Scientific Goods and Services in Paris, 1660–1700 Although the
sciences were becoming more respectable, natural philosophers
and their audience formed a relatively small, indeed sometimes
intimate, community. Within France, Paris was a focal point of
scientific activity. Paris attracted not only those who wished
to make their fortunes and attain high office but also others
who sought success within literary, musical, artistic, and
intellectual spheres. It had become the cultural center of the
kingdom, and once the Academy was established there, the allure
of the city increased for scientific adepts. The city offered
its inhabitants and visitors variety within a small geographic
range. Paris furnished the Academy's immediate theater of
operations. In it lived the power brokers who controlled
patronage, the printers and instrument makers who supplied the
tools of the trade, and an audience eager for discourse and
demonstrations. Academicians thus belonged to networks that
wielded power, stimulated the intellect