Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

and unpreoccupied memories to retaine them. As for other things whereunto they are nowadayes fit, they are altogether unfit for want of judgement, which is but weake in them, and also for want of will, which is sufficiently seene both by what we have said before, by the difficultie of keeping them at schools, and the punishment they will endure rather than be altogether debarred from this pleasure which they take in things.

This work will be a help to eloquence, when men by their great acquaintance with things, might find out similitudes, metaphors, allusions, and other graces of discourse in abundance.

To arithmeticians and geometricians, supplying them with matter whereupon to exercise those most excellent sciences, which some having with much paines once learned, do for want hereof forget againe, or unprofitably apply about resolving needlesse questions and making of new difficulties. The number of mix mathematical arts would hereby be increased.

For we see that opticks are made up of pure mathematicks, the anatomy of the eye, and some physicall principles concerning the nature of light and vision, with some experiments of convexe and concave glasses. Astronomy is constituted againe of them, and some celestiall phenomena. Enquire againe of them, and some propositions, 'de Cochleâ et Vecte.' And so certainly as the number of axioms concerning severall subjects doth increase by this work. So the number of (their applications to pure mathematicks, id est,) new mathematicall arts, will increase also. Divines having so large a booke of God's works added to that of his word, may the more clearly from them both, deduce the wisedome, power, and goodnesse of the Almighty. Physicians observing the use of all drugs and operations in the production of artificials, may with successe transferre them to better uses in their art. And lawyers when they plead concerning trades and manufactures, would better know what to say on such occasions.

A young beginner may know by this book how much stock is needfull to set him up in trade. Gentlemen falling sometimes accidentally into tradesmen and handi-crafts company, would know how to make use of such occurrences to advantage.

Lastly,―This History with the comments thereupon, and the Indices, Preface and Supplemements thereunto belonging, would make us able (if it be at all possible) to demonstrate Axioms in Philosophy, the value and dignity whereof can not be valued or computed.

The next book which we recommend is the History of Nature free, for indeed the History of Trades is also a History of Nature, but of nature vexed and dis turbed. What we meane by this history may be known by the Lord Verulam's most excellent specimen thereof, and as for the particulars that it should treat on, we referre to his exact and judicious catalogue of them, at the end of his "Advancement of Learning."

PLAN OF A PHILOSOPHICAL COLLEGE.

A PROPOSITION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY-1661.

BY ABRAHAM COWLEY.

THE COLLEGE.

THAT the Philosophical College be situated within one, two, or (at farthest) three miles of London, and if it be possible to find that convenience, upon the side of the river, or very near it.

That the revenue of this College amount to four thousand a year.

That the company received into it be as follows:

1. Twenty philosophers or professors. 2. Sixteen young scholars, servants to the professors. 3. A chaplain. 4. A bailee for the revenue. 5. A manciple or purveyor for the provisions of the house. 6. Two gardeners. 7. A master cook. 8. An under cook. 9. A butler. 10. An under butler. 11. A surgeon. 12. Two lungs, or chemical servants. 13. A library-keeper, who is likewise to be apothecary, druggist, and keeper of instruments, engines, &c. 14. An officer to feed and take care of all beasts, fowl, &c., kept by the College. 15. A groom of the stable. 16. A messenger to send up and down for all uses of the College. 17. Four old women to tend the chambers, keep the house cleau, and such like services.

That the annual allowance for this company be as follows:

1. To every professor, and to the chaplain, one hundred and twenty pounds. 2. To the sixteen scholars, twenty pounds a piece, ten pounds for their diet, and ten pounds for their entertainment. 3. To the bailee, thirty pounds, besides allowance for his journeys. 4. To the purveyor or manciple, thirty pounds. 5. To each of the gardeners, twenty pounds. 6. To the master cook, twenty pounds. 7. To the under cook, four pounds. 8. To the butler, ten pounds. 9. To the under butler, four pounds. 10. To the surgeon, thirty pounds. 11. To the library-keeper, thirty pounds. 12. To each of the lungs, twelve pounds. 13. To the keeper of the beasts, six pounds. 14. To the groom, five pounds. 15. To the messenger, twelve pounds. 16. To the four necessary women, ten pounds. For the manciple's table, at which all the servants of the house are to eat, except the scholars, one hundred and sixty pounds. For three horses for the service of the College, thirty pounds.

All which amounts to three thousand two hundred and eighty-five pounds. So that there remains for keeping of the house and gardens, and operatories, and instruments and animals, and experiments of all sorts, and all other expenses, seven hundred and fifteen pounds. Which were a very inconsiderable sum for the great uses to which it is designed, but that I conceive the industry of the College will in a short time so enrich itself as to get a far better stock for the advance and enlargement of the work when it is once begun; neither is the continuance of particular men's liberality to be despaired of,

when it shall be encouraged by the sight of that public benefit which will accrue to all mankind, and chiefly to our nation, by this foundation, Something likewise will arise from leases and other casualties; that nothing of which may be diverted to the private gain of the professors, or any other use besides that of the search of nature, and by it the general good of the world, and that care may be taken for the certain performance of all things ordained by the institution, as likewise for the protection and encouragement of the company, it is proposed,

That some person of eminent quality, a lover of solid learning, and no stranger in it, be chosen Chancellor or President of the College, and that eight governers more, men qualified in the like manner, be joined with him, two of which shall yearly be appointed Visitors of the College, and receive an exact account of all expenses even to the smallest, and of the true estate of their public treasure, under the hands and oaths of the professors resident.

That the choice of the professors in any vacancy belong to the Chancellor and the Governors, but that the professors (who are likeliest to know what men of the nation are most proper for the duties of their society) direct their choice by recommending two or three persons to them at every election. And that if any learned person within his majesty's dominions discover or eminently improve any useful kind of knowledge, he may upon that ground for his reward and the encouragement of others, be preferred, if he pretend to the place, before anybody else.

That the Governors have power to turn out any professor who shall be proved to be either scandalous or unprofitable to the Society.

That the College be built after this, or some such manner: That it consist of three fair quadrangular courts, and three large grounds, inclosed with good walls behind them. That the first court be built with a fair cloister, and the professors' lodgings or rather little houses, four on each side, at some distance from one another, and with little gardens behind them, just after the manner of the Chartreux beyond sea. That the inside of the cloister be lined with a gravel walk, and that walk with a row of trees, and that in the middle there be a parterre of flowers, and a fountain.

That the second quadrangle, just behind the first, be so contrived as to contain these parts: 1. A chapel. 2. A hall with two long tables on each side for the scholars and officers of the house to eat at, and with a pulpit and forms at the end for the public lectures. 3. A large and pleasant dining-room within the hall for the professors to eat in, and to hold their assemblies and conferences. 4. A public school-house. 5. A library. 6. A gallery to walk in, adorned with the pictures or statues of all the inventors of any thing useful to human life, as printing, guns, America, &c., and of late in anatomy the circulation of the blood, the milky veins, and such like discoveries in any art, with short eulogies under the portraitures; as likewise the figures of all sorts of creatures, and the stuffed skins of as many strange animals as can be gotten. 7. An anatomy chamber adorned with skeletons and anatomical pictures, and prepared with all conveniences for dissection. 8. A chamber for all manner of drugs and apothecaries' materials. 9. A mathematical chamber furnished with all sorts of mathematical instruments, being an appendix to the library. 10. Lodgings for the chaplain, surgeon, library-keeper and purveyor, near the chapel, anatomy chamber, library, and hall.

That the third court be on one side of these, very large, but meanly built, being designed only for use and not for beauty too, as the others. That it contain the kitchen, butteries, brewhouse, bakehouse, dairy, lardry, stables, &c., and especially great laboratories for chemical operations, and lodgings for the under servants.

That behind the second court be placed the garden, containing all sorts of plants that our soil will bear, and at the end a little house of pleasure, a lodge for the gardener, and a grove of trees cut into walks.

That the second inclosed ground be a garden, destined only to the trial of all manner of experiments concerning plants, as their melioration, acceleration, retardation, conservation, composition, transmutation, coloration, or whatsoever else can be produced by art, either for use or curiosity, with a lodge in it for the gardener.

That the third ground be employed in convenient receptacles for all sorts of creatures which the professors shall judge necessary for their more exact search into the nature of animals, and the improvement of their uses to us.

That there be likewise built in some place of the College where it may serve most for ornament of the whole, a very high tower for observation of celestial bodies, adorned with all sorts of dials, and such like curiosities; and that there be very deep vaults, made under ground, for experiments most proper to such places, which will be undoubtedly very many.

Much might be added, but truly I am afraid this is too much already for the charity or generosity of this age to extend to; and we do not design this after the model of Solomon's house in my Lord Bacon, (which is a project for experiments that can never be experimented,) but propose it within such bounds of expense as have often been exceeded by the buildings of private citizens.

PROFESSORS, SCHOLARS, CHAPLAIN, AND other offiCERS.

That of the twenty professors, four be always travelling beyond seas, and sixteen always resident, unless by permission upon extraordinary occasions, and every one so absent, leaving a deputy behind him to supply his duties.

That the four professors itinerate be assigned to the four parts of the world -Europe, Asia, Africa, and America-there to reside three years at least, and to give a constant account of all things that belong to the learning, and especially, natural experimental philosophy of those parts.

That the expense of all dispatches, and all books, simples, animals, stones, metals, minerals, &c., and all curiosities whatsoever, natural or artificial, sent by them to the college, shall be defrayed out of the treasury, and an additional allowance (above the 1207) made to them as soon as the college revenue shall be improved.

That at their going abroad they shall take a solemn oath never to write anything to the College, but what, after very diligent examination, they shall fully believe to be true, and to confess and recant it as soon as they find themselves in an error.

That the sixteen professors resident shall be bound to study and teach all sorts of natural, experimental philosophy, to consist of the mathematics, mechanics, medicine, anatomy, chemistry, the history of animals, plants, minerals, elements, &c, agriculture, architecture, art military, navigation, gardening; the mysteries of all trades, and improvement of them; the facture of all merchan

dises, all natural magic, or divination; and briefly, all things contained in the catalogue of natural histories annexed to my Lord Bacon's Organon.

That once a day from Easter t'll Michaelmas, and twice a week from Michaelmas to Easter, in the hours in the afternoon most convenient for auditors from London according to the time of the year, there shall be a lecture read in the hall, upon such parts of natural experimental philosophy as the professors shall agree on among themselves, and as each of them shall be able to perform usefully and honorably.

That two of the professors by daily, weekly or monthly turns shall teach the public schools according to the rules hereafter prescribed.

That all the professors shall be equal in all respects (except precedency, choice of lodging, and such like privileges, which shall belong to seniority in the College,) and that all shall be masters and treasurers by annual turns, which two officers for the time being, shall take place of all the rest, and shall be Arbitri duarum Mensarum.

That the master shall command all the officers of the College, appoint assemblies or conferences upon occasion, and preside in them with a double voice. and in his absence the treasurer, whose business is to receive and disburse all moneys by the master's order in writing, (if it be an extraordinary,) after consent of the other professors.

That all the professors shall sup together in the parlor within the hall every night, and shall dine there twice a week (to wit Sundays and Thursdays,) at two round tables for the convenience of discourse, which shall be for the most part of such matters as may improve their studies and professions, and to keep them from falling into loose or unprofitable talk, shall be the duty of the two Arbitri Mensarum, who may likewise command any of the servant-scholars to read them what they shall think fit, whilst they are at table; that it shall belong likewise to the said Arbitri Mensarum only, to invite strangers, which they shall rarely do, unless they be men of learning or great parts, and shall not invite above two at a time to one table, nothing being more vain and unfruitful than numerous meetings of acquaintance.

That the professors resident shall allow the College twenty pounds a year for their diet, whether they continue there all the time or not.

That they shall have once a week an assembly or conference concerning the affairs of the College, and the progress of their experimental philosophy.

That if any one find out any thing which he conceives to be of consequence, he shall communicate it to the assembly to be examined, experimented, approved, or rejected.

That if any one be author of an invention that may bring in profit, the third part of it shall belong to the inventor, and the two other to the Society; and besides, if the thing be very considerable, his statue or picture, with an eulogy under it, shall be placed in the gallery, and made a denizen of that corporation of famous men.

That all the professors shall be always assigned to some particular inquisition (besides the ordinary course of their studies,) of which they shall give an account to the assembly, so that by this means there may be every day some operation or other made in all the arts, as chemistry, anatomy, mechanics, and the like, and that the College shall furnish for the charge of the operation.

That there shall be kept a register under lock and key, and not to be seen

« AnteriorContinua »