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The British Apollo Indicative of Early Eighteenth Century Interest In LHI BRITISH APOLLO—INDICATIVE OF EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY INTEREST IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY 1708-171 I BY FLORENCE FORD McCANN Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/britishapolloindOOmcca ' V Duke University Library The use of this thesis is subject to the usual restrictions that govern the use of manuscript material. Reproduction or quotation of the text is permitted only upon written authorization from the author of the thesis and from the academic department by which it was accepted. Proper acknowledgment must be given in all printed references or quotations. FORM 412 SM 6-41 THE BRITISH APOLLO—INDICATIVE OF EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY INTEREST IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY 1708-1711 by Florence Ford McCann //, / fy z_ 2^- 1 A thesis submitted In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Duke University 1942 . —_ . __ v ai.-- Ja;:: kM ax )nmAtiQ -i-0"r ■ yd nnal' ' ' rate's sr-j .- - .- -" . r* I . ■- ■ &< J ' ■ d ■ a to • ' r •■ ? ... ! ■■ - •:;> .••: 1:. - - v u e.'. J i V-. t v . J i,, j. T, R. R.tf, f^izz PREFACE For a cross-section of early eighteenth-century thought, few sources are as valuable as The British Apollo, that popu¬ lar periodical which flourished from 1708 until 1711. In it we see the reflection of a wide range of Interest in such fields as literature, etymology, law, religion, mathematics, science, natural history, metaphysics, and affairs of the heart. Scientific Interest predominates, with religion holding second place and affairs of the heart, third. It is this curiosity in matters pertaining to natural philosophy that will be considered in the following chapters. This blanket % term includes a variety of problems connected with man him¬ self and with the world about him. It does not take in the more particularized field of mathematics, nor the more com¬ plex ones of philosophy and metaphysics. What were people thinking about during those compara¬ tively quiet years between the scientifically productive last 428064 c • r to! - > , ;J_ .j/ ■.....1 '-•» •Xcteju.Dev «« rrB ?*zia*zvQz wst . •. 'l; . r» : -jiV rf?■ X'itiol 1 jiVriw ,'.&o 1 holt*•><.■ taI • ••• » .;o no.t oO«*Xl<rt «ri? ©•« #w , , , r . ■ . v ; ■ v, \ i ' r : *: W i , '■ v r t .1 • •• . ••• t - ;:I v . i: oiztt a?-log lq . • . i ■ . ■ ic’;. -;/ -tft--.il-i.-'oc &d IXJtw ... 's. v." . s :?*:■.i/v i.o :i.r wt?? - •'? i; , - . -'X;. • '.:o .. i[*27 fyzzU’r-iXvolvt&q &iom - - XtlrOi*o S... l:r -.Vx xrslc - c - ;c • ' ?f. V snl-aVri? ©tew taifl? J»Al •vjtJoufcoiq *. 8,x**x t&l$rp %£■ iv£ :■ half of the seventeenth century and the golden age of science in the last half of the eighteenth? What problems worried them? What old superstitions still darkened their minds? These are the questions this survey will attempt to answer, through the medium of The British Apollo. F.F.M. 428064 Vizitci9G rtons ad n*v stfd to tlntf * '■ ..?••• ••. ■ :. : .; ”t '.s;: -1 VU-. :il »n»jC'is^ 1X1 da tuoldida'Tv-i-fe- .510 d&rif ?at<$d noldaawp arid na aa • TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE PREFACE. .... I THE GENESIS OF THE BRITISH APOLLO .... 1 The Apollo Organization .. 1 Earlier Influences on the Apollo. ... 3 Seventeenth-century periodicals ... 3 Seventeenth-century science .... 15 II THE INTEREST IN ASTRONOMY ....... 19 III THE INTEREST IN BIOLOGY. ...... 31 Of Plants.31 Of Animals ......... 35 Of Human Beings . 70 IV THE INTEREST IN CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS . 119 V THE INTEREST IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY .... 133 Hydrology.133 Meteorology ..140 Mineralogy.150 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..161 ftiiT'iAJ •/' ■v : • • • • ... .... • • * » ♦ : ■: ^ ' * * , .. f! i. ' J ::i I 'V^ • • ~ r Ci • • ► - f’ 0 : « r V 4. * ■ ... ' ..[ ’. I • * » a* * * » * ♦ . * 1r > < < - • . * m - . VI « • • ♦ • « + V . • . ¥ , , r ■ -.rj • * ► * • ,, ♦ * . , THE BRITISH APOLLO--INDICATIVE OF EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY INTEREST IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY 1708-1711 Chapter I THE GENESIS OF THE BRITISH APOLLO Of the various schemes undertaken by Aaron Hill,^ The British Apollo was undoubtedly of most interest and value to the greatest number of people. Yet, ironically, it was an tindertaking for which its promoter had comparatively little enthusiasm after the first few months. To the energy and per¬ severance of Hill's assistants the Apollo owed whatever popu¬ larity and success it later attained. Published twice weekly until Number 79, then three times a week for the remainder of the four hundred and ten numbers (ending May 11, 1711), the Apollo was a one-sheet folio selling for a penny. During its comparatively brief existence, it ^Among other things, Hill was interested in play writing, theatrical management, the repair of Dagenham Breach, publi¬ cation of The Present State of the Ottoman Empire . and schemes for extracting oil from beech-mast and for manufacturing wine in England. For further details concerning Hill's projects, see Dorothy Brewster's Aaron Hill, New York, 1913, chapter II. fi'i 7 'p ■ jAZris® :m _____ . , t , . <: . : ’ " ■ .. : ; • . • ■ J‘ < „ ;'.ti : 'izL' ■ ■ :•? ' •' - - . _ r_ r < s 51-.'X-i ’17 . a s • * r- , ■ ufS IlJftt/ soiwu I/sdSiivv >■ : t-:' ■ ■ o 7 -.'it* tvritf 7.- .; , t . f , .; ;3it 1 ■?■ T.-:-' » ' ' ' t -1 ' ' - ' : I'l ■ _ mu : '7: . C j CXj ... ' 2 underwent several changes In form and Issued several supple- 2 ments. In arrangement It was chiefly questions and answers, Interspersed frequently with verse. The verse form Is also used In a number of regular questions and answere. Occasion¬ ally a question will be found In dialect, Greek, Latin, or Hebrew, the reply usually being worded in the same language as the query. The questions deal, in general, with three main topics: theology, natural science, and Maffaires du coeur," with scattered interest in literary matters, legal problems, meta¬ physics, mathematics, and unadulterated foolishness. They are answered, for the most part, in the spirit in which they are sent, although occasionally there is an apparently serious question answered in such a flippant manner as to make one wonder whether such a method might not tend to decrease the paper's circulation. Readers on the whole must have been well satisfied, as even those most thoroughly rebuffed seem to have sent in further questions. Only occasionally do we find a con¬ tribution signed, but in such rare cases the contributor, ap¬ pearing again and again in succeeding numbers, becomes a definite personality whom we come to recognize es an old friend. 2 See John Griffith Ames' The English Literary Periodical of Morals and Manners. Mt. Vernon, Ohio, 1904. Additional in- formatlon on seventeenth-century periodicals has been obtained from Alexander Andrews' The History of British Journalism. London, 1859; from Walter Graham's English Literary periodicals. New York, 1930; and from R. S. Crane‘ and F. B. Kaye's jk Census of British Newspapers and Periodicals. 1620-1800. Chapel Hill, N. C., 1927. i. " ' :• . •. v . ■ . - rfX: ::‘)$rx*qB*iB$al : .IS ' • : id ~ X IQ T6C iJil Q ill JbeBU t..: . % v •-:■• ,. •. ei , • \l v-auot ec IXlw no - ^5sup * ,.■ ■: ''.I-- ' iii ■ : < -ri-=H :• ■ - . : \ ' n. < e.- •■ 0. : •'.' 3 jut. oriT t- . < .1 \ . • ■ ' l :■ i : ' 3 . t : :• ; ' (s s %ii-.: * t I ■ li I! 10( is-; E'ii;: - Is.. ; ■' 'V 3 v& - : 3 . • ' . rsa vf.^i v. xi'iea b do,'# nerfXed.w T3i.:.ow . *1‘ : •■:■• i ' ' ■ ... ~ L-:~v* C.C: ,; ■;■ * 3V- ■■ ■ : - .s , s ■ il , 1 " • • '-•■:■ sS;.': .■ .1 zitit 1 Ui Ol»nA • 'I;■? 1SY ,." :: , \ ' ■ r ?. •: *1 .. __ f • t . s ■: - ; ~sl ' : ! * ..SIS Is . _ ' " : -I. f. - . ; , . 3 It is difficult to tell Just who was associated with the Apollo, and practically impossible to ascertain which questions each one answered, since anonymity was part of the stock in trade. We do know that Aaron Hill was the prime mover in the undertaking, assisted chiefly by Marshall Smith and to a lesser degree by John Gay, Dr. James Mauclerc, Dr. William Coward, possibly Dr. John Arbuthnot, and perhaps Roger Grant. To what extent the questions may have been composed by these editors themselves to fill up space or catch the public’s fancy, we shall probably never know. The most logical procedure is to consider them as bona fide inquiries, indicating the trend of public Interest at that particular time. Before we turn to the Apollo Itself for evidence of the scientific tendencies of the period, we should glance at two most important phases of the preceding century—factors which had a very definite influence upon The British Apollo: late seventeenth-century periodicals and late seventeenth-century science. The distinctive features of The British Apollo: the question-and-answer method, the topics treated, and the format, were all foreshadowed in the periodicals of the preceding cen¬ tury. It was no new procedure in the field of Journalism, though it was a most significant one. The majority of those periodicals which were technically ancestors of The British Apollo resembled only vaguely that early eighteenth-century i • . v *' Li*: oJ .L& aX v;. toX 1 ■ . < %’T •• •■ ■, :' ■ , ' ' ••: - • y. - : . *■,• .. ■ :sw , :: . , r »••:•’ ", .: , ■ ;.- T. V- L - - t 1 .. .* L\-.y SaL .. : r :0 eyy.ys qv IXIX ,: 3 - •rvi..«* ;.::Lo •" .■■'■• - ' • •: l , : L. r.. ' : • •'• : ■ S.w •'/ r- !. " yol *1 • :• • b $lLiu<; vU' t t! _ .. _ $** , . t-I t • 1 ■ - ' - ' , -■■ : s. • / :• vA,;..iq t'lcr- -j;r o„n sc _ eg arty . e » ': : .• 1 a X • - . v ** .5; - ri 1 ■ ■ ; ; •■: - „ . - .... _ - • .1 • x'.i . ■ i h - y. ' ■ - - i 1'.: ' ■ >■ ■ ' .' . :i ;• _ . : .rii: .. ' • L ./• -.■? iL-.; i*t.. • ■ . ■ / ■ '• n'8* ' b* ".c; *:<• T.l^sk 4 publication; many had a short, sometimes unsavory existence. Most important are those which definitely appear to have in¬ fluenced the Apollo as regards purpose, subject matter, or method of presentation. Prior to 1708, at least three publications of importance had employed the question-and-answer method: The Athenian G-azette of 1690, The Gentleman^ Journal of 1692, and Defoe*s Review of 1704.
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