In his Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, published in 1703, Martin Martin declared, “[T]here is a great change in the humour of the world, and by consequence in the way of writing. Natural and experimental philosophy has been much improved … and therefore descriptions of countries, without the natural history of them, are now justly reckoned to be defective.” 1 Great changes notwithstanding, there was at least a change in travel writing, and perhaps the clearest index of this change is the Royal Society’s instructions for travelers.
