178
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
mental investigation which Bacon afterwards laid down as the true foundations of
knowledge; and from the data thus obtained Gilberd reasoned with a boldness and
prescience absolutely startling. Sir Kenelm Digby compared him with Harvey,
"a comparison certainly very happy, for in almost all essential particulars, as
experimentalist, as expositor, as professor, and as learner by sound induction,
Gilberd and Harvey are alike to the letter." Thomson, in his "History of the
Royal Society," instances the "De Magnete" as one of the finest examples of the
inductive method in science ever written ; and Hallam claims Gilberd not only as
the father of experimental philosophy, but as having founded, with a singular
facility and acuteness of genius, theories which have been revived after the lapse
of ages, and universally received into the creed of science. Gilberd, he says,
"was one of the earliest Copernicans, at least as to the rotation of the earth, and
with his usual sagacity inferred, before the invention of the telescope, that there
are a multitude of fixed stars beyond the reach of our vision." The "De
Magnete" not only marked an epoch in the study of magnetism, but constituted
an absolute starting-point in the science of electricity. To quote Dr. Fuller's
quaint and happy words, "Mahomet's Tombe, at Mecha, is said strangely to hang
up, attracted by some invisible loadstone, but the memory of this doctor will never
fall to the ground, which his incomparable book, 'De Magnete,' will support to
eternity."
It is to be hoped that the publication of the "De Magnete" in an English dress
by the Gilbert Society will revive the interest in and appreciation of the great
Essex philosopher's life and works, and that the town of Colchester will deem it
fitting to honour in some lasting way the memory of her illustrious son.
The members and friends of the two societies assembled at the Castle
and Museum about half-past eleven, where they were received by the Hon.
Curator, the Rev. C. L. Acland, and Mr. Spalding (Curator). Unfortunately the
weather was exceedingly bad, the rain falling heavily nearly the whole day, but
in spite of this a very considerable party attended from London and various parts
of the county. Among those present during the day, and more immediately con-
nected with the proceedings were : the Mayor of Colchester (Mr. Asher Prior),
Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. (Vice-President of the Essex Field Club and the Gilbert Club),
Mr. E. A. Fitch (President), Prof. Meldola, F.R.S., Dr. Laver, F.S.A., and Mr.
Walter Crouch (Vice-Presidents, E.F.C), Prof. S. P. Thompson, D.Sc., and
Conrad W. Cooke (Secretaries Gilbert Club), William Cole (Secretary E.F.C),
Mr. J. C. Shenstone, F.R.M.S., Prof. Hughes, F.R.S., Prof. Perry, F.R.S., Prof.
Liveing, F.R.S., Mr. W. Paxman, Mr. J. N. Paxman, Mr. F. Christy, and about
forty or fifty members of the Club and the Gilbert Club.
It is unnecessary to give here any description of the Museum, which has been
twice or thrice alluded to in Mr. W. Cole's reports of former visits of the Club to
Colchester. The Rev. C. L. Acland, in commending the collections to the atten-
tion of the visitors, said that he was very glad, notwithstanding the abominable
weather, to see so good a gathering. After a reference to the great antiquity of
Colchester, Mr. Acland observed that the chamber in which the company had
assembled was the chapel of the mediaeval Castle, and the amount of light they
now got was due to window-making of much later date than the building itself. He
pointed out the original and the modern windows. Nowhere, in accordance with
its surroundings, could the local collection of antiquities be better placed than
here. The only difficulty was that the collection was constantly increasing, and
that they could not impart any elasticity to the building itself. Therefore, if they