Abstract
The history of the Royal Society m the seventeenth century was divided into five consecutive periods of administration. It is argued (1) that it was principally the secretanes In each period who were responsible both for who joined and for the kinds of science the Society sponsored; and (2) that it was during Robert Hooke's secretaryship that, temporarily, the social tone of the Society was lowered and utilitarian science flourished. The changing fortunes of the Royal Society do not exemplify a 'decline, then 'fall', in Restoration science: the Society's vitality and reputation fluctuated with changes in the personnel who orchestrated its activities in different periods.
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