We then discoursed of the circulation of the blood, the valves
in the veins, the venae lacteae, the lymphatic vessels, the Copernican
hypothesis, the nature of comets and new stars, the satellites of
Jupiter, the oval shape (as it then appeared) of Saturn, the spots
on the sun and its turning on its own axis, the inequalities and
selenography [24] of the moon, the several phases of Venus and Mercury,
the improvement of telescopes and grinding of glasses for that purpose,
the weight of air, the possibility or impossibility of vacuities
and nature's abhorrence thereof, the Torricellian experiment [25] in
quicksilver, the descent of heavy bodies and the degree of acceleration
therein, with divers other things of like nature, some of which were
then but new discoveries, and others not so generally known and embraced
as now they are; with other things appertaining to what hath been called
the New Philosophy, which from the times of Galileo at Florence, and Sir
Francis Bacon [26] (Lord Verulam) in England, hath been much cultivated
in Italy, France, Germany, and other parts abroad, as well as with us in
England."
The learned Dr. Wallis,[27] writing in 1696, narrates in these words,
what happened half a century before, or about 1645. The associates met
at Oxford, in the rooms of Dr. Wilkins, who was destined to become a
bishop; and subsequently coming together in London, they attracted
the notice of the king.
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