Grazier, Project for an Academy in Collectanea Curiosa, ed. Gutch, John (Oxford, 1781)Google Scholar; Wallis, “A Letter,” in Ibid., pp. 24-35; A Memorial Relating to the Universities in Ibid., pp. 53-71. David Douglas's study of historical and antiquarian scholars suggests a wide and frequently deep acquaintance with scientific and mathematical subjects. Douglas, David, English Scholars (London, 1939), Pp. 129, 130, 131, 137-9, 156, 176, 216, 221Google Scholar. See also Jones, W., The Rhetoric of Science (Berkeley, 1966)Google Scholar.

100. Wallis, , “A Letter,” p. 25Google Scholar. The fact that one such student purchased the Philosophical Transactions in Oxford to send to his father indicates the availability of the Royal Society publication. MacGrath, John (ed.), The Flemings in Oxford (Oxford, 1904), II, 176Google Scholar.

101. Sprackling, Robert, Medula Ignorantia (London, 1665), p. 74Google Scholar.

102. Foxcroft, H. C., A Supplement of Burne's History (Oxford, 1902), pp. 4647Google Scholar. Burnet felt this condition was somewhat less true of Oxford.

103. Quoted in Gunther, R. T., Early Science at Cambridge (Oxford, 1937), p. 76Google Scholar. North was also a student of mathematics.

104. Barlow, Thomas, The Genuine Remains (London, 1693), p. 157Google Scholar. Barlow associated the promotion of science with the Roman Catholics, particularly the Jesuits. Ibid., p. 158.

105. Glanvill, Joseph, A Further Discovery of Mr. Stubbe (London, 1671), p. 51Google Scholar.

106. Bodleian MSS, Smith 13, p. 49.

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108. Madan, Oxford Books, II, III, passim.

109. See the 1674 Bodleian catalog.

110. Arbuthnot, J., An Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning (Oxford, 1701), pp. 1, 50, 54Google Scholar. Arbuthnot's authorship is not certain.

111. 'Espinasse, , “The Decline and Fall,” Past and Present, XIV, 76Google Scholar, quoting Locke, , “Some Thoughts Concerning Education,” p. 193Google Scholar.

112. Oldenburg, Henry, Correspondence, ed. and trans. Hall, A. R. and Hall, M. B. (1965-, Madison, Wisconsin), II, 543Google Scholar.

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116. Although the effort failed for “want of persons willing to try experiments,” Newton, Henry More, and Charles Montague, later president of the Royal Society, were involved in the 1695 scheme. Weld, C. R., A History of the Royal Society (London, 1848), I, 305Google Scholar. The Vice Chancellor's accounts for 1673 indicate plans for a museum at Cambridge. The following year the Bishop of Ely left a bequest of £500 to build a public school or museum. Gunther, , Science at Cambridge, I, 20Google Scholar. Natural rarities were on display at St. Johns in 1695. Ibid.

117. Hoppen, , The Common Scientist, p. 211Google Scholar.

118. To be sure there was initial fear that the Royal Society might usurp or undermine the universities, but this was a function of the fear that the Society might become a degree granting institution. See Sprat, Thomas, History of the Royal Society, ed. Cope, J. I. and Jones, J. (St. Louis, 1958), Appendix B., pp. 7172Google Scholar. Miss Purver emphasizes the hostility between the Royal Society and the universities. Purver, , Royal Society, p. 63Google Scholar. See also Syfre, R. H., “Some Early Reactions to the Royal Society,” Royal Society Notes and Records, VII (1950), 202258Google Scholar; Syfret, R. H., “Some Early Critics of the Royal Society,” Royal Society Notes and Records, VIII (1950), 264Google Scholar. These fears should be viewed as the defense of an educational monopoly rather than as hostility to science. The universities had expressed a similar desire to maintain their monopoly of higher education when a new university at Durham was proposed in 1657. Wilkins and Ward had opposed the radicals' desire to proliferate universities in the 1650s, and Wallis headed the Oxford opposition against the Durham scheme. The response of the Royal Society was to make it clear that the Society would not grant degrees, emphasized its respect for the universities' scientific accomplishments and the continuing filial relation of its own members to alma mater. See Glanvill, J., A Praefactory Answer, (London, 1671), p. 70Google Scholar; Glanvill, J., Plus Ultra (London, 1668)Google Scholar. When Robert South attacked the Royal Society as “underminer of the University” in 1669, John Evelyn indicated how “foolish” and “untrue” South's statements had been. The Diary of John Evelyn, ed. DeBeer, E. S. (Oxford, 1955), III, 531532Google Scholar.

119. Wood, , History and Antiquities, II, 686694Google Scholar; Mallet, , Oxford, II, 402Google Scholar, 420n. Mullinger, , Cambridge, p. 523Google Scholar. Samuel Hartlib and some of his associates seem to have had some connection with the Durham venture. None of the Wadham circle were involved. See G. H.Turnbull, “Oliver Cromwell's College at Durham,” of Durham), III (1952), 1-7. Webster, Charles, ed., Samuel Hartlib and the Advancement of Learning (Cambridge, 1970)Google Scholar. For the religious emphasis of Durham see James, Margaret, Social Problems and Policy during the Puritan Revolution (London, 1930), pp. 318, 324, 325Google Scholar. Trinity College, Dublin, founded in 1591, was thought to have been a Puritan stronghold, at least until Laud made his influence felt there. Yet, here, too, we see a very traditional curriculum.

120. Of the approximately 130 with university degrees who emigrated before 1646, 100 were educated at Cambridge. A large proportion were from Emmanuel College. Morison, S. E., The Founding of Harvard College (Cambridge, Mass., 1935), pp. 360, 362Google Scholar.

121. Morison's biographical studies of these men yield only one or two with such interests. Ibid., pp. 364-66. Robert Child was involved with the London scientific group and had pursued medical studies in Padua and Leyden prior to his brief sojourn in New England, Ibid., pp. 371-372. Child was expelled after requesting religious toleration for Presbyterians. Morison, S. E., The Intellectual Life of Colonial New England (New York, 1956), p. 250Google Scholar. John Sherman was an amateur astronomer who compiled almanacs. Morison, , Founding, p. 400Google Scholar. The scientific interests of John Winthrop, Jr., the colonist most deeply engaged in scientific activities, are well known. But he was exceptional among the New Englanders of the 17th century. See Black, Robert C., The Younger John Winthrop (New York, 1966)Google Scholar. John Leverett and William Brattle, both born in 1662, too late to speak of Puritan influence on scientific development, became F.R.S. in 1714. Scientific activity and interest in the eighteenth century was by no means rare.

122. Morison, , Founding, pp. 247, 249, 250Google Scholar; Curtis, Oxford and Cambridge in Transition.

123. Miller, Perry, The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, Mass., 1954), p. 105Google Scholar.

124. See Morison, , Founding, p. 330Google Scholar.

125. During the 17th century only arithmetic and plane and spherical geometry were taught and these only in the senior sophister year. There was no trace of algebra in the curriculum until 1720. Thomas Brattle, a Harvard graduate, complained about Harvard's neglect of mathematics. Morison, , Founding, p. 208Google Scholar.

126. Morison, , Intellectual Life, pp. 245246Google Scholar. Almanacs rather than scientific treatises seem to have been the chief means by which the new astronomy spread in New England. Morison, S.E., Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, Mass., 1936), pp. 216, 218CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

127. Morison, , Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century, pp. 240, 242, 251Google Scholar; Morison, , Intellectual Ufe, p. 267Google Scholar.

128. Morison, , Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century, p. 251Google Scholar. As early as 1656 there were already many up-to-date textbooks in the vernacular. Hill, , Intellectual Origins, p. 16Google Scholar.

129. Miller, , New England Mind, pp. 217, 218Google Scholar.

130. Morison, , Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century, p. 233Google Scholar.

131. Morison, Ibid., pp. 395, 401, 503. For a discussion of the possibility that Comenius might become president of Harvard and the diffusion of Comenian literature, see Matthews, Albert, “Comenius and Harvard College,” Publications Colonial Soc. of Mass., XXI, pp. 146190Google Scholar.

132. Morison, , Founding, pp. 265268Google Scholar. Although the 17th century colonists had a great interest in books, their libraries and book purchases do not reflect any great interest in science. See Wright, T. G., Literary Culture in Early New England, 1620-1730 (New Haven, 1920)Google Scholar.

133. More than one out of ten books published between 1475 and 1640 deal with scientific subjects. Stearns, R. P., “The Scientific Spirit in England in Early Modern Times,” Isis, XXXIV (1943), 297Google Scholar. About one of every six books listed in London, William, The Catalogue of the Most Vendible Books (London, 1657)Google Scholar dealt with such topics. Hill, , Intellectual Origins, p. 16Google Scholar. A. R. Hall has estimated that between 1600 and 1700, 4,300-8,600 books and pamphlets dealing with scientific topics were published. Many of these were popular works. English Science in Seventeenth Century England,” Scientific Literature in 16th and 17th Century England (Los Angeles, 1961), pp. 2324Google Scholar.

134. New England's First Fruits (London, 1643)Google Scholar reprinted in Morison, , Founding, pp. 432446Google Scholar, emphasized their public declamations in Greek and Latin and their logical and philosophical disputations. Although recreation of the traditional curriculum and religious studies were clearly basic, they also mentioned that arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy were taught.

135. See Hornberger, T., Scientific Thought in the American Colleges 1638-1800 (Austin, Texas, 1945)Google Scholar; Brasch, F., “The Newtonian Epoch in the American Colonies, 1680-1783,” Proceed, of the American Antiquarian Society, XLIX (1939)Google Scholar; F. Brasch, “The Royal Society of London and its Influence upon Scientific Thought in the American Colonies,” Ibid. XXXII (1931), 336-355, 448-469; Kilgour, Frederick G., “Science in The American Colonies and the Early Republic,” Journal of World History, X (1967), 393416Google Scholar; Bell, W. J., Early American Science: Needs and Opportunities for Study (Williamsburg, 1955)Google Scholar. Early grammar school education was also conservative and suggests no special concern for mathematics or the natural sciences. See Middlekauf, R. L., Ancients and Axioms: Secondary Education in Eighteenth Century New England (New Haven, 1963)Google Scholar.

136. Griffith, Olive, Religion and Learning (Cambridge, 1935), p. 35Google Scholar.

137. Parker, Irene, Dissenting Academies in England (Cambridge, 1914), pp. 53, 55, 56, 74, 75, 78, 102Google Scholar. Charles Morton's academy at Newington Green is frequently singled out by those positing a link between Puritanism and science. But Morton's scientific inclinations probably owe more to his Wadham education than to his Puritanism. See also Smith, J. W. Ashley, The Birth of Modern Education (London, 1954)Google Scholar. For a discussion concerning the introduction of Scientific Studies in the Scottish Universities, see Ibid., pp. 67-70: Kearney, , Gentlemen and Scholars, pp. 154–56Google Scholar.