The Personality of Henry Cavendish - A Great Scientist with Extraordinary Peculiarities Archimedes NEW STUDIES IN THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

VOLUME 36

EDITOR

Jed Z. Buchwald , Dreyfuss Professor of History, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. ASSOCIATE EDITORS FOR MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES Jeremy Gray , The Faculty of Mathematics and Computing, The Open University, Buckinghamshire, UK . Tilman Sauer, California Institute of Technology ASSOCIATE EDITORS FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Sharon Kingsland , Department of History of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. Manfred Laubichler , Arizona State University ADVISORY BOARD FOR MATHEMATICS, PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY Henk Bos , University of Utrecht Mordechai Feingold , California Institute of Technology Allan D. Franklin , University of Colorado at Boulder Kostas Gavroglu , National Technical University of Athens Paul Hoyningen-Huene , Leibniz University in Hannover Trevor Levere , University of Toronto Jesper Lützen , Copenhagen University William Newman , Indian University, Bloomington Lawrence Principe , The Johns Hopkins University Jürgen Renn , Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Alex Roland , Duke University Alan Shapiro , University of Minnesota Noel Swerdlow , California Institute of Technology ADVISORY BOARD FOR BIOLOGY Michael Dietrich , Dartmouth College, USA Michel Morange , Centre Cavaillès, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris Hans-Jörg Rheinberger , Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Nancy Siraisi , Hunter College of the City University of New York, USA

Archimedes has three fundamental goals; to further the integration of the histories of science and technology with one another: to investigate the technical, social and practical histories of specifi c developments in science and technology; and fi nally, where possible and desirable, to bring the histories of science and technology into closer contact with the philosophy of science. To these ends, each volume will have its own theme and title and will be planned by one or more members of the Advisory Board in consultation with the editor. Although the volumes have specifi c themes, the series itself will not be limited to one or even to a few particular areas. Its subjects include any of the sciences, ranging from biology through physics, all aspects of technology, broadly construed, as well as historically-engaged philosophy of science or technology. Taken as a whole, Archimedes will be of interest to historians, philosophers, and scientists, as well as to those in business and industry who seek to understand how science and industry have come to be so strongly linked. For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/5644 Russell McCormmach

The Personality of Henry Cavendish - A Great Scientist with Extraordinary

Peculiarities Russell McCormmach

ISSN 1385-0180 ISSN 2215-0064 (electronic) ISBN 978-3-319-02437-0 ISBN 978-3-319-02438-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02438-7 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014932292

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Pref ace

When I was fi ve, my mother gave me a copy of Jonathan Norton Leonard’s Crusaders of Chemistry . I still have it, signed and dated by her, 1938. Long after I had forgotten the other chemists, I remembered the one who measured. He is the subject of the chapter in Leonard’s book entitled “Henry Cavendish, the Measuring Machine,” which concludes: “So lived and died the coldest, most unhuman mortal who ever wrote his name large in the history of science …. His sole interest was to measure the objects in the material universe.” Many years later, my boyhood fascination with the measuring machine returned, transformed into a scholarly interest in a scientifi c genius. I entered the fi eld of history of science with a disserta- tion on his work, and for many years after, I saved every fact I could fi nd about him. Popular histories of science like Leonard’s take material from scholarly works. We do not have to look far to discover the source of Leonard’s characterization of the man who was a measuring machine. It was the nineteenth-century chemist George Wilson’s fascinating biography, The Life of the Hon ble Henry Cavendish . Although I have reservations about the measuring machine, I greatly admire Wilson’s portrait of Cavendish, and I am in its debt for my understanding of the man. I took up the study of the history of science in part to learn how the scientifi c view of the world came about. If such a view does actually exist, I thought it probably applied to me, an initial reason for my curiosity. From my study of scien- tists of the past, I came to think that Cavendish came as close as any to holding a scientifi c view of the world. Even in his case, it was not exclusive. He came into the world with an aristocratic take on it. The origin of this book is a diagnosis of Cavendish by the eminent neuropsy- chologist Oliver Sacks, which appeared as a brief communication in the scientifi c journal Neurology in 2001. Skeptical of recent claims of Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, for historical fi gures, Sacks considers Cavendish an exceptional case, fi nding the evidence for his autism “almost overwhelming.” 1 In his memoir the same year, Uncle Tungsten , Sacks says that upon rereading Wilson’s biography

1 Oliver Sacks, “Henry Cavendish: An Early Case of Asperger’s Syndrome?” Neurology 57 (2001): 1347.

vii viii Preface of Cavendish, he has concluded that Cavendish was a “unique autistic genius.”2 The same nineteenth-century biography was the origin both of the man as measuring machine and of the man with a psychological disorder. Below I examine these characterizations and their connection. In 1996, Christa Jungnickel and I published a biography of Cavendish. We pointed out that because of his strange behaviors he invites a psychological approach, but that it was not the approach we took, as we explained. At the end of the biography, we briefl y mentioned possible psychological descriptions of his behavior such as social anxiety, shyness, and embarrassment. We pointed out that he also showed “autistic-like traits,”3 which we listed, citing Sacks, who had introduced us to the world of autism with his moving account of the autistic scientist Temple Grandin.4 Three years later, we brought out an improved version of our biography, in which we again briefl y brought up psychological descriptions, but this time we omitted any mention of autism. Autism is a disorder that begins in childhood, and almost nothing is known about Cavendish’s childhood; also certain criteria for autism seemed a questionable fi t, and we wanted the biography to be solid. Since then I have found in recent writings on the subject a growing acceptance of a more inclusive understanding of autism together with a trend in clinical thinking that favors an autistic continuum approach. In the present book, I consider Sacks’s diagnosis of Cavendish’s autism, which has been on my mind for the past dozen years. Besides Cavendish, a number of eighteenth-century scholars – for example, Jeremy Bentham, John Howard, Carl Friedrich Gauss, and Emmanuel Kant – have been diag- nosed with a form of autism. Without doubt, they all showed autistic-like traits. They pursued their interests obsessively, with little regard for what people might have thought. They also leave us wondering. Might their non-social behaviors have come about through choice? Might they have avoided society and ignored convention in pur- suit of their goals because they could afford to? Did they show the same traits as autistic persons with the signifi cant difference that the latter had no choice in the matter?

2 Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood (2001; New York: Vintage Books, 2002), 121. 3 Hugo Lidbetter writes that Jungnickel and McCormmach “got very close to suggesting” that Cavendish may have had Asperger’s syndrome. We got closer than that: we say it. Since this book went to press, an article by Lidbetter was brought to my attention. The author’s purpose is to make a “systematic exploration” of Sacks’s claim that Cavendish had Asperger’s Syndrome. His article consists of matching Cavendish’s behaviors with the Gillberg diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s syndrome. He thinks Cavendish had this disorder. “Henry Cavendish and Asperger’s syndrome: A New Understanding of the Scientist,” Personality and Individual Differences 46 (2009): 784–93, on 784. I thank Steve Silberman for this reference. Lidbetter brings Christa Jungnickel and me into his discussion. In this connection, he makes some mistakes. The reference to Asperger’s syndrome is: Christa Jungnickel and Russell McCormmach, Cavendish (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1996), 368. This edition is given the short title Cavendish (1996). The later edition is Cavendish, the Experimental Life (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1999), 304–9. The short title is Cavendish (1999). 4 Oliver Sacks, An Anthropologist on Mars (New York: Vintage, 1995). Temple Grandin, Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life (New York: Doubleday, 1995). Preface ix

I re-examine Cavendish in light of Sacks’s suggestion and the questions it raises. I look for evidence that supports it as well as evidence that does not. I look at possible alternative ways of understanding Cavendish. Shortly after his death, and probably before, the word “eccentricity” was used to describe his behavior. What did his eccentricity consist of? In the society of his time, and for a person of his rank, how exceptional was his eccentricity? Behaviors that are disquieting to us may have been well tolerated his setting, in which case we may ask, Is there any reason to look for a neurological abnormality? A proper study of these and related questions requires the length of a small book. Sacks says that Cavendish had an “astounding” achievement and life, and that having reread his biography he is “if anything more mystifi ed.”5 I too have unanswered questions. I understand some things about Cavendish, enough to have written a biography about him, but it is an incomplete biography. These many years later, I still look for a fuller understanding, which I equate with explanation. This book has an additional motivation. Without an understanding of Cavendish’s behavior, he appears simply strange, an object of curiosity at best, of moral judgment at worst, drawing pity or scorn. To leave him that way unnecessarily is a shame. He was an outstanding scientist, and one of the most baffl ing personalities in the history of science. A fuller understanding of him benefi ts both his biography and the history of science. At the end of a recent biography of the physicist Paul Dirac, the author Graham Farmelo suggests that his subject was autistic. In a review of the book, the distin- guished physicist and science writer Freeman Dyson takes issue with its claim of autism, citing Dirac’s friendships, which he fi nds hard to reconcile with autism. The physicist Jochen Heisenberg, son of Werner Heisenberg, agrees with Dyson’s criticism and goes beyond it, associating the claim of autism with “a certain kind of facile, if interesting, deconstruction of character.”6 There are reasonable grounds to question Farmelo’s, as most any, historical diagnosis, and there are strong feelings about diagnosing the great and the dead. I realize that any biographer who approaches his subject from a psychological perspective and is in a mental state other than fear and trembling is in a deep sleep. In the days following Cavendish’s death, his once close colleague Sir Charles Blagden told the president of the Royal Society that Cavendish was “a true

5 Sacks, Uncle Tungsten, 120. 6 Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom (New York: Basic Books, 2009). Based on Dirac’s thinking and behavior, Farmelo is persuaded that Dirac was autistic, and further that his autism was important for his work: “Yet again, it is possible that this correlation [visual thinking] between autistic characteristics and Dirac’s behavior is a coincidence, but, in light of other such correlations, this seems unlikely. I believe it to be all but certain that Dirac’s behavioral traits as a person with autism were crucial to his success as a theoretical physicist.” Other correlations referred to here are Dirac’s “systematic” ordering of information from physics and mathematics, “self-centredness,” and “concentration and determination.” These traits do not explain Dirac’s talent, but “give some insight into his unique way of looking at the world.” Ibid., 425. Freeman Dyson, “Silent Quantum Genius,” New York Review of Books, 25 February 2010. Jochen Heisenberg, “Plain Talk about Dirac,” ibid., 13 May 2010. x Preface anchor: could always depend on knowing what was right for him.”7 Blagden was perceptive. The course of life Cavendish chose for himself was surely right for him. He made no major mistakes in his work or in his other activities. It took vigilance, for the world that was right for him was a small portion of a greater world, which could upset his life, and which he confronted with painful awkwardness. Some people may fi nd it diffi cult to empathize with a person who is as complete within himself as Cavendish appeared to be, but they probably will not fi nd it diffi cult to sympathize. In the history of science, we may fi nd no better fi t between science and char- acter and temperament than we do in Henry Cavendish. The fi t was eminently effi cient, there being practically nothing left over. It was Cavendish’s singular desire to seek truth and knowledge of the physical universe, and science offered this truth-and-knowledge seeker a lifetime of opportunity. Endowed with a fine reasoning mind, keen sensory perception, and skilled hands, he exercised the full measure of his faculties in his pursuit of the laws of nature. Marked traits of his personality ― caution, persistence, thoroughness, objectivity, accuracy, and precision ― were engaged in the pursuit. Further marked traits of his caused him great distress in certain social situations. He entered fully into a company of scientifi c men, which held some of the social risks of any company, knowing it was right for him, as it was for anyone who was serious about science. It was fortunate for Cavendish that such an activity, science, existed, for it enabled him to make a nearly complete life for himself. It is hard to think of any alterna- tive that would have served him half as well. The book is divided into three Parts. For the heading of Part I, I have selected Blagden’s quotation, slightly altered: He always knew what was right for him. The fi rst chapter introduces Cavendish the aristocrat and Cavendish the natural philosopher. Chapter 2 discusses the psychology of scientists and the biographical problem of Cavendish. Chapter 3 describes his behaviors in everyday life. His peculiarities take center stage here, necessarily, for they have been the basis for accounts of his personality. The intent here is to organize the evidence, not to put him on display. Chapter 4 treats his behaviors at work. Chapter 5 treats aspects of his personality. Chapter 6 summarizes a number of earlier interpretations of Cavendish. The next three chapters analyze Cavendish’s personality. Readers will encounter repetitions in the book. Descriptions of Cavendish’s behaviors, which are introduced as evidence in Chaps. 3 and 4 are reintroduced for comparison in the chapters dealing with his personality. Cavendish’s luminous thinking on scientifi c problems is treated fully in existing biographies and other studies and is not repeated here. Part II is about journeys Cavendish and Blagden took in 1785–87 to observe the industry and geology of several regions of Britain. The journals they kept are probably the best single source of information about the kind of interest Cavendish

7 24 February 1810, Charles Blagden Diary, Royal Society 5: 426. Preface xi took in the wider world, and as such they illustrate facets of his personality. They also have an interest of their own as descriptions of technologies of the early Industrial Revolution. Part III contains various sorts of materials that supplement Parts II and III, which are the substance of the book. The materials consist of a transcript of the journal of the 1785 journey, improved family trees for Cavendish, accounts of Cavendish’s houses and his claim to own Holker Hall,8 and discussions about the disorder autism. For their generous help in reading and commenting on the manuscript of this book, I thank Geoffrey Cantor, Uta Frith, Ioan James, Lewis Pyenson, and Michael Sokal.

Eugene, OR, USA Russell McCormmach

8 The two chapters about Cavendish’s houses are largely taken from Jungnickel and McCormmach, Cavendish, the Experimental Life, rev. ed., in press.

Contents

Part I He Always Knew What Was Right for Him

1 The Person ...... 3 1.1 The Aristocrat...... 3 1.2 The Natural Philosopher ...... 13 2 Normality, Abnormality, and Scientists ...... 17 2.1 Psychology of Scientists ...... 17 2.2 Scientists, Psychology, and Biography ...... 19 2.3 Problem of Cavendish ...... 21 3 Everyday Life ...... 25 3.1 Appearance ...... 27 3.2 Speech and Silence ...... 29 3.3 Feelings ...... 32 3.4 Strangers, Shyness, and Solitude ...... 35 3.5 Women ...... 37 3.6 Regularity and Routine ...... 38 3.7 House and Servants ...... 39 3.8 Wealth...... 52 3.9 Religion ...... 54 3.10 Death ...... 56 4 Life of Natural Philosophy ...... 59 4.1 Physical World ...... 59 4.2 Mathematical and Musical Mind ...... 62 4.3 Senses ...... 67 4.4 Objectivity ...... 70 4.5 Accuracy, Precision, and Perfection ...... 72 4.6 Knowledge and Truth ...... 77 4.7 Publication and Writing ...... 79 4.8 Scientifi c Society ...... 86

xiii xiv Contents

4.9 Talent and Recognition...... 92 4.10 Way of Life...... 93 5 Aspects of Personality ...... 97 5.1 Complexity ...... 97 5.2 Dealing with People ...... 100 6 Views of Cavendish ...... 107 6.1 Interpretations ...... 107 6.2 Feelings ...... 113 7 Eccentricity ...... 115 8 Autism...... 135 9 Conclusion ...... 149 9.1 Personality and Science...... 149 9.2 Nervous Disorders and Eccentricity ...... 150 9.3 Shyness and Introversion ...... 152 9.4 Autism and Other Disorders...... 155 9.5 How Do We Talk About Cavendish? ...... 161

Part II He Saw What Interested Him

10 The Traveler ...... 167 10.1 Travel Writings in the Eighteenth Century ...... 168 10.2 The Journeys ...... 173 10.3 Working Iron ...... 187 10.4 Journeys and Science ...... 190 10.5 Journey of 1785 ...... 194 10.6 Synopsis of Journal of 1785 ...... 199 10.7 Summary of Part II ...... 226

Part III Some Supplementary Materials on Cavendish’s Life

11 Journal of 1785 ...... 231 12 Cavendish and Grey Family Trees ...... 251 13 Letters Between Brothers: Henry and Frederick Cavendish...... 259 14 Cavendish’s Houses: Clapham Common and Bedford Square ...... 263 15 Cavendishes, Lowthers, and Holker Hall ...... 275 16 Autism, Background ...... 289 17 Physical Theory and Theory of Autism ...... 293

Bibliography ...... 295

Index ...... 305 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 The Honorable Henry Cavendish ...... 5 Fig. 1.2 Henry de Grey, Duke of Kent ...... 6 Fig. 1.3 Jemima (Crewe), Duchess of Kent ...... 6 Fig. 1.4 Kent Family ...... 7 Fig. 1.5 Wrest House ...... 7 Fig. 1.6 St. James Square, No. 4 ...... 8 Fig. 1.7 William Cavendish, Second Duke of Devonshire ...... 8 Fig. 1.8 Rachel (Russell), Duchess of Devonshire ...... 9 Fig. 1.9 Chatsworth House and Gardens ...... 9 Fig. 1.10 Devonshire House...... 10 Fig. 1.11 William Cavendish, Fifth Duke of Devonshire ...... 10 Fig. 1.12 Georgiana (Spencer), Duchess of Devonshire ...... 11 Fig. 1.13 A Gambling Table at Devonshire House ...... 11 Fig. 1.14 Lord Charles Cavendish ...... 12 Fig. 1.15 Lady Anne de Grey ...... 12 Fig. 2.1 Sir Isaac Newton...... 20 Fig. 2.2 George Wilson ...... 23 Fig. 3.1 Places Where Henry Cavendish Lived ...... 41 Fig. 3.2 Westminster Bridge ...... 41 Fig. 3.3 Panoramic View of London ...... 42 Fig. 3.4 Great Marlborough Street House, No. 13 ...... 42 Fig. 3.5 Plan of Great Marlborough Street ...... 43 Fig. 3.6 Hampstead House, No. 34 Church Row ...... 43 Fig. 3.7 Hampstead Bearings ...... 44 Fig. 3.8 Bedford Square House, No. 11 ...... 45 Fig. 3.9 Cavendish’s familiar destinations in London ...... 46 Fig. 3.10 Clapham Village ...... 48 Fig. 3.11 Plan of Clapham Common ...... 49 Fig. 3.12 Clapham Common House ...... 50 Fig. 3.13 Triangulation ...... 51

xv xvi List of Figures

Fig. 4.1 Charles Cavendish’s Thermometers ...... 60 Fig. 4.2 Factitious Air Apparatus ...... 64 Fig. 4.3 Standard Gas Volume Measures ...... 64 Fig. 4.4 Chemical Balance ...... 65 Fig. 4.5 Mathematical Instruments ...... 66 Fig. 4.6 Mathematical Drawings ...... 66 Fig. 4.7 Cavendish’s Handwriting ...... 85 Fig. 4.8 Royal Society ...... 88 Fig. 4.9 Crown and Anchor ...... 88 Fig. 4.10 Sir Charles Blagden ...... 89 Fig. 4.11 Sir Joseph Banks ...... 89 Fig. 4.12 Thomas Young ...... 90 Fig. 4.13 Sir Humphry Davy ...... 90 Fig. 4.14 Distinguished Men of Science ...... 91 Fig. 7.1 John Howard ...... 131 Fig. 7.2 William Hyde Wollaston ...... 133 Fig. 9.1 Oliver Sacks ...... 162 Fig. 10.1 Bridgnorth ...... 177 Fig. 10.2 Bridgnorth Castle ...... 177 Fig. 10.3 Map of 1785 Journey ...... 195 Fig. 10.4 Blast Furnace ...... 203 Fig. 10.5 Garth Mountain ...... 205 Fig. 10.6 Portable Barometer ...... 206 Fig. 10.7 Cavendish’s Drawings of Mountains ...... 207 Fig. 10.8 Plan of Early Ironworks ...... 209 Fig. 10.9 Working Iron at Merthyr Tydfi l ...... 209 Fig. 10.10 Cyfarthfa Works and Waterwheel ...... 210 Fig. 10.11 Cyfarthfa House and Works ...... 210 Fig. 10.12 Newcomen Steam Engine ...... 213 Fig. 10.13 Watt’s Steam Engine ...... 214 Fig. 10.14 Cavendish’s Drawing of a Steam Engine ...... 214 Fig. 10.15 Old Bess Steam Engine ...... 215 Fig. 10.16 Parallel Motion ...... 216 Fig. 10.17 Sun and Planet Gear ...... 217 Fig. 10.18 Cavendish’s Drawing of Rackwork ...... 217 Fig. 10.19 Soho Manufactory ...... 218 Fig. 10.20 Matthew Boulton ...... 218 Fig. 10.21 James Watt ...... 219 Fig. 10.22 John Wilkinson ...... 219 Fig. 10.23 Smelting House at Broseley ...... 220 Fig. 10.24 Reverberatory Furnace...... 220 Fig. 10.25 Ironbridge ...... 221 Fig. 10.26 An Iron Work for Casting Cannon ...... 221 List of Figures xvii

Fig. 10.27 Upper Works at Coalbrookdale ...... 222 Fig. 10.28 Coalbrookdale by Night ...... 222 Fig. 10.29 Cavendish’s Drawing of Watt’s Furnace for Burning Smoke ...... 223 Fig. 10.30 Albion Mills ...... 223 Fig. 14.1 Cavendish’s Land on Clapham Common ...... 266 Fig. 15.1 Holker Hall ...... 276 Fig. 15.2 Morecambe Bay ...... 276