The Science of Observation. The scientific method of the eighteenth century was a decisive break with the past. Rather than accept the teachings of organized religion and deduce information from traditional learning, natural philosophers (who would now be called scientists) in the Age of Enlightenment based their conclusions on firsthand investigation of nature and natural phenomena. They used rigorous observational and experimental approaches to examine what had happened, even when they did not yet understand why it had occurred. As a result of this new scientific interest in the natural world, a large number of nonscholars of all social classes observed the heavens, experimented with machines, and classified plant and animal species. Their willingness to investigate, their ability to apply the new scientific method, and their emphasis on "what" rather than "why" all played a key...