An unpublished letter of Dr Seth Ward relating to the early meetings of the Oxford Philosophical Society

Abstract

This letter, of which a transcription is given below, was addressed to Sir Justinian Isham, who later became one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society. It is of interest to us principally because it adds a few details to the little-known particulars of the activities of the members of the Oxford Philosophical Society in the early years of its existence. The Minute Book of the Society from 1683 onwards has been published. Dr Seth Ward, when he wrote the letter, was a fellow-commoner at Wadham College, Oxford. At that time Oxford was the home of many illustrious men of science, among whom may be mentioned John Wilkins, the Warden of Wadham ; Robert Boyle; Thomas Willis; Jonathan Goddard; and John Wallis. These men constituted a brilliant intellectual group and they, together with Ward and others, formed the Oxford Philosophical Society. All of the above took an active interest in the formation of the Royal Society in 1660 and became original Fellows. Oldenburg dedicated the fourth volume of his Philosophical Transactions to Seth Ward, who by that time (1669) had become Bishop of Salisbury. He said, ‘ We ought to remember, that ’tis now about 15 or 16 years, since your Lordship Geometrized Astronomy , which did oblige the chief Astronomers of this Learned Age : And that you added Life to the Oxonian Sparkles, I mean that Meeting, which may be called the Embryo or First Conception of the Royal Society .´