London in 1710, from the travels of Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach On 5 July, Saturday morning, we drove to
Gresham ColledgeCollege.[*]Gresham
College. This, in 1710,
was the former dwelling-house of the
founder, Sir Thomas Gresham, in Bishopsgate
Street. The work of the college began in 1597. The old house was demolished in 1768. Dr.
Robert Hooke, the renowned mathematician, lived thirty-nine years
in the old college and died there on 3
March, 1703.
The Royal Society met in the college from
1660 to 1710, in which year the Society removed to 2 Crane Court, Fleet Street, and carried
on its affairs there till 1780, the
date of the Society's removal to Somerset
House.
It is really a Grammar School, named after its
founder, Gresham, v. Vieu of London, Vol.
II, p. 664 sq. Many excellent persons of good
parts have been professors there, and, as is well known, the Royal Society uses it
as its headquarters. It is an old building, extensive and irregular; and the inner
part, where the Society has its apartments, is still the best. Both in Germany and elsewhere an exalted idea of this
Society has been formed, both of it and of the collections they have in their
Museum, especially when one looks at the Transactions of this Society and the fine
description of the Museum by Grew.[*]GREW. This was Nehemiah Grew, 1641-1712, the professor of the anatomy of
plants. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 30 November, 1671. In 1672 he was appointed Curator to the
Society. He had taken his degree as a doctor of medicine at Leyden in 1671.
Thus foreigners have just grounds for amazement
when they hear how wretchedly all is now ordered. But it is the sight of the Museum
that is most astounding. It consists of what appear to be two long narrow chambers,
where lie the finest instruments and other articles (which Grew describes), not only in no sort of order or tidiness but
covered with dust, filth and coal-smoke, and many of them broken and utterly ruined.
If one inquires after anything, the operator who shows strangers round—v. Vieu of London, Vol. II, p. 687—will usually say: 'A rogue had
it stolen away,' or he will show you pieces of it, saying: 'It is corrupted or
broken'; and such is the care they take of things! Hardly a thing is to be
recognized, so wretched do they all look. But that is the way with all public
societies. For a short time they flourish, while the founder and original members
are there to set the standard; then come all kinds of setbacks, partly from envy and
lack of unanimity and partly because all kinds of people of no account become
members; their final state is one of indifference and sloth. This has been the case
with this Society too. The first six years of its Transactions are better and
contain more than all the rest put together. They can be purchased complete for
twelve pounds.
Now scarcely anything is done by them. The Society does not meet
during the whole of the summer and very little from Michaelmas onwards. The present
Secretary, Dr Sloane,[*]Von Uffenbach refers shortly
here to SIR HANS SLOANE, who was
Secretary of the Royal Society from 30
November, 1693, till 1712,
and to SIR ISAAC NEWTON, 1642-1727, who was President of
the Society from 1703 to 1728. He mentions the name of the noted
Dr. John Woodward here, and
interviews and describes him later.
is certainly an honest fellow
of great parts, but he is very much occupied by his own extensive Praxi medica as well as with his own great collection.
The President, Newton, is an old man and is
prevented both by his office as Director of the Mint and by the management of his
own affairs from concerning himself much about the Society. For the rest, if one
excepts Dr Woodward[*]JOHN WOODWARD, 1665-1728, the physician and geologist;
F.R.S., 30 November, 1693;
F.R.C.P., 22 March, 1703. He
died at Gresham College on 25 April, 1728.
Von Uffenbach was greatly edified with
Woodward's characteristics and
peculiarities.
and one or two other Englishmen as well as the foreign members, there are none but
apothecaries and other such people who know scarce a word of Latin. Such members
contribute little to the honour and usefulness of the Society. But to return to the
subject of the Museum, I will mention one or two of the things that pleased us most,
although they have all been described by Grew,
and some of them also in Vieu of London, Vol. II, p. 666.
The great magnet
with thirty-two compasses made by Dr Wren for
the purpose of research on variationes and delineationes is one of the most
remarkable articles. The magnet itself is round and nearly six inches in diameter
and is not mounted. The two poles are marked with a cross. The operator did two
charming experiments for us with this magnet. First he took a paper of filings and
held the north pole of the magnet over it, so that for the moment the filings piled
themselves up on top of each other and stood up on
end, being also churned up like
water. The other was more notable: having placed the magnet in a hole cut in a
board, he strewed this with file-dust; when he struck the lower side of the board in
one or two places, all the filings divided themselves into lines, which stretched
from each pole round the circumference of the magnet to the middle point of the
pole; and in this position they remained, however much and often he might strike the
board. It looked exactly like the copper engraving made by the Cartesians to
illustrate their hypothesis of the effect of the magnet, for which they have been
mocked by Thomasio and others. This is much
more clearly shown by Fig. XLII and the following description and elucidation of it:
the letter a refers to a great round figure which represents
a table with thirty-two small holes in its circumference, c,
in which there are placed magnetic needles, these being covered with glasses like
other compasses. In the middle a round hole had been cut, and in this was placed a
spherically cut loadstone, 6, the two poles of which are
marked with a cross, d. After this stone had been set in
position with its north pole, all the needles standing round revolved towards e along the lines f and e. The dots round the loadstone represent filings, m, which had been thinly sprinkled about; and these range
themselves neatly in accurate semi-circles when one knocks underneath the table, so
that they move and raise themselves. Straight lines radiated from either pole; but
the nearer it was to the sides, the better was the semi-circle formed—better,
indeed, than it is here represented. If one then altered the stone with the poles,
setting them for example by the line gh, having been formerly
on that from ef, and knocked again on the table, the
semicircle and figures made by the filings altered their position and lay in the
former order with lines due north and south along the line gh, which was all prodigiously curious. We also noticed the chair made of some special root, which is
spoken of in Vieu of London, Vol. II, p. 319p. 685 n.319. There was a label hung on it with these words: 'This Chair
given by John Lord Sommers Baron of Evesham President
of the Royal Society from Chusan in
China, 30
Juny
June
1702'. The root looks almost as full of veins as our walnut
wood, of which cupboards are made. Moreover it is maintained both in that passage in
Vieu of London and by the operator that the chair is not jointed but
made from a single block of wood, so it is certainly very curious; but I cannot
possibly believe that art did not come to assist, so elegantly is it carved.
We saw also the ovula
of a female who had died of the dropsy, some of them being as big as
a cherry. They were in glasses filled with spirit.
There were other things there
too, mostly of a common sort; I was delighted at the way in which all these things
were fastened to small glass balls and floated in the spirit, so that all may be
seen with ease. Even when the spirit is somewhat evaporated, the things sink with
the balls and do not hang without moisture and perish, which they do when fastened
to the glass or the stopper, as they usually are.
We also found notably ana uterus with the bladder and other parts appertaining thereto; all had been excellently preserved, so that all the veins, ligaments, nerves, etc. were clearly
to be seen.
We also noticed the four black boards, on which all the venae arteriae
and nerves of the human body are very
well arranged, v. Vieu of London, p. 666, n. 3. But because these
boards hang quite unprotected on the wall, they are ruined by dust and smoke, so
that they look utterly black and wretched, which is indeed a pity.
We also saw an incomparably fine Nautilum petrefactum.
But there
is no need to mention anything more, for all is described in detail in the works to
which I have referred, especially in that of Grew. I only wish that all had been in good condition and that we could
have observed it at our leisure.
British Curiosities in Nature and Art (1713) The Scull of a Sea Horse; The Horns of a Spanish Ram 3 yards long, and 1 between the Tips— The Tail of
an Indian Cow, whose Hair is about a yard
and quarter long: (This Creature is worshipped by the People, near the Ganges.) A Camelions Skin
(which Creature is said to live by the Air.)
A Skeleton of a Crocodile near 5
yards long;
And a Salamander. The Rib of a Triton (or Merman;)
One joint of the
Back-bone of a Whale 30 l. in weight;
the Horn of
a Sea Unicorn;
the Head of a Manati (or Sea Cow.)
Several kinds of curious
Shells, particularly one of a Muscle, 3 quarters of a Foot in length.
The Webb
of a Bermudas Spider, so strong as to snare a Bird: part of a Stinking Tree,
smelling like Humane Dung:
a Palmeto Leaf, 1 yard and a half long; a Bulchafer,
(the biggest of Insects) this is about 5 inches long, and 2 and a quarter broad.
A Coco Nut in length 1 Foot, and in Compass 1 and 3 quarters: it is a most
useful Tree, for of it the Indians make
these uses: of the husk they make Ropes; of the Shell, Ladles, &c. The cover
next the Kernel, is a pleasant Meat; the Liquor, Drink; the Blossom, Vinegar;
the Kernel, a Milk to eat with their Rice, also Oyl to eat and burn; of the
Leaves of the Tree, they make Sails; covers for Houses, and Huts;
and of the Wood they make Ships.
A Cane of the Cedar of Mount Lebanon (some on this Mount
are said to be 12 or 14 Fathom circumference.)
Part of the upper Jaw, and 8 very
great double Teeth, and the Fragments of other Bones; all petrified and found
near Canterbury, 17 Foot under
Ground.
A petrified Crab, hard as a Pebble, dissolvable with Acids:
a great
double Tooth, 5 inches long and 2 broad Petrified;
a Sherks Tooth, that to which
this belonged must be 36 Foot long.
A piece of Chrystal 39 pound weight:
a Load-stone 60 l. weight; it moves a needle at 9
Foot distance, and was dug out of the Ground in Devonshire;
an Instrument whereby the quantity of Rain
that falls at any time, on any piece of Ground is measured.
The Model of a
Geometrical Floor, composed only of 4 pieces of Timber:
another of the Hull of a double bottomed Ship:
a Wind Gun, contrived by Bishop Wilkins:
a Gun that discharges, 7
times one after another, presently;
a Machine for Plowing, Sowing, and
Harrowing, all at once.
A Box of Cups (turned work) being 100 one within
another, the Bowl of the outmost is but 2 Inches and a half Diameter:
a Prism,
and the Head of a Princess, with her Hair both turned Work;
a Roman urn of Glass, above 1500 Years old:
Mosaick work found
under Ground, in Holbourn and
near the Bath.
A Roman
Money-pot, with several Roman Coins in
it, (they are particularly mentioned by Dr. Grew,) found in 1651, in Weekfield, in the Parish of Hedington, in the County of Wilts.
A Burning Glass, contrived
and given by Sir Isaac
Newton; it melts any kind of Metal, held in the
Focus, and even vitrifieth Brick and Tile.
A swiming Stone, about a Foot and a
half solid.
A Cane 26 Foot long;
a Chusan chair, a wonderful curiosity; being of
natural growth and shape, with Rails, Pillars, Seat, Back, Elbows, &c. It
was given by my Lord Somers in 1702, and
was brought from China.
The
Model of the Temple of Jerusalem;
a large Cylindrical piece of a Petrified Tree,
14 Inches diameter: and about the like depth, brought from Antegoa in 1695, by Benjamin
Middleton Esq;
The Horns of a Red Deer, 7 Foot 1 Inch
between the Tips, found in Ireland, 14 Foot deep in a bog, given by an Irish Bishop.
A Cinnamon Staff about
7 Foot long, and 1 and a quarter in the Diameter.