revolutionising astronomy. Glanvill had the advantage of
comprehending the importance of mathematics for the advance of
physical science.] He had absorbed Bacon's doctrine of utility. His
spirit is displayed in the remark that more gratitude is due to the
unknown inventor of the mariners' compass

"than to a thousand Alexanders and Caesars, or to ten times the
number of Aristotles. And he really did more for the increase of
knowledge and the advantage of the world by this one experiment than
the numerous subtile disputers that have lived ever since the
erection of the school of talking."

Glanvill, however, in his complacency with what has already been
accomplished, is not misled into over-estimating its importance. He
knows that it is indeed little compared with the ideal of attainable
knowledge. The human design, to which it is the function of the
Royal Society to contribute, is laid as low, he says, as the
profoundest depths of nature, and reaches as high as the uppermost
storey of the universe, extends to all the varieties of the great
world, and aims at the benefit of universal mankind. Such a work can
only proceed slowly, by insensible degrees. It is an undertaking
wherein all the generations of men are concerned, and our own age
can hope to do little more than to remove useless rubbish, lay in
materials, and put things in order for the building. "We must seek
and gather, observe and examine, and lay up in bank for the ages
that come after."

These lines on "the vastness of the work" suggest to the reader that
a vast future will be needed for its accomplishment. Glanvill does
not dwell on this, but he implies it. He is evidently unembarrassed