Royal Society EL/W3/3
Copy of a letter from Christopher Wren to Lord Brouncker
Christopher Wren, who is in Oxford, is responding to a request from Lord Brouncker
for a contribution to a collection of experiments which are intended to entertain the king on a visit to the Royal Society.
Wren claims that he cannot deliver the experiment he had chosen, due to a lack of skilful instrument makers in Oxford and his need to leave the town on
business. He is unable to suggest any new experiments, since the Society has recently been taken up with experiments based on the work of
Torricelli. Whatever is presented needs to be
remarkable, but not a mere knack (trick), such as Kircher, Scotby or jugglers (conjurors) perform.
Wren lists various possibilities for experiments, but dismisses each:
- geometry - not showy enough
- astronomical instruments - of interest only to astronomers
- sciographical knacks (perspective drawing devices) - too common
- scenographical, catoptical and dioptical tricks (trompe-l'oeil) - will only work, if well executed
- designs for labour-saving or more efficient machines, improvements in agriculture - require too much explanation and
demonstration
- architecture - needs to be related to an actual building to rise above the merely antiquarian
- navigation - Wren hesitates to suggest anything in Brouncker's own area of expertise
- chemistry - too dirty or tedious
- anatomy - too sordid
Wren concludes that scientific advances such as those made by Descartes are invariably built upon
the observation of the mundane, which do not make for good spectacle.
Finally, Wren suggests 4 possible experiments, based on his previous work:
- a weather-wheel (wheel-barometer) to be constructed in brass varnished with China-Vernice (Chinese lacquer) to preserve it from
the quicksilver (mercury).
- a construction in which a man would breathe only recycled air, based on a design previously presented to the Society by Wren, which would
provide information about which constituents of air were essential for life.
- an artifical eye, based on the drawings Wren had made of a horse's eye, which Sir Paul Neile might
have or Wren could supply a copy.
- a compass, which would stay stable in a coach at speed and might be used in conjunction with a way-wiser (odometer).