Record

DM - Domestic Manuscripts: letters and papers relating to the administration of the Royal Society
- 5 - Domestic Manuscripts Volume 5

RefNo	DM/5/62
Level	Item
Title	Report of the Committee appointed 'for collecting the Phenomena of nature and all philosophicall experiments hitherto observed, made and recorded'
Date	c.1664
Description	"According to an order made at a meeting of the Royal Society the eight of June 1664 appoynting the persons therein named or any three or more of them to be a committee for collecting the phenomena of nature and all philosophicall experiments hitherto observed made and recorded; A competent number of them have severall times met and Resolving it best to divide the worke among the severall members of the Society they have thought fit to recommend to each person that shall take a share the directions given for that end by my Lord Bacon in a treatise written by him; called 'Parasceve ad historiam naturalem' and that accordingly they will divide the observations of the phenomena of nature into observations of generations, pretergenerations and arts but the last is to bee left to the care of the Committee for Trades. The history of pretergenerations is to be joined in every distinct subject with that of Generations which is fivefold. First of celestiall bodyes the recording of whose observations this committee conceives belongs properly to that of Astronomy and Opticks. Secondly of ayre and meteors a part of which that considers comets belongs to the same last mentioned committee Thirdly of the earth and sea so far forth as they are integrall parts of the universe Fourthly of the Elements as they are great masses that is of their substance Fifthly of particular bodies or lesser species and these are to be divided into Animals vegetables and fossils This Committee likewise thought it convenient that your collectors of these observations would let pass all these all matters of philology, tedious and overexact descriptions and _ parts of magick and superstition and that among arts they chiefly enquire into those that after this subject matter and in the history of all arts take notice of such things as may make for the increase of naturall history through of no great moment to your which in the end of the your arts. That they be as exact as may bee in recording proportion and that they set downe things certaine succinctly and give notice of the doubtfulness of others but not the argument pro & con unlesse it be a matter of consequence and if they can the reason why those things which are false were ever believed to bee true. And further this Committee were of opinion that the best choice of authors and of whose writings these observations were to be gathered was in 'Vander Linden de scriptis medicis' whom together with a catalogue of such other good authors of the same subjects as are finer published Dr Merret was pleased to promise hee would bring in when desired This Committee likewise made it their request to the Society that other Committees bee desired upon occasion to consider the same method and rulees of my Lord Bacon that they may all agree". No date, but Committee was appointed 8 June 1664.
Extent	1 side
Format	Manuscript
AccessStatus	Open
AccessConditions	OPEN - but photocopying forbidden.

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