ABSTRACT
The centrality and ubiquity of instruments in Hooke’s oeuvre are generally accepted, and in fact are characteristics of his work that have never been doubted. What may have changed in more recent times are the judgements drawn from that consensus. Where former commentators were inclined to see ‘limitations’ in Hooke’s science through comparisons with the more abstract work of Newton, Hooke’s concern for the particular and the material, alongside his appreciation of the diversity of the natural world, as well as his talent for devices of investigation and application, are now esteemed on their own terms. Materiality and manipulation are themes that characterize our view of Hooke and, although they are far from giving a complete picture of his work, the source of this characterization can readily be found in his own words. A single example illustrates also the youthful confidence of Micrographia: ‘The truth is the Science of Nature has been already too long made only a work of the Brain and the Fancy: It is now high time that it should return to the plainness and soundness of Observations on material and obvious things.’1
