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The Lunar Society1 1 Primary Source 11.2 THE LUNAR SOCIETY1 The Lunar Society was an informal scholarly society involving many prominent intellectuals and practical men in the late eighteenth century. The society met regularly in Birmingham, England, and fostered the Midlands Enlightenment, a cultural manifestation of the Enlightenment within England. The society was above all concerned with how the development of science and technology could better serve the world. The members and participants frequently also corresponded with each other via letters and discussed topics such as current scientific experiments and research. The decline of the Lunar Society began when the French Revolution caused political strains between members. Riots in Birmingham against Joseph Priestley, a staunch supporter of Unitarianism2 and the French Revolution, led to the society’s further decline. The following account of the society was read by H. Carrington Bolton at the founding of the Lunar Society of New York on 27 April 1888. For a link to the full text click here. The Lunar Society was an informal club or association of scientific men which flourished in Birmingham for nearly forty years. It was founded about the year 1766, by Matthew Boulton,3 Dr. Erasmus Darwin,4 Dr. William Small,5 and their friends; they do not seem to have numbered more than eight or ten at any one time, and they met at each other’s houses for dinner every month on the Monday nearest to the full moon, “in order,” says Dr. Priestley, to have the benefit of its light in returning home.” Hence the name Lunar Society. The members were accustomed to sit down to dinner at two o’clock, and did not part until eight, exchanging views with each other on topics as relating to literature, science, and arts, each contributing his quota of entertainment and instruction. “We had nothing to do,” adds Priestley, “with the religious or political principles of each other, we were united by a common love of Science, which we thought sufficient to bring together persons of all distinctions, Christians, Jews, Mahometans6 and Heathens,7 Monarchist and Republicans.” Each member was allowed to bring with him a friend, and thus many distinguished guests were present at these philosophical banquets. The society occasionally held “meetings extraordinary,” in honor of scientific magnates from abroad. 1 Henry Carrington Bolton, Scientific Correspondence of Joseph Priestley (Philadelphia: Collins Printing House, 1892), 195, 206-207, 209-214, 217-18. 2 Unitarians rejected the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. 3 An English manufacturer and business partner of James Watt (1728–1809). 4 An English physician and founding member of the Lunar Society (1731–1802). 5 He established a medical practice in Birmingham and was a philosophy professor at the College of William and Mary in Virginia (1734–75). 6 A Muslim. 7 One who does not belong to a widely held religion. 2 During the years 1780 to 1785, pneumatic chemistry was the principal topic under discussion, for Priestley and Watt were each contributing his share to the much-vexed question of the constitution of water. Cavendish8 in London, Lavoisier9 in Paris, and Watt10 in Birmingham were three rival claimants for the honor of the discovery of the composition of water. Priestley, as a friend of Watt, communicated speedily the result of his experiments, sometimes it is reasonable to believe, over the festive board of the Lunarians,11 and left the conclusions to be drawn by others. As to the relative merits of the claimants, that is foreign to the purpose of this essay. The Priestley-Wedgwood correspondence shows that in 1783 the philosophers were greatly exercised over Priestley’s discovery of the conversion of water into air, the fallacy of which he himself afterwards admitted. The Phlogistic Theory,12 which had been the controlling spirit in chemical philosophy for nearly a century, received its deathblow at the hands of Priestley himself, when he isolated oxygen on the 1st August, 1774. But he, as is well known, failed to perceive the important bearing of his own discovery, and it was across the channel that Lavoisier and other French chemists were skillfully burying the corpse out of sight. The French theory of combustion was but slowly accepted by the conservative Englishmen, and slowest of all by the friends of Priestley. In the transition period, hydrogen was for a time believed to be the elusive phlogiston; to this phase of doctrine, Boulton alludes in a letter to Wedgwood13 dated March 30th, 1781. “We have long talked of phlogiston without knowing what we talked about: but now that Dr. Priestley hath brought the matter to light, we can pour that element out of one vessel into another, can tell how much of it by accurate measurement is necessary to reduce a calx14 to a metal, which is easily done, and without putting that calx into contact with any visible thing. In short, this goddess of levity can be measured and weighed like other matter. For the rest, I refer you to the doctor himself.” A few months later, Priestley himself wrote to his friend, Josiah Wedgwood: “Before my late experiments, phlogiston was indeed almost given up by the Lunar Society, but now it seems to be re-established” (March 21st, 1782). Again Boulton writes to his partner, Watt, July 3d, 1781. “I dined yesterday at the Lunar Society (Keir’s house); there was Blair, Priestley, Withering, Galton, and an American “rebel,” Mr. Collins. Nothing new, except that some of my white spathos iron ore was found to contain more air than any ore Priestley had ever tried, and what is singular, it contains no common air, but is part fixable and part inflammable.” On September 20th, 1785, Watt wrote to Boulton:— 8 Henry Cavendish (1731–1820) was a British chemist noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he called “flammable air.” 9 Antoine Lavoisier (1743–94) was a French chemist who discovered the role oxygen plays in combustion. 10 Watt was a Scottish engineer who improved the Newcomen steam engine. 11 The members of the Lunar Society. 12 An obsolete scientific theory that postulated that a fire-like element was released during combustion. 13 Josiah Wedgwood (1730–95) revolutionized the manufacture and marketing of fine porcelainware; he was also a prominent abolitionist . 14 The residual powder when a metal combusts. 3 “The Lunar Society was held yesterday at Mr. Galton’s, at Barr. It was rather dull, there having been no philosophical news lately, except Mr. Kirwan’s discovery of an air from phosphorus, which takes fire of itself on being mixed with common or dephlogisticated air.” We imagine that the philosophers would have hardly regarded their feast as dull, could Mr. Kirwan have shown to them the beautiful yet nauseating experiment of spontaneously inflammable phosphoretted hydrogen.15 And a modern Academy of Sciences would be enthusiastic over such a notable discovery. It has been surmised that the Lunar Society discussed the action of light upon nitrate of silver, and the application of this phenomenon to the production of pictures. This suggestion was made by Mr. W. P. Smith, at a meeting of the Photographic Society of Birmingham in 1863, and was based on the discovery in Mr. Boulton’s library at Soho,16 of certain photographic pictures on metallic plates. It was understood at the time that Boulton’s rooms had been closed for fifty years, but this proved to be an error, and the pictures were probably made by a Miss Wilkinson who had access to the rooms, and who had experimented in photography soon after its invention by Niepce. It is well known that Thomas Wedgwood, son of Josiah, is said to have made “silver pictures” under Sir Humphry Davy’s17 eyes as early as 1791-93, hence during the existence of the Lunar Society. A facsimile of one of these early photographs is prefixed to Miss Meteyard’s “Life of the Younger Wedgwoods,” but she herself throws some doubt on its authenticity. The philosophical converse of the learned men was sometimes enlivened by humorous interludes, such as the following: Dr. Darwin, whose levity in religious matters was notorious, had invented a speaking machine which pronounced “papa,” “mamma,” and other words quite accurately. Mr. Boulton, who perhaps had suffered from the caustic wit of the Doctor, drew up the following satirical contract:— “I promise to pay to Dr. Darwin, of Lichfield, one thousand pounds upon his delivering to me (within two years from date hereof) an instrument called an organ that is capable of pronouncing the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and Ten Commandents in the vulgar tongue, and his ceding to me, and me only, the property of said invention with all the advantages thereunto appertaining.” [Signed.] M. BOULTON. Soho September 3d, 1787. Witness, James Keir.18 Witnes, W. Small. A wide range of topics was admitted in the discussions at the informal meetings. Mrs. Schimmel Penninck,19 already quoted, gives a vivid picture of an exciting scene in her father’s house. It was in the summer of 1788, and Matthew Boulton presented to the company his son M. Robinson Boulton, who had just returned from a long sojourn in Paris. 15 A hydride of Phosphorous. 16 Area of the City of Westminster. 17 British chemist (1778–1829) known for discovering several alkali and alkaline earth metals. 18 James Keir (1735–1820) was a Scottish chemist and important member of the society. 19 British anti-slavery writer (1778–1856). 4 “I well remember,” writes Mrs. Schimmel Penninck, “my astonishment at his full dress in the highest adornment of Parisian fashion; but I noticed as a remarkable thing that the company (which consisted of some of the first men in Europe), all with one accord gathered around him and asked innumerable questions, the drift of which I did not fully understand.
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