The Grand Academy of Lagado, which Gulliver visits in Part III of Gulliver’s Travels, serves as a sharp satire of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, England’s leading scientific institution during Swift’s time.

• The Royal Society promoted experimental science and was seen as a hub of innovation, but many contemporary critics, including Swift, considered some of its experiments trivial, absurd, or impractical.

• Swift portrays this criticism through the “projectors” of the Academy, whose bizarre and unproductive schemes—such as extracting sunbeams from cucumbers or transforming human waste into food—highlight the disconnect between theoretical science and real human needs.

• This depiction underscores Swift’s belief that much of modern science, while ambitious, often lacked usefulness and practical application, making it a target for his biting satire.