The geographical sciences now began to attract attention. The new scientific instruments made it possible to collect data in all parts of the world that was needed in unraveling scientific mysteries. William Dampier (1653-1715) was one of the pioneers in scientific voyages of discovery. In voyages to the Orient and Australasia he collected much important data on zoölogy, botany, meteorology, the winds, tides, currents, and on fish and sea life. His book on winds became the first great standard work on meteorology. The doctrine of spontaneous generation had long held sway in Europe. The Greeks entertained it and it was accepted as true in the time of Martin Luther. Francesco Redi (1626-1697), an Italian biologist, showed that when the flesh of dead animals is protected it remains fresh. The Abbé Spallanzani (1729-1799) carried Redi's theory further and showed that microbes and bacteria do not develop in concoctions which have been boiled and sealed. Here we note the beginning of antiseptic science. Under the leadership of Bacon in England, Calvin in France, Luther in Germany, and Knox in Scotland, European thought was being stirred up while the great discoveries just related were being made. Just as Boyle's chemical discoveries caused the divorcing of chemistry from alchemy, and the naturalistic philosophy of the times led to the specialization of scientists and the breaking off of philosophy from science, so the intellectual awakening aroused by Bacon and his contemporaries led to the suppression of belief in witchcraft and to revolutionary ideas in religion and ethics. Locke endeavored to base a "rational Christianity" on the ground of experience. Until his times, theology was tangled up with a maze of physical problems which dismayed even such intellects as those of Newton, Hume, and Locke. Newton's researches were chiefly based upon mathematical and astronomical problems. While a student at Cambridge in 1660, he studied the works of Descartes, Kepler, Van Schooten, Barrow, and particularly those of the Greek and British mathematicians. The works of J. Wallis were very valuable to him. The "Arithmetic of Affinities" of Wallis drew his attention to astronomical problems and thus led to his great triumphs later on. Newton's "Principia" has already been referred to as being one of the greatest works of the intellect ever produced.