Which century is considered by some as a "drab" period, however saw significant advancements in the practice of medicine, mathematics, and physics, the development of biological taxonomy, a new understanding of magnetism, and the maturation of chemistry as a discipline?
The study of science, under the heading of natural philosophy, was divided into physics and a conglomerate grouping of chemistry and natural history, which included anatomy, biology, geology, mineralogy, and zoology.