"Rey's theory was, indeed, fallacious; still, it was a great step in advance of all that had been done in former ages; there is impressed upon it a stamp of a great and energetic intellect. We must not judge of it by what has been done since; we must think of what was done before; we must think of it as the work of a man removed from a great centre of learning; from the converse of scientific men; from every external source of knowledge; compelled to work alone, to think alone. Let it be remembered, moreover, that experimental science had not yet left its cradle; middle age superstition was still very rife; philosophy founded on reasoning had not given way to philosophy founded on experiment; the syllogism had not yielded its place to induction; the Church was still dominant—still condemned all that was contrary to the philosophy of Aristotle, and thus cramped and curbed the human intellect; the "Novum Organum" had but just appeared; and the "Dialoghi" of Galileo were as yet unknown to the world."