i COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNITY: MOVING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN BRITAIN AND AMERICA, 1732-1782 by Paul Andrew Sivitz A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana July 2012 ii ©COPYRIGHT by Paul Andrew Sivitz 2012 All Rights Reserved ii APPROVAL of a dissertation submitted by Paul Andrew Sivitz This dissertation has been read by each member of the dissertation committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citation, bibliographic style, and consistency and is ready for submission to The Graduate School. Billy G. Smith Approved for the Department of History and Philosophy David Cherry Approved for The Graduate School Dr. Carl A. Fox iii STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctoral degree at Montana State University, I agree that the Library shall make it available to borrowers under rules of the Library. I further agree that copying of this dissertation is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with “fair use” as prescribed in the U.S. Copyright Law. Requests for extensive copying or reproduction of this dissertation should be referred to ProQuest Information and Learning, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106, to whom I have granted “the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute my dissertation in and from microform along with the non- exclusive right to reproduce and distribute my abstract in any format in whole or in part.” Paul Andrew Sivitz July 2012 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this dissertation would have been impossible without the help, guidance, and friendship of many people. To my Ph.D. Committee: Billy Smith, Michael Reidy, Bill Wyckoff, Kristen Intemann, and Susan Klepp, I owe my sincere thanks. You gave your valuable time and knowledge to me during this process. To the Chairs of the Department of History and Philosophy at Montana State University, Brett Walker and David Cherry, your support is greatly appreciated. Profuse thanks the office staff, Diane Cattrell, Deidre Manry, Jessica Marks, and Cassandra Balent for seemingly endless administrative (read: paperwork) help. My thanks to the faculty of the Department of History and Philosophy at Montana State who have always answered my questions without hesitation, and my graduate student colleagues here have been a great source of friendship. Special thanks to the librarians at the following institutions: the Botany Library at the British Museum (Natural History), especially Armando Mendez; the British Library, The Linnaean Society of London; and Montana State University. Friends and family have offered support and encouragement during the entire Ph.D. process. To Denise Erickson and Jim Bark, Dolores Pfeuffer-Scherer, and the many others whom space does not permit mentioning, it is impossible to express enough gratitude. My parents, Jay and Shirley Sivitz, are simply the best. My wife Gabrielle deserves a Ph.D. of her own–for everything. Finally, I wish to thank two people once again. First, Susan Klepp, who has provided continual guidance and support. And Billy Smith, my advisor, co-instructor, chess-playing partner, and mentor. v TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 2. FROM THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TO THE EPISTOLARY WEB................. 28 3. INSTITUTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE, LANGUAGES OF KNOWLEDGE ................56 4. SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR ............................100 5. TANGLING THE WEB, DENTING THE SPHERE ..................................................148 6. MOVING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ACROSS GENERATIONS .......................191 7. CONCLUSION: ENTROPY AND EPILOGUE .........................................................244 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................ 269 vi ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the dissemination of knowledge, letter-writing, print culture, institutionalization of knowledge, and identity. In this work, the scientific knowledge itself plays a secondary role to how that knowledge was communicated within the scientific community and to the general public. While these exchanges have been well-documented, this work delves deeper into the volume and patterns of letter-writing among the participants, examining extant correspondence, as well as known, but missing, letters that communicated ideas across dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of miles without the benefit of modern technology. The scientific content of many letters was transformed into publications, some of which were intended for the scientific community. However, other works transmitted the accumulated knowledge to a broader audience, both in Britain and America. As literacy increased, access to knowledge followed, but the widespread lack of formal education among the reading population forced works to be written in English rather than Latin. This change was part of a growing movement within the scientific community that had begun in the seventeenth century, but was not completed until the nineteenth. The dissertation investigates this shift during the long eighteenth century from the perspective of the practitioners of science and the lingua franca each chose to accept or reject. The process of institutionalizing scientific knowledge in the American colonies met with a mixture of success and failure during the period. Allegiance to established institutions like The Royal Society has explanatory power, but, as I will argue, the epistolary web was an institution itself. It prevented more widespread formal institutional formation at the time, and, in some cases, it was more effective than traditional institutions in producing knowledge. This study also examines the persistent British identity of the scientific community in America during the mid-eighteenth century. Although events leading to the American Revolution marked a shift in political identity for some, many members of the scientific community continued to see themselves as British. Moreover, this study stresses the influence of politics, both situational and institutional, on the practice of science and the ability to communicate the results of those practices. 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION On November 7, 1732, a new subscription library in Philadelphia sent a letter of thanks to a London merchant for his assistance “in the Choice and Purchase” of books for the library’s collection, as well as the “valuable Present” of two additional volumes. One of the gift books reflected the merchant’s own interest in botany. The other, a more learned volume, concerned itself with physics. The appreciative letter’s author noted that “An Undertaking like ours, was as necessary here, as we hope it will be useful; there being no Manner of Provision made by the Government for publick Education, either in this or the neighbouring Provinces, nor so much as a good Booksellers Shop nearer than Boston.”1 This is but one example of the movement of knowledge (scientific and otherwise) from Britain to its American colonies, which had been, up to that point, mostly haphazard and regional. However, the library’s benefactor had chosen his gifts wisely: the two books provided geographic and temporal continuity in the acquisition of scientific knowledge. The letter and its surrounding context illustrate many of the themes this dissertation explores: the dissemination of information, the nature of letter-writing and print culture, the self-defined identity of participants in the scientific endeavor, and the institutionalization of knowledge. The two volumes presented to the Philadelphia library, 1 Library Company to Peter Collinson, November 7, 1732. British Library, Collinson (Peter). F.R.S. Letters addressed to 1725-1790. Add. 28726 f. 3. 2 both in English, were A View of Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy (1728) and The Gardeners Dictionary (1731). They provided potential library patrons the opportunity to explore physical science and the productions of the natural world without the necessity of a university education. The books illuminate how knowledge was produced and circulated in the British Atlantic World. These were the works of British authors, both reflecting and solidifying the connection between the metropole of Britain and the periphery of its North American Colonies.2 The authors of these books also illustrate the rich networks and dense connections among natural philosophers on both sides of the Atlantic. Henry Pemberton (1694-1771), a London physician and mathematician, popularized the theories of Isaac Newton (1642-1727) in A View. Head gardener at London’s Chelsea Physic Garden (founded as the Apothecaries’ Garden in 1673 to cultivate medicinal plants), Philip Miller personally directed his immense Gardeners Dictionary through eight editions during the next four decades. Pemberton oversaw the publication of the third edition of Newton’s Principia the year before Newton’s death in 1727. The Chelsea Physic Garden, in turn, sat on land owned by physician, botanist, and plant collector Sir Hans Sloane and leased to the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Newton had served as president of The Royal Society of London, while Sloane was the Society’s current president. Pemberton and Miller were both Fellows, as was Peter Collinson, to whom the letter of gratitude from 2 The classic work