No. 83: June 2007

IsSN: 1751-8261

Contents Of Apes and Algebraists Main Feature 1 Of Apes and Algebraists John Heard explores the world of 19th-century pure mathematics. BSHS Image Competition 3 “I believe that mathematical reality lies English mathematicians had experienced Reports of Meetings 4 outside us, that our function is to discover something like a century of intellectual BSHS Postgraduate Conference or observe it, and that the theorems that isolation from their European neighbours. A Exploring and Being Explored we prove, and which we describe grandilo- long-running feud between the supporters of ‘Outreach Day’ Bursaries 5 quently as our ‘creations’, are simply notes of Newton and those of Leibniz concerning the our observations.” origins of the differential calculus had melded BSHS 1947-2002 6 G H Hardy, A Mathematician’s Apology, 1940 seamlessly into a general English antipa- The Questionnaire 1947 6 thy, encouraged by the French Revolution, It may seem curious that pure mathemat- towards European rationalism. Consequently Past Presidents Reflect 7 ics, which has such a long and honourable throughout the eighteenth century the tradi- The Origins of BSHS 8 history, should have found considerable dif- tional English view of mathematics continued ficulty in justifying its existence less than two to exist largely unsullied by new trains of Replica Instruments 10 hundred years ago. Yet the opening decades thought, to the extent that much of European Readers’ Letters 11 of the nineteenth century, when natural phi- mathematics would have been unintelligible losophy was finally partitioned into distinct to Englishmen – even had it been written Reviews 12 News 14 Listings, Viewpoint info. 15 BSHS Conferences, BJHS 16

Editorial In this issue our celebration of the Society’s 60th anniversary continues. There are reflections by five of our former presi- dents and two scientists who have been members of BSHS since its foundation in 1947. This issue also features an essay by the Society’s first secretary on the origins of the BSHS. The main feature, by John Heard, examines the justifications that 19th-cen- tury pure mathematicians gave for their Fig 1: First Catch Your Invariant: J. J. Sylvester and Arthur Cayley likened pure research, which was likened to geographi- mathematics to geographical exploration and discovery (Paul Du Chaillu, Explora- cal exploration and discovery. tions & Adventures in Equatorial Africa, 1861). © Zoological Society of London. For those interested in the Society’s and specialist sciences, posed awkward ques- in English. This traditional English view was, Outreach and Education activities, see the tions for English pure mathematicians, who broadly speaking, that mathematics was details of the 2007 competition, searching found that their objectives were increasingly subsumed under natural philosophy, and for an image for use in history of science at odds with the prevailing Victorian ethos of so gained its interest and importance from communication, and two considerations of utility. Various strategies were invoked so as to being a necessary tool for studying the Book the education uses of replica instruments. commend pure mathematics to an increas- of Nature: it was part of the great enterprise I now have an Assistant Editor, Rosemary ingly uncomprehending public, and of these of glorifying God by trying to understand His Wall, and my thanks go to her for her help probably none has been so long-lasting, or handiwork. with this and future issues. Contribu- so useful to a hard-pressed pure mathemati- This comfortable insularity began to be tions to Viewpoint 84 should be sent to cian in a tight corner, than that of presenting breached early in the nineteenth century, newsletter[a]bshs.org.uk by 17 Aug 2007. pure mathematics as the exploration of a real when English mathematicians at last became mathematical world. acquainted with European developments, Rebekah Higgitt, Editor At the dawn of the nineteenth century a principle feature of which was a level of  Viewpoint No. 83

abstraction that effectively divorced math- most colourful mathematicians of the nine- ematics from its roots in natural philosophy. teenth century, but also had a good claim to Mathematics, from this point of view, was no be second only to his great friend Cayley in longer the science of natural quantities, and the Victorian pantheon, such as it was. Many this had an important effect on the criteria by stories circulated about Sylvester; some are which mathematicians judged truth in math- greatly exaggerated, if not downright false, ematics. Under the banner of natural phi- but are perfectly believable nonetheless losophy, mathematics was true to the extent – he was a character who could have found that it successfully mirrored and explained himself on the wrong end of a manslaughter natural processes and this requirement was charge. He also wrote verse, of which he held the touchstone that guaranteed the validity an unaccountably high opinion, and although of the mathematical processes. For example, once he started speaking he could prove in Newton’s differential calculus the exact impossible to stop, he was the ideal person nature of fluxions was hotly disputed, but to convey to the members of the British the success of his theory justified their use, Association a memorable apologia for the notwithstanding that what was going on was mathematical enterprise. hidden in a fog of impenetrable metaphysics. He decided to take the attack to Huxley, However, in the new dispensation math- and asserted that mathematics was quite ematical truth needed a new touchstone, the opposite of being “purely deductive”. which not surprisingly turned out to be an Indeed, Sylvester said that mathematical appeal to purely rational thought. Mathemat- analysis advances “from continually renewed ics first required premises the truth of which introspection of that inner world of thought were apparent to all right-thinking people, of which the phenomena are as varied and and on those premises were to be built logi- require as close attention to discern as cal constructs in which each step was derived Fig 2: Arthur Cayley those of the outer physical world ... , that it from earlier ones by the application of logical is unceasingly calling forth the faculties of principles that were as evidently correct as Poe’s short story The Purloined Letter; clearly observation and comparison, that one of its the original premises. Whatever propositions he believed that the theme would be familiar principle weapons is induction, that it has resulted from this purely rational procedure to his readers. And during the next two dec- frequent recourse to experimental trial and were true by definition, however counter- ades George Boole, Sir George Airy and Wil- verification, and that it affords a boundless intuitive they might appear. liam Thompson all expressed concern at what scope for the exercise of the highest efforts Allied with this new view of mathematical they saw as a waste of talent, with able math- of imagination and invention.” He used truth was an extension of the legitimate field ematicians such as Arthur Cayley throwing language to describe pure mathematics that of algebra. The eighteenth century had hap- themselves into a life of abstract ratiocination mirrored the language that Huxley used to pily embraced the labour-saving concept of when there were so many unsolved practical describe science, and drew parallels between the formula, in which an unknown quantity is questions to which their attention would be the activities of natural historians – of whom, expressed in terms of other unknown quanti- better directed; indeed, Airy characterised of course, Huxley was one of the most pre- ties; but now it was proposed that algebra modern geometry as “puerile”. The critics were eminent – and those of pure mathematicians, could properly ignore underlying quanti- especially alarmed at the effect on student who roamed the mathematical world seeking ties completely, becoming simply a formal mathematicians, whose studies should have new and interesting specimens which they calculus for the manipulation of symbols. been fitting them for occupations that could then observed, recorded and captured for the This new algebra, when prosecuted with be put at the service of industry and Empire. benefit of future generations. unchecked rationality, yielded curious results: Amongst those taking a tilt at the pure So as to bring home this parallel most for example, when equating a generating mathematicians was Thomas Henry Hux- forcefully, Sylvester referred to “the acciden- function to its infinite series it was impermis- ley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”, who in 1869, during tal observation by Eisenstein, some score sible to assert that the equation was true an attack on Comtian positivism, declared or more years ago, of a single invariant [an for some values of x but not others, since that pure mathematics “knows nothing of algebraic construct] ... which he met with in algebraic rules could not refer to quantities; observation, nothing of experiment, noth- the course of certain researches just as acci- hence algebraists succeeded in proving, to ing of induction, nothing of causation!”, and dentally and unexpectedly as M. Du Chaillu their satisfaction at least, that: said elsewhere that “mathematical training might meet a Gorilla in the country of the is almost purely deductive”. This was all too Fantees … Fortunately [Eisenstein] pounced much for one of his readers, James Joseph down upon his prey and preserved it for the 1 2 3 = 1− 2 + 2 − 2 + ... Sylvester, who thought that pure mathemati- contemplation and study of future mathema- 3 cians had been supine long enough, and that ticians.” This arresting imagery would have Some English mathematicians adopted he was no longer prepared to take impre- been very familiar to most of Sylvester’s audi- these ideas with all the enthusiasm of the cations against his life’s work lying down. ence, because Paul Du Chaillu had for many convert, but there were also notes of alarm His chosen venue for a reply was the 1869 years explored the equatorial regions on the sounded in various quarters. In the Encyclo- meeting of the British Association because, as west coast of Africa, roughly where Gabon paedia Metropolitana of 1845, Henry John he told his audience, “[Mathematics] having is today, and on his return had gained great Rose warned that too much mathematics was been so recently and repeatedly arraigned popularity in England and America as an being produced, considerably in excess of before the bar of public opinion, is entitled to author and lecturer. His very successful book what was required for present-day applica- be heard in its defence (if anywhere) in this Explorations & Adventures in Equatorial Africa tions. At about the same time mathemati- place ...”. was published in 1861 and was particularly cians’ dry and impractical thought processes Impetuous, verbose, touchy, inspired and renowned for a description of the gorilla, formed an important element in Edgar Allan inspiring, Sylvester was not only one of the which at that time was almost unknown in Viewpoint No. 83 

England; indeed Du Chaillu claimed to have been the first white man to have seen one. He enlivened his account with a dramatic BSHS Image Competition 2007 engraving that many in the British Association would have recalled; and, as Sylvester clearly The Outreach and Education Committee recently announced a intended, they would then have had fixed in their minds the most striking visual repre- prize for the best image for communicating history of science. sentation of a key feature of mathematical discovery, at least as he chose to gloss it. Recently Tony Crilly, in his new biography of Arthur Cayley, has suggested that in char- acterising pure mathematics as exploration, Sylvester was manifesting the Victorian preoc- cupation with taxonomy; and it is certainly true that one of the principal aims of math- ematicians such as Cayley and Sylvester was systematically to classify the algebraic con- structs with which they dealt, just as natural historians were concerned with classifying the new plants and animals that were constantly ? being discovered. That, however, is our inter- pretation. What Sylvester intended to convey to his audience was that exploration was no mere metaphor; indeed, for him the reality of the “inner world of thought” was indisputable, The Outreach and Education Committee of Commentary: entrants may submit a text and pure mathematicians were in fact doing the British Society for the History of Science up to 500 words in MS-Word or Rich Text in it exactly what natural historians did in the have offered a prize of £250 for an original format in order to: world that we apprehend through our senses. image to be used for teaching/communi- i) propose a caption for the picture, Pure mathematics was therefore just as scien- cating the history of science. The winning ii) explain how the image could be used for tific as natural history. image or images (in the case of a tie) will learning & outreach activities in history of Sylvester was not alone in putting this gloss be announced at the OEC sessions at the on pure mathematics. Fourteen years later science, BSHS conference in Manchester, June 30 Arthur Cayley, during his Presidential Address iii) acknowledge any sources of direct or 2007. The winner(s) will grant permission to to the British Association in 1883, waxed lyrical indirect inspiration for the work. the BSHS to make the image(s) available for when he referred to “the vast extent of mod- iv) confirm that they have not used any download free of charge on the BSHS OEC ern mathematics” as being “a tract of beautiful copyright material on which they do not webpage, but will retain copyright over the country seen first at a distance, but which own copyright. image, which will be watermarked with the will bear to be rambled through and studied winning name(s) and the BSHS logo. in every detail of hillside and valley, stream, Submission: the image file and commen- rock, wood, and flower”, and more than half a tary entry should be attached to an email Eligibility: there are no restrictions on who century later the theme was repeated, albeit submitted to: image-competition[a]bshs. may enter the competition; in particular, with a less bucolic slant, by the great English org.uk with the body of the emailing giving entrants need not be a member of the Brit- mathematician Godfrey Harold Hardy. the entrant’s ish Society for the History of Science. The All this talk of a real mathematical world i) full name entry may be the work of more than one might seem to be a natural extension of ii) postal address individual, and if so, all must be named and mathematical Platonism, and indeed Cayley, iii) email address details provided in the materials submitted in his Address, invoked Plato’s allegory of the iv) telephone number for the prize. There is no restriction on the Cave; but, as I have tried to indicate, there number of submissions any entrant may was far more at stake than the outcome of a Deadline: 8th June 2007 make for this prize. metaphysical debate concerning the nature Criteria: the judges will evaluate the images of mathematical objects. The very survival in Subject: any topic or topics in the history of England of pure mathematics as an independ- according to the following desiderata science and or technology and or medicine. ent academic discipline, cut free at last from 1) originality The image must not use any copyright ma- its historic moorings in natural philosophy, terial on which the copyright is not owned 2) clarity & immediacy was threatened by its inherently occult nature by (any of) the entrant(s). 3) breadth of appeal to diverse audiences and the prevailing ethos of utilitarianism. The 4) cogency of commentary arguments ranged against it were powerful, Medium: any artistic idiom – cartoon, photo- The judges reserve the right to exercise and since then generations of pure math- graph, drawing, graphic montage, etc. discretion over aesthetic considerations ematicians have had cause to be grateful to Sylvester for providing such a colourful, robust Format: for entry purposes a jpeg or TIFF im- Enquiries: any questions about this prize and appealing refutation. age of up to 500kB file size will be accepted. should be sent to outreach[a]bshs.org.uk More specific requirements may be made of Information on the BSHS Outreach and John Heard the winning entry for display and download Education Committee can be found at www. Imperial College London purposes. bshs.org.uk/bshs/outreach. john_heard[a]hotmail.com  Viewpoint No. 83

Reports of Meetings Victorian children. A wine reception at Hatfield tives. Debate was further stimulated by the BSHS Postgraduate College completed the day, although the presence of not just card-carrying ‘historians discussion continued late into the night. of science’, but by museum workers, physicists Conference Friday was mainly concerned with studies and even the occasional computer scientist. of science, moving from ancient science to the Life as a research postgrad can sometimes twentieth century and everything in between. be quite isolating, but meetings like this are This year’s postgraduate con- The diversity of papers covering everything a welcome opportunity to meet and to share from alchemy to anti-Darwinism was fascinat- with others in similar circumstances. Indeed ference was held in Durham in ing, as was the attention paid to the groups there can be few other occasions which January. Thomas Lean reports. behind the ‘science’. A cast of mathematicians, bring together such diverse personalities and philosophers, merchants interests and give them the space and time and theologians to connect. Thanks must certainly go to all nicely demonstrated those responsible, in particular, the confer- that science isn’t all ence organisers: Vicky Blake, Beth Hannon, down to ‘scientists.’ The and Sebastian Pranghofer, along with all those presentations were behind the scenes at Durham and from the nicely wrapped up BSHS. with sessions on the collection and display of Thomas Lean science, providing food University of Manchester for thought on the chal- Thomas.Lean[a]postgrad.manchester.ac.uk lenges and possibili- ties of presenting and preserving science in different ways. The ideas Exploring and of this last session were brought to life in Being Explored What do nuclear Armageddon, Babylonian an evening visit to the preserved library of astronomy, mathematics in music and the Bishop Cosin, hosted by Professor David This April, Graham Gendell Nor- members of the organisation know as the Knight. Within this magnificently decorated British Mineralogical Society all have in com- library, we were treated to an exhibition of ton attended the first day of this mon? The answer is not to be found in the early scientific works, including early editions conference on the exploration twisting plot line of the latest Da Vinci Code of Vesalius’ De Humani Corporis Fabrica and cash-in, but in the subject matter of the varied Newton’s Principia Mathematica, a fascinating of 19th-century Africa. selection of papers at this year’s British Society opportunity to fully appreciate science on for the History of Science (BSHS) postgraduate display. A busy Friday drew to a close with the Marking the 200th Anniversary of the British conference. In what seems a continuing theme conference dinner at Hatfield College and an Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade on of holding BSHS conferences in cities with address by BSHS President, Frank James. March 25th, a lively and successful conference magnificent cathedrals, the hosts this year Papers on the history of medicine took was held at the National Maritime Museum were the Department of Philosophy and the up most of the last day, of which a particular on the last two days of the month. Entitled Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease highlight was the splendidly titled session on, Exploring and Being Explored: Africa in the at Durham University. ‘Victorian Pain, Death and Affliction,’ which Nineteenth Century, it took representations Thursday began with a selection of papers proved to be an engagingly morbid couple of of Africa, slave trade abolition and geographi- on early medicine, touching on personal hours. Dispute and debate, particularly in the cal and medical exploration as its theme. The stories of both patients and practitioners, grey areas surrounding moral and political conference was jointly organised by The Well- offering nineteenth century views of the eye, issues, was a theme that came out strongly come Trust Centre for the History of Medicine and showing how ‘real’ science can help the across different papers, in topics such as pros- at UCL and the National Maritime Museum, history of science. After lunch, the area of titution, colonial development and vivisection. Greenwich. discussion switched to popular and public This led nicely to the closing session of the The participants were welcomed by the science, including warnings on the dangers conference, which focused on the influencing Director of the National Maritime Museum, of ‘pseudo-science’ in the hands of religious of scientific frameworks and the intersection Roy Clare, who outlined the philosophy of the sects, and of chemistry sets in the hands of of philosophy and politics. NMM in approaching its conference pro- Reflecting back on the conference as a grammes. This was to apply interdisciplinary whole, it was interesting to see not just the and international scholarship to historical diversity of the papers which were given, but events, which had a global reach. Conferences the similarities that were apparent across time were allied to its on-going maritime research and subject area. Trust, whether in the gov- programmes, and to the diverse treasures in ernment’s abilities to protect its citizens from the collections and archives it holds. They also nuclear war, in the skill of doctors in accurately aimed to be of interest to broader audiences, diagnosing death, or in the dubious claims of to whom the museum also promotes its the ‘science’ of religious sects, was just one of conferences. The Museum saw the conference several interweaving threads. It was also grati- as an important component of its activities for fying to see participants not only from Britain, 2007. but from Denmark, France, Germany and The first day then began. Entitled ‘Spa- Eastern Europe, adding to the mix of perspec- tial Encounters’, the first two contributions Viewpoint No. 83 

examined the attempt to obtain evidence, by exploration and mapping, of the course and source of the Niger. In the first Jamie Bruce Lockhart, a former member of the diplomatic Bursaries for BSHS ‘Outreach Day’ service spotlighted the work of Commander Hugh Clapperton, RN, who went on two official expeditions to the hinterland of the Manchester, Saturday 30 June 2007 Guinea coast following the Napoleonic Wars. On the second, 1821-25, he obtained two sets of local maps from Arab traders and the www.bshs.org.uk/bshs/outreach/outreach_day_bursaries Sultan of Sokoto. These maps, very different from European conceptions, were projected Do you teach or communicate the history of science, technology or medicine to and set in context. under-18s or the wider public? Do you want to know more about cutting edge There followed Professor Charles With- learning resources and techniques in the field? If so, you’re eligible for a bursary to ers, of Edinburgh University: ‘Mapping the attend the Outreach Day at the BSHS Annual Conference in Manchester. self: Mungo Park’s African Explorations’. It considered Park’s true aims, and threw doubts As part of the three-day conference, Outreach Day includes three 90-minute ses- on the views subsequently taken of both his sions organised by the BSHS Outreach and Education committee, designed to account Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa benefit anyone involved in teaching or communicating the history of science. (1799) and the 1815 first biographical work on Park. Maps were also shown. Outreach Day Programme Professor David Killingray examined the black contribution to African exploration, 9:00-10:30 Learning history of science educational uses of these narratives. not merely the more familiar portering and online. guiding, but also accounts by black travel- Explore the use of e-learning in his- 13:30-15:00 Using role-play to teach lers in the period under review, between the tory of science, technology and medi- the history of medicine ending of the slave trade and the imperial era. cine, with specialist experts speaking Re-enacting the plague in seven- The major black explorers were identified and about exciting new online resources, teenth-century York. Try out role-play discussed. including The Complete Works of as a way of engaging young people Livingstone’s Zambesi Expedition, of Charles Darwin Online (www.darwin- 1858-64 was the topic for Dr Lawrence Dritas, with medical history! This session is online.org.uk), Livingstone Online University of Edinburgh, who described a a dramatised enquiry into the York (www.livingstoneonline.ucl.ac.uk) government-funded project supported by plague epidemic of 1631. A number leading British scientists, who also advised on and a new set of student research of historical characters will be inter- the scientists to go with Livingstone. There tutorials under development on the viewed by city aldermen, the lead was a whiff of future imperial and trade ambi- history of electricity. alderman being a scripted ‘actor’, the tion in the air. audience making up the remaining Dr David Lambert offered an intriguing 11:00-12:30 The adventures of an interrogators. At the BAAS Festival of portrait of a Scot whose interest in African historical object and other stories. Science at York in September 2007 geography was, he claimed, assisted by the See the results of a pilot project on this role-play will be performed in full slaves fresh from the continent when he ran a the creative writing of ‘object stories’ for participation by children aged 9+. Grenada sugar estate. In the slavery question as an educational technique in histo- debate he supported the West India planter ry of science. Focusing upon artefacts The day’s programme also includes a interest, but, as an armchair geographer, pub- in local museums and drawing on the public event on science and film (be- lished the first putative mouth of the lower experience of project participants, gins 15:30; details to be announced) Niger map which was close to correctness. He you will be given an opportunity to and a guided walk around Manches- reached a great age, and later in life appeared try writing a short autobiography of ter’s scientific and industrial herit- more progressive in his views. a past objects from science, technol- age, conducted by local volunteers The final paper was more of an entertain- ogy and or medicine and to discuss (begins 17:00) ment: from Robert M. Peck, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and much About the bursaries illustrated from magazines of the time, includ- While the registration fee for Saturday’s events (including lunch, refreshments and ing Punch; ‘Paul du Chaillu and the “discovery” access to all sessions) is £46, bursary recipients will pay only a nominal fee of £5 of the gorilla’, (in 1859) looked at this popular towards catering costs. The £41 bursaries will be offered on a first-come, first-served lecturing star and the animal’s treatment, basis, so you are advised to apply as soon as possible. from media to the taxidermists. Application form Graham Gendell Norton http://www.bshs.org.uk/fileadmin/documents/2007-oec-bursary.pdf gpgn[a]lineone.net If you are eligible, please print off and fill in the second page and post it, together with your cheque, to the Executive Secretary at the address indicated. The second day of the conference included Registration options for the full conference, and other useful details, are available sessions on Medical Encounters (Bodies from www.bshs.org.uk/bshs/conferences/annual_conference/2007_manchester. and Disease), with papers from Christopher Lawrence, Lotte Hughs, Mark Harrison, Rod Edmond and George M. La Rue.  Viewpoint No. 83

BSHS 1947-2007 The Questionnaire: 1947

Professor Philip George is our only surviving Founder member, and so is especially important for this 60th anniversary year. A Cambridge post-graduate who has spent much of his career in America, Professor George is a physical biochemist with a special interest in reactions with a carcinogenic significance. Although primarily a professional scientist, he has published historical pa- pers – including one on the early Philosophical Transactions – and played a seminal role in setting up the important HPS centre at Penn State.

Who/what first turned you towards HPSTM? Loren Eiseley and others, I played a seminal historical focus has been on practitioners’ I especially remember one particular dinner role in setting up the graduate program equipment and products, I was intrigued at Christ’s College, Cambridge, which took at Penn State, bringing in John Heilbron, by Cliffe’s copiously annotated copy of the place when I was a research student. The Arnold Thackeray and Russell McCormmack London Pharmacopeia, and also by a docu- guests included Charles Raven, then work- as new Faculty members, and arranging ment said to be his diary, but which is actu- ing on his biography of John Ray, and also guest lecturing activity with colleagues at ally a list of his patients’ causes of death. Charles Singer, whose interest in the materi- the Smithsonian Institution, Swarthmore I have loaned Cliffe’s documents to the al aspects of science’s history corresponded College and the American Philosophical Sessions House in Maidstone, and it would be marvelous if a student could continue to my own. The conversation that evening Society. my research into his activities. convinced me that I wanted to pursue the History of Science, and I was delighted Which historical person would you most What are your favourite HSTM books? This when I was invited to join the new Society. like to meet? My choice will be unfamiliar is a difficult question, but if I had to plump to most historians, but I have long been for one, it would be the Appendix to Joseph What do you see as your major contribu- fascinated by Jeremy Cliffe, an apothecary Needham’s History of Embryology, where he tion to HSTM? I have been a facilitator in Kent who flourished in the early part of discusses limiting factors in the History of rather than a direct contributor. Along with the eighteenth century. Because my major Science.

Professor W G Overend is one of Great Britain’s most distinguished organic chemists, especially renowned for his research into carbohy- drates. As well as being a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Medicine, he has been a Member of the British Society for the History of Science since 1947.

Which historical person would you most What are your favourite HSTM books? I own like to meet? As an organic chemist, I’ve a large collection that I’ve built up over the always admired Louis Pasteur, but my years, mainly in chemistry – a particular childhood heroes were the industrialists, favourite is J R Partington’s History of Chem- especially the Abraham Darby family of istry. I’m also interested in early radioactiv- Colebrook Dale, who are the major focus of ity: in the 1920s, I spent some time in New my historical interests. Some years ago, Neil Zealand, and so Ernest Rutherford has Cossons told me about his plans to develop always seemed relevant to my own life. local museums, and I’m enthusiastic about the flourishing tourist trade he has helped How would you like to see HSTM develop- to build up in the area. When I was young, I ing in the future? When I was a chemistry used to enjoy talking to entrepreneurs who undergraduate, there was enough room in about famous individuals and what moti- had set up tile factories all over the world, the course to include lectures on its history, vated them to make their great discoveries: but then the region sank into a period of but those have now been squeezed out. after all, as scientists, we’re all standing economic decline. It’s marvellous to see I’d like to see history put back into science on the shoulders of the giants who went prosperity returning once more. degrees, so that students can learn more before us. Interviews by Patricia Fara. Viewpoint No. 83 

BSHS 1947-2007 Past Presidents Reflect Rosemary Wall asked five Hugh Torrens Ludmilla Jordanova former BSHS presidents to reflect on the Society, their time BSHS President 1990-1992 BSHS President 1998-2000

in office or their discipline. Concerning my time with the BSHS, I must first record how great was my surprise that such an ‘outsider’ should ever have been asked to help the Society. Only this morning Robert Fox I saw this word used again (of Edward Elgar, in The Gramophone, in his sesquicentennial BSHS President 1980-1982 year). I have urged it be used more, instead of the easily misinterpreted, and misleading, word; ‘amateur’ (Proc. Geol. Assoc. 117, 1-8, 2006). I have always been in a Science Dept. (geology – the most historical science) but, despite this, trying to cross between the drift- ing continents of these Two Cultures proved disastrous. The advent of RAEs brought lunatic problems. The biggest was that one was only allowed to work within a single ‘unit of assessment’. This problem might be one we should try to address in future. I first encountered the history of science in Another area over which I felt concern the Autumn of 1969, when, as a natural sci- was our neglect of the related fields of the entist, I took the Part IB course in History and history of technology and of failure, in which Philosophy of Science at Cambridge. It was, historical practice must be more complex and more or less, love at first sight. Empassioned subtle than in, better recorded, science. I fear debates about Kuhn, and the thrill of learning this battle has been lost. But finally, in this about matter theory stick in my mind. I went bicentenary year of the Geological Society of on to take the part II, and specialised in the The society’s good health made my time as London (which still keeps me stupidly busy history of geology. It never occurred to me president relatively trouble-free. Member- – stupid, since I now lack any adequate office), ship (606 in March 1980) was rising (to 627 I think the BSHS might be more pro-active to do a one-year postgraduate course, so I in March 1982), and new initiatives, notably with those historically interested Fellows and went straight on to a doctorate on Lamarck, the recently launched Newsletter under the members of our major Science and Technol- although I started working on Cuvier. After editorship of Peter Collins, were flourishing. ogy societies in the U.K. This bicentenary has a few months, we clearly weren’t getting Well attended meetings reflected the buoy- revealed a considerable in history among along and I switched to Lamarck of whom ant mood. So too did their diversity. We made geologists, but who remain unaware of the I became very fond. I believe I joined BSHS early ventures into outreach (although we activities of the BSHS. I feel sure this must be soon after starting as a research student, and I did not use the term at the time), in a series true also of the chemists, electricians, medics well remember the early meetings I attended, of meetings directed at teachers in secondary etc. The history of science and technology including giving a short paper at one of them schools, and into international collabora- are important subjects which deserve bet- in Manchester. The intoxicating mix of pleas- tion, with the Anglo-French dimension that ter exposure, as the BSHS is ideally able to ure, awe and fear that accompanied meeting we and our partners in the Société française demonstrate. established historians of science whose work d’histoire des sciences built into our annual I had read remains vivid. Many people then summer meeting in Cambridge in 1982. were exploring the social history of science Clouds, though, were on the horizon. and examining the history of scientific and Academic recruitment had dipped since medical institutions. the mid-1970s, and fears that the history In my current work on portraiture and of science might be seen as an easy target identity, I am returning to these areas, albeit for cuts were beginning to be realized. The in a more cultural mode. I remain fascinated society responded by establishing a working by the workings of institutions. BSHS has party to monitor the state of the discipline. been part of my life since the early 1970s; in How seriously our interventions were taken many ways the field has changed dramati- by the institutions of higher education we cally, yet many of the intellectual challenges contacted is unclear. But the working party at that attracted me as a student are still central least drew attention to the problem and may to the field. The work I did with Roy Porter have borne more material fruit in the review in organising two ‘New Perspectives’ confer- of our discipline, under Mary Hesse, that the ences and in editing the first of the Society’s University Grants Committee undertook later monographs holds a special place in my in the 1980s. heart.  Viewpoint No. 83

BSHS 194 7-2007: Origins of BSHS did not simply set their own questions), a Jim Bennett ‘head-to-head’ between two well-known representatives of either side, and even a In 1948 F. H. C. Butler, first Hon- BSHS President 2000-2002 TV-style ‘Question Time’, with an expert panel, questions submitted beforehand to the chair, orary Secretary of the BSHS, was and contributions from the floor. It all made asked to write an account of for a lively meeting and suited the dynamic of the occasion but I don’t think it has caught the Society’s foundation for the on more generally. One development that has BSHS Bulletin. The original ver- been sustained was the decision to revive the Society’s annual summer conference – the sion, focusing on its pre-history ‘big tent’ as the idea was dubbed in the plan- was not published, but remains ning stage. But, in the nature of things, the among the Society’s archives. President had been moved along before that came to fruition “There are two ways of reading history”, says A. N. Whitehead, “forwards and backwards. In the history of thought, we require both methods. A climate of opinion ... requires for its under- Peter Bowler standing the consideration of its antecedents and its issues”. The creation of a climate of Presidents come and go, our predecessors BSHS President 2004-2006 opinion in any age is a complex phenomenon, having wisely determined that no one should engendered by the expression of the mature stay long enough to do much real harm, but thought and reflection of many trained minds secretaries, treasurers, editors and – especially, on the facts of human experience, within the as it seemed in the first years of the present arbitrarily imposed boundaries of a selected century – executive secretaries are there for field of learning. the long haul. It is they who maintain the es- In the History of Science its tempo has been sential round of recurring business, while the comparatively slow; for its progenitor we have President seeks to keep the marathon Council to look back for well over a century to the meetings focused and productive and to great English thinker, William Whewell, who ensure that talented people giving their time first gave point and purpose to the subject freely for the Society’s benefit are listened to in his work on the ‘History of the Inductive and appreciated. My recollections are filled Sciences’, published in 1837. The initiative then with the repeating timetables of prize awards, passed to Germany where the first and only accounts, company law obligations, Council journal dealing exclusively with the History of appointments, meeting programmes, and the I moved into the History and Philosophy of Science to be published in the 19th century odd googly, such as the generous Wheeler Science for the part II of my degree at Cam- was the famous Klassiker der exakten Naturwis- Bequest to the Society’s non-existent library. bridge in 1965-66, the first year the subject senschaften founded by Wilhelm Ostwald in One area where the President can have was available at this level. Most history of 1853. .. an influence is in planning meetings and science was still being written in what we The beginning of the present century wit- conferences, since ideas and proposals, not to called the ‘internalist’ style. But Bob Young nessed a considerable stirring of activity in the mention local organisers, are always wanted. was already analysing science as a compo- founding of societies with journals devoted During my time, unsurprisingly, there was a nent of ideology, and he was by far the most to the subject; in Germany, the ‘Deutsche Ges- lurch towards museums and instruments. Two charismatic teacher at Cambridge. He inspired ellschaft fur Geschichte der Medizin und der initiatives come to mind – one a meeting on me (with no training in the life sciences) to Naturwissenschaften’ founded in Hamburg museums held in Paris in June 2001, gener- devote myself to the history of evolutionism. in 1901 by Karl Sudhoff; in Italy, the ‘Societa ously hosted by the revitalised Musée des Arts I moved on from Cambridge and eventually italiana di storia critica delle scienze mediche et Métiers. The event was a joy to the visiting gained a Ph.D. from Toronto, where Polly Win- e naturali’ founded at [P]erugia in 1907, by Brits but we failed to engage as much as we sor let me explore the implications of early Domenico Barduzzi. An event of fundamen- had hoped with our counterparts, the SFHTS. transformism while reminding me of the need tal importance ... was the founding of Isis by A year later a more successful international to think seriously about the technical debates George Sarton, who has been its editor since collaboration with the Scientific Instrument of the time. Since then our subject has seen a the issue of the first volume in 1913. When Commission was a meeting in Oxford on the steady expansion of the more sociological ap- the History of Science Society was founded question ‘Do collections matter to instrument proach, although in my own work I have tried in Boston in 1924 it adopted Isis as its official studies?’ Planned as a dialogue between to maintain a balance between the old and journal.... two rather separate constituencies in our the new. Obviously, there are scholars who In 1928 the ‘Academie internationale discipline – curators and historians – it was think that the new modes of analysis have d’histoire des sciences’ was founded by Aldo felt that the meeting needed alternative gained too strong a hold, but my own feeling Mieli; the Italian journal Archivio di storia types of session to the standard presenta- is that we need to present our students and della scienza; of which he was editor and had tion of papers. So, there were interviews of the public with a fair assessment of the cur- founded in 1919, became the official journal of distinguished practitioners (so that they rent state of the field. the Academy under the new title Archeion. The Viewpoint No. 83 

BSHS 194 7-2007: Origins of BSHS

Academy has organised four international List of persons present at the meeting congresses in the History of Science held in on 22 November 1946 to consider the Paris, 1929, London, 1931, Coimbra, 1934, and foundation of the BSHS. BSHS 4/1. Prague, 1937. We must now turn to our own country and consider briefly the chain of events which President of the Royal Society, and that, if the gradually led up to the foundation of our President were agreeable, Mr. Butler should Society. In 1917, the Clarendon Press pub- prepare and submit to him a memorandum lished the first series of Studies in the History outlining the proposal ... and ... the calling and Method of Science under the editorship of an inaugural meeting at which he might of Dr. Charles Singer, ... each quarto volume be willing to preside. The President replied containing a widely representative collection saying that he would regard the founding of papers mainly by English scholars; in addi- of such a society with hopeful approval and tion to their intrinsic value as contributors to the memorandum was sent to him in August learning the papers individually are models 1945. ... Dr. Singer was consulted and was of the art of presentation and collectively an strongly in favour of forming a Society saying inspiration to students of the history of sci- that steps to do so were about to be taken ence. It is much to be regretted that this fine on the outbreak of war. [The Royal Society series of studies was discontinued after the replied] in September 1946 saying that the second volume. Society were sympathetic to the history of In 1924 the first university department in science and were willing to make a room Britain devoted to the history and philoso- available for an inaugural meeting. phy of Science was established at University Coincidentally, at this time plans along a College, London, and a board of studies parallel line were being made by Dr. and Mrs. was created in the Faculty of Science of Charles Singer and Professor Herbert Dingle the University of London. The department Committee was set up at Cambridge by the to set up a National Committee for the history arranged for a postgraduate course for the two Faculty Boards of Biology and the Faculty of science. A proposal had been made that M.Sc. degree and made provision for research Board of Physics and Chemistry for arranging the International Academy of the History of leading to higher degrees in a new branch of courses of lectures in the Michaelmas Term Science should become an adhering Union of study under the title ‘Principles, History and 1936 covering the period 1895-1935 was the International Council of Scientific Unions Method of Science’ (changed later to ‘History given by scientists who had themselves made (I.C.S.U.) – which had been formed as the and Philosophy of Science’). Dr. Abraham Wolf, fundamental contributions to knowledge. result of an International Conference held in who was Professor of Logic and Scientific These courses came to an end with the the rooms of the Royal Society in October Method in the University shared the headship outbreak of war but were revived in 1942- 1918 and of subsequent conferences held of the new department at University College 43 with a re-constituted History of Science in Paris in November 1918 and in Brussels in with that of Logic and Scientific Method at Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. July, 1919, for the purpose of facilitating inter- the London School of Economics until his Needham (to be followed on his departure national co-operation in scientific work and retirement. to China by Professor Butterfield and later by of promoting the formation of International In 1925, the collection of historical scientific Dr. Hamshaw Thomas) with Mr. F. H. C. Butler Unions in different branches of Science.... instruments presented by Dr. Lewis Evans as Secretary. In 1944 Mr. R. S. Whipple made a Such adherence of the Academy to I.C.S.U. to Oxford University was opened in the Old presentation to the University of Cambridge was desirable also on financial grounds as Ashmolean Museum and, ten years later the of his unique collection of historic scien- a grant might then be made by U.N.E.S.C.O. Oxford Museum of the History of Science. In tific instruments and books together with towards the expenses of a preliminary meet- 1931, the second International Congress in an endowment towards their permanent ing of the Executive of the Academy in Paris the History of Science was held in London housing and display in a History of Science and later of an International Congress of the under the Presidency of Dr. Charles Singer. Museum in the University. An exhibition of History of Science at Lausanne. Three significant events took place in 1936; the Whipple Collection was set up in the East Therefore, on 24th October, 1946, Professor firstly, the founding of a national journal – the Room of the Old Schools and opened by the Dingle sent a circular letter to British mem- Annals of Science..., edited by Douglas McKie, President of the Royal Society on 4th Novem- bers of the Academy and others known to be Harcourt Brown and H. W. Robinson. Secondly, ber, 1944. So great was the interest shown specially interested in the history of science, at Cambridge, Dr. Hamshaw Thomas and Dr. R. in the exhibition that its original week was inviting them to attend a meeting at the T. Gunther arranged an exhibition in the East extended to a fortnight. Science Museum in November to consider Room of the Old Schools, of Scientific appa- In the Spring of 1944, an informal discus- the above questions and asking them, if they ratus of historical interest collected from vari- sion took place in Cambridge between Mr. R. were unable to be present in person, to let ous laboratories and colleges which aroused S. Whipple, Professor Allan Ferguson and Mr. him have their views in writing. wide interest and a commemorative volume, F. H. C. Butler, concerning the formation of a The meeting was held on the afternoon of Early Science in Cambridge was prepared by Dr. national Society for the history of science. It Friday, 22nd November, 1946, at the Science Gunther on similar lines to his monumental was arranged that Professor Ferguson should Museum in South Kensington. Professor work Early Science in Oxford. Thirdly, a introduce the matter to Sir Henry Dale as Dingle was asked to take the chair, and ... the 10 Viewpoint No. 83

question the meeting was called to decide was “shall we form a national group to join the Academy and so be eligible to receive a Replica Instruments grant from U.N.E.S.C.O? Shall we also consider the proposal to form a Society for the History Two third-year HPS undergraduates, Katie Taylor and Lisa Hobson, of Science?” Mrs. Charles Singer described the formation and functions of the Academy were asked to consider the use and value of replica instruments ... [and] gave an account of the History of supplied by Leonard Honey. Science Society in U.S.A., of which Dr. George Sarton was President and Dr. Singer and her- self, Vice-Presidents. The Chairman announced the names of those who were in agreement with the suggestion of forming a National Astrolabe Committee. The Chairman then read a letter from Mr. Griffith-Davies – Assistant Secretary of the In the October issue of Viewpoint Robert Bud Royal Society (i) outlining the procedure of highlighted the utility of web resources in the setting up National Committees, (ii) stressing history of science. The value of virtual access the need for setting up a body dealing specifi- to a range of instruments that such facilities cally with the history of science (iii) express- afford is immense. Gaining sustained physical ing surprise that the patronage of the Royal access to such artefacts is just as valuable but Society had not been sought for the meet- more difficult. The worth of such practical ing.... Mr. Butler read the memorandum he had experience is keenly felt amongst the educa- sent to the President of the Royal Society on tional community, as evidenced by the place the formation of a Society for the History of of hands-on sessions with museum instru- Science.... Professor de Beer then proposed, ments in undergraduate courses. However, and Mr. Michael Roberts seconded, the fol- given the fragility of museum collections, lowing resolution, “that this meeting should students typically need to use reproduction take the necessary steps to form a Society for models to interact directly and non-destruc- the History of Science” and this was passed tively with the instrument as a material object. unanimously. Dr. J. H. Woodger suggested that The Hemisferium replica astrolabe reviewed the title should contain the words ‘History here takes this important step. and Methodology of Science’. Dr. Hamshaw A display stand and an information leaflet Thomas said that, in his view, it should be a accompany the astrolabe in its presenta- History of Science Society, pure and simple. tion box. The replica is both attractive and The meeting concluded its business by elect- sturdy, so that it could potentially be used ing a Provisional Committee to draw up the by a succession of students. Its appearance rules and constitution of the Society. evokes something of the sense of mystery worked examples are useful in allowing re- ... associated with astrolabes. However, it is sults to be checked to test understanding. Those nominated to serve on this Committee appropriate for everyday use, so that it might While the pamphlet could be more detailed were Dr. H. P. Bayon, Professor G. R. de Beer, be of more practical educational use than a and better illustrated, it provides the novice Mr. C. N. Bromehead, Mr. F. H. C. Butler, Mr. J. genuine example, as students can handle it student with an idea of the potential uses G. Crowther, Professor H. Dingle, Dr. S. Lilley, for themselves. of the astrolabe, many of which can be tried Mr. Michael Roberts, Mr. H. W. Robinson, Dr. H. The information pamphlet aims to intro- indoors. Learning to manipulate the instru- Shaw, Dr. Charles Singer, Mrs. Charles Singer, duce students to just a few of the potential ment gives an insight into the procedures Dr. F. Sherwood Taylor, Dr. H. Hamshaw Thomas uses of the astrolabe, moving through worked followed by users in the past, in a way that a and Dr. E. Ashworth Underwood. Mr. F. H. C. examples which the reader can follow with careful handling of museum artefacts cannot. Butler was appointed Secretary. the replica. It opens with a very brief history In this connection, it is a shame that the of the instrument, followed by diagrams replica does not come apart, or feature addi- showing the separate parts of the replica. tional plates to give an idea of the variations Francis H. C. Butler was secretary to the BSHS The labels are in Spanish, and the tie lines required with changing latitude. The device 1947-1963. His bequest to the Society forms part not always clear, which can lead to confusion, would also benefit from being larger, so that of the Butler-Eyles Fund for postgraduate Travel although with a little effort the instructions labels and scales could be read more accu- Grants (www.bshs.org.uk/bshs/grants). are understandable. rately. However, in spite of these limitations, Part of the challenge of learning how to handling the replica serves to raise awareness This text is among the Society’s archives (ref: use an astrolabe lies in understanding the of the complexity of the instrument as a prac- BSHS 4/1). Butler’s published article appeared wealth of associated astronomical terminol- tical device, rather than an antique. as ‘The foundation of the British Society for ogy. The pamphlet lists the abbreviations that The Hemisferium astrolabe provides a novel the History of Science’, Bulletin of the BSHS 1 will be used for terms such as right ascension way for students to learn about the mate- (1949), 1-4. For the Society’s history see Geof- and Aries point. Unfortunately there are no rial history of science. Handling the replica frey Cantor’s article in BJHS 30 (1997), 5-23. diagrams to show what these words mean opens up a range of issues about method and Further information about the archives and a in terms of the positions of celestial bodies, the ways in which practitioners learnt their provisional list can be found in BJHS 30 (1997): and the complete beginner is likely to require trade that are not apparent from text-based 75-76. Enquiries about this material should be additional literature to make sense of the examination. Although additional literature is addressed J.R.Topham[a]leeds.ac.uk. examples. However, with further reading, the likely to be required to maximise the replica’s Viewpoint No. 83 11

Letters potential, it constitutes a valuable learning aid a long way towards combating the problems for all students of the history of astronomical outlined above. science and navigation. This replica is robustly constructed to allow the researcher to use it in the intended way; Los Alamos area pass Katie Taylor outdoors, or even at sea! Any awkwardness in University of Cambridge the movement of the vernier and the slight Dear Editor, inaccuracies of the readings add to the re- In your article on radiation in Viewpoint No. enactment of eighteenth century navigation. 82 you showed a ‘project area pass’ for the Los Additionally, one can to some extent experi- Alamos project issued to one ‘SMITH, CYRIL’. ence the sheer weight of the original instru- This may well have been Cyril Stanley Smith, ment and the problems that entailed in its who was in charge of the metallurgy section. Sextant employment. From personal experience, while Later he achieved great renown as an historian the use of a modern plastic sextant might un- of technology and engineering as well as Leonard Honey describes himself as a ‘sucker’ lock certain mathematical knowledge of the being an engineer.  for antique astronomy and gizmos. The eighteenth century counterpart, ultimately it Smith told me a lovely story about his Hemisferium replica wooden sextant is well will only serve to disconnect the researcher appointment. Oppenheimer’s first question to made and not only shows Honey’s love for the even further from history in question. A him was: “How many people are you going to mechanics of the pieces he makes, but also for replica sextant such as that made by Honey is need?”. Since he had little idea of his task, he their unique beauty. Indeed, the sextant can much more beneficial in such a situation. said; “Well, perhaps ten?”. “I think that you will be appreciated aesthetically, this reproduc- The fascinating early history of the sextant need 100”, replied Oppenheimer. In the end tion receiving many admiring comments from has been covered by Honey himself, and by Smith had 110. friends and family alike while I was reviewing numerous other notable authors on both it for Viewpoint. sides of the Atlantic.  However, only a brief I. Grattan-Guinness As I discovered while working at the explanation is provided with this replica and Middlesex University at Enfield National Maritime Museum in Greenwich a fuller history would have helped to enhance last summer, the researcher encounters understanding of this distinctive piece. two problems when trying to study historic Moreover, the sextant is a complex instrument scientific instruments. Firstly, the instruments and only scant instructions are provided. themselves are either too old or too delicate Should the owner want to use it, these would to be used to their full extent, so their former not be sufficient for those with little previous role can only be studied carefully in the con- experience. finement of the museum store. Furthermore, Nevertheless, to the student who has prior if the instrument has a modern-day coun- knowledge of sextants, the replica proves to terpart, as the sextant does, the present day be a valuable research tool in reconstructive model will yield little insight of what it was history, allowing for a practical exploration like to use one made in the 1800s. Admittedly, of sextant use and the problems that arise. standing in a park in Leeds in a high wind in Navigational histories can be written, indeed, spring 2007 cannot compare to the rigours of written well on the basis of diary extracts, eighteenth century ocean travel, but Honey’s commentaries and correspondence, and on Alice Nicholls replied: replica sextant does allow a certain amount of the study of original pieces. However, to get a Dear Dr Grattan-Guinness, historical verisimilitude and so the piece goes feel for the history, one must touch, manipu- Many thanks for this great story! The pass late and – it must be emphasised – use the did indeed belong to Cyril Stanley Smith, pieces in question. Honey’s sextant affords and is one of four acquired by the Science us this rare opportunity by bridging the gap Museum: between antiques and modern equivalents. 2006-215: Project Area Pass for the Alam- ogordo Test Site, New Mexico, United States, Lisa Hobson issued 7 July 1945 to Cyril [Stanley] Smith University of Leeds 2006-216: Tinian Island Pass issued by the War Department, U.S Engineer Office, to Cyril Stanley Smith Replicas of 12th- to 19th-century instruments, 2006-217: Emergency Pass issued by the War including those reviewed here, can be found Department, U.S Engineer Office, to Cyril online at http://www.greenwich-observatory. co.uk/acatalog/Antique.html . Optical Toys are [Stanley] Smith available from http://www.visual-media.eu/new- 2006-218: Operator’s [Driving] License issued replica-optical.toys.html. Instructions and histori- by State of New Mexico in 1945 to Number cal notes are offered with the instruments. 471 [Cyril Stanley Smith], Special List B, Engineer, date of birth, 10.4.03 [4 October 1903]. For use whilst working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, United States

Alice Nicholls . Leonard Honey ‘Pocket Astronomy’, Federa- . Leonard Honey, ‘The Sextant’, Civil Engineer- Curator, Medical Sciences tion of Astronomical Societies 76 (2004) p.3. ing Surveyor (May 2006), pp.32-33. Science Museum London 12 Viewpoint No. 83

Reviews actually does anything’ (pp. 16-17). These Books claims give little recognition to the scale of the domestic work women were expected to carry out in the 18th century. Nor does it Claire Brock, The Comet Sweeper: take into account the additional work Anna Caroline Herschel’s Astronomical and Caroline took in to help supplement the family’s income.  Ambition, Icon Books, 2007 The second point on which this book falters 292 pp., £9.99. is in its attempt to attribute to Caroline an aspiration for independence and more spe- cifically paid employment. Related to this is Brock’s insistence that Caroline was a ‘practis- ing astronomer in her own right’ (p. 138) and so implicitly making value judgements about what does and doesn’t count as proper astron- omy. These points about Caroline aspirations for independence, paid work and being a ‘real’ astronomer all suggest a need for the story to have a neat ending, inspira- tional to a modern audience. There is never however any discussion on how likely they are to have been the aspirations of Caroline or on whose experience she might be basing these chosen, from cow to crow. Taxonomy, physiol- aspirations. ogy, fable, hunting, cuisine, agriculture, poetry, Besides these two shaky conclusions, Brock conservation, film, commerce, and many other makes some good points. In a fleeting conces- sion to Anna, she points out that William was topics are addressed as the texts and their in many ways just as bad, encouraging his readers explore how animals have come to sister to place her domestic duties necessary signify so much to that most idiosyncratic of beasts, man. This neat and readable book provides a col- for improving his quality of life above any From opening their striking covers, it is ourful account of Caroline Herschel’s life from artistic or intellectual activities of her own. clear that much care has gone into the series’ her ‘Cinderella’ like beginnings in Hanover Best of all, she draws attention to the timings appearance. They are well-groomed: con- through her astronomical achievements of Caroline’s comet discoveries, pointing out to international fame in old age. It is full of that it was only when her duties were reduced veniently sized, printed on heavy and glossy incidental and interesting contextual material (through William’s absence and later mar- paper, soft-bound, and reasonably priced. highlighting the historical setting to many of riage) that she was in a position to do her own Above all, they are copiously illustrated: almost the events described. Some of this material is observing and make her own discoveries. every page contains one or more beautiful better integrated than others and there are reproductions of images from manuscripts a couple of occasions where points are over Emily Winterburn and tapestries, woodcut engravings and played for dramatic effect but over all the Royal Observatory Greenwich cartoons, underwater photography and movie book works well. EWinterburn[a]nmm.ac.uk stills. Flicking through their pages, it is clear The book works less well where the per- that these creatures are not represented by a Gradgrindian catalogue of facts, nor by a ceived needs of the genre overrule the need . Hoskin, Caroline Herschel’s Autobiographies, p107. for the historical context to mean something to the central narrative. This happens in the transformation of Caroline’s overworked mother Anna into an exaggerated caricature Claire Preston, Bee; Jonathan maliciously forcing her poor ‘Cinderella’-like Burt, Rat; Joe Roman, Whale, daughter to do all the housework while she did nothing. It happens again in the rather Reaktion Books, 2006, £12.95. forced conclusion regarding Caroline’s sup- posed drive and ambition for independence Readers of Viewpoint used to hunting down and paid work. new species of books might well have come As with all work on Caroline, most of the across the ‘Animal’ series, as it has gradually information on her life comes from Caroline’s populated shops around the country. The autobiographies and Brock here also relies works have been commissioned by Reaktion heavily on Michael Hoskin and his interpreta- Press from a wide range of expert authors, tions of Caroline’s words.  In exaggerating including historians of science, literary critics, Hoskin’s conclusions Brock argues that Caro- conservationists, zoologists and entomolo- line’s mother, Anna was ‘lazy’ (p. 16) and ‘never gists. Nineteen titles have been published so far, with additions to the menagerie appear- . Michael A. Hoskin, Caroline Herschel’s Autobiogra- ing every few months. Each text interrogates phies (Cambridge: Science History Publications Ltd, and surveys the cultural significance of its 2003).; Michael A. Hoskin, The Herschel Partnership: As Viewed by Caroline (Cambridge: Science History eponymous creature: those animals that are Publications, 2003). particularly and peculiarly resonant have been Viewpoint No. 83 13

simple list of their appearances in popular to poison unwanted rodents. They contain are led through the conserved house by an culture over the ages, but by historical read- plenty for the trivia-hungry, including the actress dressed as Polly Hewson who was the ings that tease out the complex and shift- euphonious names for grades of honey daughter of Franklin’s landlady. In each room, ing meanings and uses of these animals in – fireweed, bearberry, pumpkin – and the audiovisuals are interspersed with anecdotal particular contexts. astounding fact that every year people in dialogue from Polly. Claire Preston opens her work by claiming Germany eat an average 9.5lbs each of the Franklin’s scientific interests are initially its title is a misnomer: one bee is no bee at sweet stuff. addressed in the parlour with a mention of all. Her story deals with tens of thousands of Readers leave these books illuminated by his glass armonia and his charting of the Gulf bees, both at once as a highly social insect, whale-oil lamps, fortified by blubber, and Stream, followed by the obligatory kite-with- and over time as their actions, homes, bod- with a ready supply of small-talk on a quite a-key-in-a-storm story in a later room (cue ies and products have been appropriated. staggering variety of subjects. Appended dramatic lightning flashes and thunderous Thus, a bee’s-eye view of the world can be a supplementary references, bibliographies, sound effects across the window). While multifaceted, even paradoxical experience, and a dedicated page for websites provide Polly describes her admiration for Franklin’s emblematising both a model and industrious handy starting-points for bee-keeping (and scientific interests, there is no mention of the human society as well as solitary retirement, its vegan opposition), reading the nineteenth- reception of Franklin’s ideas by other natural the reflective retreat of an aged Sherlock century Plough Boy Journals of Lewis Monto, philosophers, nor is there any explanation for Holmes. Preston’s book charts the obvious joining the British National Fancy Rat Society, his interest in these particular natural phe- (how the industry of bees has been praised) and much more. Towards the end the books nomena. Franklin is thus portrayed as a classic to the perhaps less-obvious (the spelling bee, also include a timeline, a summarised guide scientific genius with little reference made to or the honeymoon) trails and traces these to historical moments with which to refresh the context of his ideas. insects have left as they have buzzed their one’s memories of the text’s highlights. And So who is this experience aimed at? Despite way through our world. for me there were many highlights in these the glossy introductory video and innovative Beyond the often fascinating natural histo- rightly acclaimed works; Viewpoint read- actor-led audiovisual effects, the house itself, ries of the animals themselves, then, ‘Animal’ ers might like to search for their own. This and the lack of artefacts and interpretation chronicles the ways in which we interact with fascinating series will be of interest to a wide within it, will do little to improve one’s knowl- the living organisms that surround us. As audience, from specialists and enthusiasts to edge of Franklin and his time. The audiovisual Jonathan Burt, editor of the series, empha- anyone interested in how we shape and are content assumes a robust knowledge of sises in Rat, these creatures often hold so shaped by the animals that surround us, be American history; indeed, both sets of visitors much importance because they mirror our- they creatures great or small. who attended the tours immediately before selves, and not always in a flattering light. Burt and after my visit were American, suggesting details a pivotal moment in this man-rat rela- Melanie Keene that this attraction has little appeal for Brit- tionship – the turn of the twentieth-century, University of Cambridge ish audiences. Certainly there is a paucity of or ‘the Time of the Rat’, when Freud, War, rat- mjk32[a]cam.ac.uk material for historians of science. fancying, behavioural psychology and more However, the lack of engaging history of led to conceptions of the rat as an emblem of science in the public experience is redeemed modernity, between technology and nature. by the excellent Student Science Centre. Two From carriers of the plague to heroes of the Museums rooms on the upper levels of the house have laboratory, not to mention the Pied Piper, his been filled with a series of demonstration book is a paean to the love/hate relationship Benjamin Franklin House, 36 models and interactives drawn from his- we have with the rat: our preoccupation with torical case studies associated with Franklin. what we claim to revile. Craven Street, London Designed to appeal to children aged 8-12 Containing evocative descriptions of years, it is a shame that these free activi- whale-sightings, Joe Roman’s Whale is struc- Tucked away down a narrow Georgian ties are only available to pre-booked school tured as a chronicle of mankind’s encounters street between London’s Charing Cross and groups. with these enormous mammals, including the Embankment stations, Benjamin Franklin’s Unsurprisingly, the most popular dem- glimpse of distant spouts, and the monsters lodgings at 36 Craven Street have been modi- onstration is a model church that is saved of legend, centuries of Basque, Inuit, Japanese, fied into a historical experience that serves as a shrine to this key figure in North American, and Scandinavian whal- Louise thorn ing, and more recent campaigns to ‘save the American history. whale’. (Appropriately, perhaps, Roman’s book A few months ago I visited the covers the greatest geographical spread of house to gauge how Franklin’s con- the three.) Roman’s one whale can go far: the tribution to science was depicted array of objects manufactured from oil and in this heritage context. To call bone is astonishing: from candles to corsets this house a museum would be a nineteenth-century society seems under- misnomer; the house is virtually pinned by bits of its body. And of course, what devoid of artefacts, apart from Roman terms the ‘50-ton leviathan in the a collection of symbolic objects room’, Moby Dick, surfaces regularly. in the video briefing room, most Most importantly, all of these authors of which are replicas or items convey a real passion for their chosen animal. borrowed from other institu- These books engage our imagination and tions. The tour begins with a slick our senses, from ‘stinkeries’ to whalers’ and five-minute introductory video whales’ songs; from peasants drunk on mead that lists Franklin’s contributions to dancing, waggling bees; from the sterility to politics, science, education and Replica glass armonia that students can use in the of Watson’s anosmic rat maze to how best social reform. Afterwards, visitors Student Science Centre to investigate sound waves 14 Viewpoint No. 83

News This collection from the publishing house, Livingstone Online John Murray, contains more than 150,000 let- ters by a variety of individuals, including many Livingstone Online (www.livingstoneonline. by Livingstone. The British Library and the ucl.ac.uk) is a new venture based at the Well- School of Oriental and Africa Studies (SOAS) come Trust Centre for the History of Medicine of London University also have important at University College London. The website collections. In Africa the National Archives of makes available the first scholarly, online edi- Zimbabwe and the Livingstone Museum in tion of the medical and scientific correspond- Zambia are institutions with sizeable hold- ence of David Livingstone (1813-1873); the ings. There are also letters in South African missionary, explorer, naturalist and doctor. The libraries. site will also include some of his manuscripts Livingstone Online already makes avail- and published papers. Livingstone Online is able detailed transcriptions and high-quality publishing fully annotated transcripts and images of the Wellcome Library’s collection of facsimiles of the letters and other documents. Livingstone letters and some of correspond- Louise thorn The Wellcome Trust has awarded Livingstone ence from the NLS. The Wellcome Library’s Online a three year project grant to realise its Model church complete with lightning letters were bought during the last years of goals. Director of Livingstone Online is Chris- conductors used to replicate Franklin’s Henry Wellcome’s lifetime when Livingsto- topher Lawrence, Professor Emeritus at UCL. experiments on electricity. nia were highly marketable as collectibles. Together, the variety and range of Living- Unfortunately, little is known of their earlier stone’s papers constitute a unique historical from the effects of a huge induced current provenances. Written in the period 1841-1865, and interdisciplinary resource. Over 2000 by a Franklin-inspired lightning conductor. these letters were addressed to a variety of letters survive. These letters cover a vast range Students can also experiment directly with correspondents, including Sir Richard Owen, of subjects. Their contents include family and a replica glass armonia or measure the drag Sir Roderick Impey Murchison and Sir James religious matters, observations on African encountered by model boats in table-top Risdon Benett. customs, geography, the slave trade and a canals of different depths. In the adjacent With the Wellcome Trust funding we will great deal relating to the details of the organi- room students can answer a series of com- concentrate further on letters in the NLS but sation of expeditions. A large number of his puter-based quizzes by examining replicas are already scanning, transcribing and editing letters contain material on science (notably of eighteenth century objects such as Polly’s letters in other institutions, notably the David astronomy and meteorology) and medicine. washboard or Franklin’s inkwell. Livingstone Centre at Blantyre and the Royal Natural historical accounts of flora and fauna This innovative combination of object Geographical Society of London. We also aim are prominent. Medical matters include both handling and computer interactive elevates to release a database version of Clendennen clinical observations and descriptions of Afri- this activity from just a simple button-press- and Cunningham’s works. We would appreci- can culture and geography in the Hippocratic ing exercise in something more investigative ate hearing from anyone knowing of any Airs, waters and places tradition. Livingstone and rewarding. Other activities in this section newly discovered Livingstone material. are based on the house’s association with was seeking out healthy areas suitable for European settlement. A great number of the anatomy through the work of surgeon William Contact: Livingstone Online letters reveal the politics and social life of Brit- Hewson, Polly’s husband. For example, stu- livingstoneonline[a]ucl.ac.uk dents can construct a blood circulation system ish scientific societies and other institutions in based on the ideas of William Harvey or try on the nineteenth century. a skeletal dressing-up kit complete with rib Livingstone’s surviving letters are scat- NCUACS Report cage and internal organs. tered across the world. All letters written by To conclude, Franklin’s contribution to Livingstone along with his other writings that Progress Report Number 40 of the UK’s science has been reduced at this histori- were known before 1985 have been listed National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of cal experience to a brief mention of a few in G.W. Clendennen and I.C. Cunningham, Contemporary Scientists (NCUACS) includes discoveries and inventions with little social David Livingstone: a catalogue of documents full accounts of the latest collections we have or historical context about his motivations (Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, processed: for these investigations and how they were 1979) and I.C. Cunningham, David Livingstone: (1) The biochemical engineer Malcolm Lilly received in eighteenth-century London. While a catalogue of documents: a supplement (Edin- (repository: Special Collections, University context is still elusive in the Student Science burgh: National Library of Scotland, 1985). A College London). Centre, it is encouraging to see interactives few letters have been discovered since then (2) The astronomer Robert Hanbury Brown based on historical precedents rather than the and others may exist. Many letters are known (repository: Royal Society). ubiquitous and often bland exhibits seen in only as copies of originals. Some exist only in (3) The mathematician Bertha Swirles Jef- standard science centres. The variety of activi- printed form. Letters to Livingstone have not freys (repository: Library, St John’s College ties, from demonstration models, computer yet been catalogued. Cambridge). interactives, object handling, dressing-up and Livingstone material is located in over The archives of Robert Hanbury Brown and group experiments creates a rounded educa- eighty archives and libraries and other mate- Lady Jeffreys are the first two to be completed tional experience that should appeal to many rial is in undesignated private hands. However, under the Unit’s Arts & Humanities Research prospective school groups. the bulk of the letters is held in a small Council-funded project on the archives of number of institutions in Britain and Africa. Of eleven distinguished British physicists and Louise Thorn these the National Library of Scotland (NLS) mathematicians. Work has now commenced Imperial College London has impressive holdings, including a large on the papers of the mathematician Albrecht louise.thorn04[a]imperial.ac.uk number of copies of letters held elsewhere. Froehlich and the low temperature physicist Their holdings have recently been increased Nicholas Kurti. Progress Report number 40 is For details: www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org by the acquisition of the John Murray Archive. online at www.bath.ac.uk/ncuacs. Viewpoint No. 83 15

Listings Conferences ton DC; Annual Conference 2008: 6-9 Nov, that Anthony S. Travis (Hebrew University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Annual Conference Jerusalem) has been selected to receive the 8th Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop 2009: 18-22 Nov, Phoenix, Arizona. 2007 Sidney M. Edelstein Award for Outstand- 25-29 Jul 2007, University of Notre Dame, Further information: www.hssonline.org. ing Achievement in the History of Chemistry. South Bend, Indiana. Travis was chosen from a group of interna- The principal focus is the history of tele- Trust in Science tional nominees primarily for his work on the scopes. Further details: www.nd.edu/~histast/. 15-16 Oct 2007, Toronto history of the synthetic dyestuffs industry and An interdisciplinary workshop, bringing the history of the European chemical industry. Catalan Society for the History of Science together leaders in broadcasting, journalism, Additional information about the award can Fourth Workshop on the History of Science and museology with scientists and scholars be found at http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/ and Teaching, 16-17 Nov 2007, Barcelona. from the social sciences and humanities ~mainzv/HIST/awards/edelstein.php. Themes include history of science in the who are engaged in the study of science and classroom, educational curriculum and the technology. Websites role of IT in history of science teaching. Deadline for registering 20 Sep 2007. Further Further details: http://schct.iec.cat. information: www.yorku.ca/cshps1. History of Cosmology Web Exhibit A new website tells with unprecedented Environment Health & History Funding depth how scientists have explored the Conference of the European Association for structure of the universe. ‘Cosmic Journey: the History of Medicine and Health, LSHTM, Canadian Knowledge Cluster in the History A History of Scientific Cosmology’: www. 12-15 Sep 2007, Brunei Gallery, Bloomsbury, and Philosophy of Science/Science and Tech- aip.org/history/cosmology/ comes from the London. nology Studies award-winning educators and historians See: www.lshtm.ac.uk/history/EAHMH.html The proposal ‘Clustering the humanist and at the Center for History of Physics of the social studies of science in Canada’ has been History of Communications Technologies American Institute of Physics. With more than awarded a total of $2.1 Million from the Social SHOT Annual Meeting 2007, 17-22 Oct 2007, 35,000 words and 380 striking illustrations, it Sciences and Humanities Research Council Washington, DC. is the most complete web exhibit of its kind. of Canada for their 7-year plan to build a na- Further details at www.historyoftechnology. tional and international network of humanist New web exhibit: “Diseases of the Mind: High- org/annualmtg/2007SHOT_cfp.pdf. studies of science in Canada. The plan is lights of American Psychiatry Through 1900” History of Quantum Physics clustered around four ‘themes’ and six ‘nodes’ The National Library of Medicine’s History of 2-6 July 2007, Max Planck Institute, Berlin of strength in the Canadian study of science. Medicine Division is proud to announce the Marking the 60th anniversary of the death launch of ‘Diseases of the Mind: Highlights of of Max Planck. See http://quantum-history. Prizes American Psychiatry Through 1900’ at www. mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de. nlm.nih.gov/hmd/diseases. The text was writ- 2007 Edelstein Award ten and images selected primarily by volun- History of Science Society The Division of the History of Chemistry of teer, Lucy Ozarin, M.D., who served as one of Annual Conference 2007: 1-4 Nov, Washing- the American Chemical Society announces the first women psychiatrists in the U.S. Navy.

Viewpoint: the Newsletter of the BSHS

Contributions All contributions and correspondence should be sent to the Editor, Dr Rebekah Higgitt, Institute of Geogra- phy, The University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP; newsletter[a]bshs.org.uk. Electronic communication is preferred. Viewpoint is issued three times a year – in February, June and October. The next issue will be in October 2007 and the deadline for copy is 17th August 2007.

Circulation Enquiries about circulation should be sent to the BSHS Executive Secretary, 5 Woodcote Green, Fleet, Hants GU51 4EY, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1252 641135; execsec[a]bshs.org.uk. Viewpoint is free to BSHS members and is priced £10.00 a year (three issues) for non-members.

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Copyright © The British Society for the History of Science Ltd. 2006. Extracts not exceeding the equivalent of a normal paragraph may be repro- duced elsewhere providing acknowledgement is given to Viewpoint: the Newsletter of the British Society for the History of Science.

Disclaimer Any views expressed in Viewpoint are those of the Editor or named contributor and not those of the council or membership of the BSHS. Every effort is made to provide accurate information, but no responsibility is accepted by the Editor or Council for omissions or errors. 16 Viewpoint No. 83

BSHS Annual Conference University of Manchester, 28 June – 1 July 2007

At this year’s meeting we will celebrate our sixtieth anniversary at Hulme Hall, University of Manchester. Details of the diverse programme are available at www.bshs.org.uk/bshs2007. There are panels devoted to subjects including: Indian science and medicine; scientists in industry; the histories of chemistry, healthcare and veterinary science; Cold War contexts; communications; serotherapy; speciation; spaces of technology and geographies of medi- cine; and poisoning in popular literature and practice. There will also be presentations on the challenges and opportunities of archival collection. Other BSHS and BSHS-supported conferences Varieties of Cultural History: Theory and Practice in the Cultural Science and Religion: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives Histories of Medicine, Science, Literature, and the Arts BSHS-sponsored, Lancaster University, 23-26 Jul 2007. BSHS-sponsored, University of Aberdeen, 5-8 Jul 2007. An international and interdisciplinary conference to celebrate An opportunity for cultural historians to discuss the current state the work of John Hedley Brooke. Details: www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/ and the possible futures of this discipline. history/news/science&religion.htm. Details: www.abdn.ac.uk/ch/conference.shtml. Darwinism after Darwin: New Historical Perspectives. Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Science University of Leeds, UK, 3-5 Sep 2007. BSHS-sponsored, University of Edinburgh, 18-21 July 2007. Prior to the 2009 Darwin sesquicentenary and bicentenary, this This conference focuses on the production, mobility and con- conference will provide an opportunity to think afresh about the sumption of scientific knowledge. historical legacy of Darwinism. Details: www.geos.ed.ac.uk/geography/geog19c. Details: http://www.darwinismafterdarwin.com

The British Journal for the History of Science BJHS is now pre-publishing online, see www.bshs.org.uk/bjhs for links. All or a selection of the following articles, plus reviews, will be available online and in the September issue of BJHS:

• Christine MacLeod & Jennifer Tann: ‘From engineer to scientist: re-inventing invention in the Watt and Faraday centenaries, 1919-1931’ • Helen Blackman: ‘Lampreys, lungfish and elasmobranchs: Cambridge zoology and the politics of animal selection’ • Robert Kenny: ‘From the Curse of Ham to the curse of nature: the influence of Natural Selection on the debate on human unity before the publication of The Descent of Man’ • Frederic Graber: ‘Inventing needs: expertise and water supply in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Paris’ • Manolis Patiniotis: ‘Periphery reassessed: Eugenios Voulgaris converses with Isaac Newton’.

The British Society for the History of Science

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