ABSTRACT
The members of the new society initiated a regular weekly programme of experiments and demonstrations in various fields, to be made available to all by publication, and not kept under wraps as had often been the case with alchemy and astrology. Their approach was to remain flexible, and they undertook: not to prescribe to themselves, any certain Art of Experimenting, within which to circumscribe their Thoughts. The society started correspondence with a network of researchers and intellectuals both in England and throughout Europe, fulfilling a real psychological need. Many abroad who felt themselves isolated and unappreciated in their own countries were encouraged in their work by the feeling belonged to an international scientific community. The early Royal Society as a society of gentlemen, and it was this all which gave it credible status in the eyes of contemporaries. A gentleman possessed integrity his word was to be believed, and the higher his social status, the more trustworthy his pronouncements.
