The scientific press in transition: Rozier’s journal and the scientific societies in the 1770s

Annals of Science

Volumn 36, Issue 5, 1979, Pages 425-449

  McClellan, James E ^a  

^a STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0042102122     PISSN: 00033790     EISSN: 1464505X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00033797900200321     Document Type: Article

References (218)

1. D. Kronick, A history of scientific and technical periodicals: the origins and development of the scientific and technical press 1665-1790 (2nd. eel., 1976, Metuchen, N. J.), 5. Although not without its limitations, David Kronick’s volume is presently the most informative source concerning the scope and character of the scientific periodical press in the eighteenth century, and, as will be evident, it provides much of the background for this study.
2. D. McKie, ‘The scientific periodical from 1665 to 1798’, Philosophical magazine, 150th Anniversary Number (1948, London), 122-132 (esp. pp. 122-125).
3. B. Houghton, Scientific periodicals, their historical development, characteristics and control (1976, Hamden, Conn.), eh. 1.
4. J. Thornton and R.I.J. Tully, Scientific books, libraries and collectors: a study of bibliography and the book trade in relation to science (3rd. ed. 1971. London), passim and here pp. 282-283. These works will be cited hereafter as ‘Kronick’: ‘McKie. ‘Periodical “; ‘Houghton’: and ‘Thornton and Tully’.
5. For fine studies of seventeenth-century developments in the scientific press, see M. Ornstein, The role of scientific, societies in the. seventeenth century (1928, Chicago), ch. Vii.
6. H. Brown, Scientific organizations in seventeenth-centvury France (1934, New York), ch. ix.
7. Kronick, 77-78, 112: McKie, Periodical’, 125: and (section 2) below for a discussion of the relative importance of society proceedings in the periodical press of the eighteenth century.
8. D. Price, Science, since Babylon (1961, New Haven), 95-99.
9. McKie, ‘Periodical’, 130-131; and Houghton, ch. 2. With regard to the transition to the nineteenth century, Kronick qualifies his terminal date of 1790 on heuristic grounds, (pp. v-vi), but he alludes to nineteenth-century developments and calls his period of study ‘the gestation of the modern scientific journal’ (p. 278). For similar views of changes in post-revolutionary France.
10. M. P. Crosland, The development of a professional career in science in France, in Crosland (ed.), The emergence of science in Western Europe (1976, New York), 139-159, esp. p. 141.
11. R. Hahn, The anatomy of a scientific institution: the Paris Academy of Sciences 1666-1803 (1971, Berkeley), 174. 306-307 (cited hereafter as Hahn).
12. Interesting evidence for this shift is the pressure placed on the Memoires of the Academic des Sciences of the Institut de France by specialized publications and the eventual appearance of the Comptes rendus hebdomadaires of the Academy in 1835
13. M. P. Crosland, The. Society of Arcueil: a view of French science at the time of Napoleon I (1967, Cambridge, Mass.), 268-271 and 462-165.
14. The breakdown of other society proceedings into specialized series the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London from 1832.
15. series A and B of the Philosophical Transactions from 1887, three sets of Melanges of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Saint-Petersburg from 1849 and 1850, for example seems to testify to the long-term effect of specialization and the growth of knowledge on older learned society publications (see Thornton and Tully, 266,282; and S. Scudder. Catalogue, of scientific serials 1633-1876 (1879, Cambridge, Mass.),#3709g. 3709h. 3709i).
16. Rozier began publishing an initial duodecimo version of his Journal in July 1771. In January 1773 he began the Journal again in an upgraded in-quarto format with new volume numbers; we will have more to say of the reform of 1773 and its significance in (sections 2 and 4 below.) Twelve monthly numbers in two annual volumes were published from 1773, and it is in this form that the Journal is generally known. The first eighteen numbers of the Journal (1771-1773) were reissued in 1777 as the Introduction aux observations… Rozier was succeeded as editor by his nephew, J. A. Mongez, in 1780; Mongez left France in 1785 (to perish with the French explorer, La Perouse), and J. C. Delametherie took over as active editor. The French Revolution brought an informal hiatus between 1793 and 1797, but Delametherie continued publishing until 1816 when he was succeeded as editor by H. M. Ducrotay de Blainville. Publication ceased in 1823.
17. For full bibliographical details concerning Rozier’s Journal, Memoires of the Academic des Sciences of the Institut de France by specialized publications and the eventual appearance of the Comptes rendus hebdomadaires of the Academy in 1835, = 1398, #1421, #1607.
18. H. Bolton, A Catalogue of scientific and technical, periodicals 1665-1882 (1885, Washington), 267, 422.
19. J. M. Querard, La France litt’eraire (10 vols., 1827-1839, Paris), vol. 8, 272-273.
20. E. Hatin, Histoire politique et litteraire de la presse en France, (8 vols., 1859. Paris), vol. 3, 173-174.Rozier’s Journal is cited as Rozier Obs. throughout these footnotes.
21. See footnotes 7 and 8. In addition to Kronick; McKie, ‘Periodical’.
22. Houghton, aspects of Rozier’s Journal have been the object of special study by D. McKie, ‘The Observations of the Abbe Francois Rozier’. Annals of science, 13 (1957), 73-89.
23. E. W. J. Neave, ‘Chemistry in Rozier’s Journal’, Annals of science. 6 (1950), 416-421, 7 (1951), 101-106, 284-299, 393-400. 8 (1952), 28-45.
24. H. Guerlac, Lavoisier, the crucial year (1961, Ithaca), esp. pp. 59-65. These works are abbreviated hereafter as ‘McKie. ‘Observations; ‘Neave’; and ‘Guerlac’.
25. McKie, ‘Observations’, 73.
26. Periodical, 127.
27. Thornton and Tully, 284, where the Journal is characterized as ‘the first specialist periodical devoted to physics and chemistry’.
28. It should be pointed out that at other points McKie modifies his strong opinion somewhat, giving credit to Lorenz Crell’s Chemische Journal (1778)
29. Journal der Physik (1790) as the first specialized scientific periodicals, … since, strictly speaking, the Observations sur la physique included subjects other than physics…’ (McKie. ‘Periodical’. 130-131).
30. Kronick. for example, calls Rozier’s Journal a reform and a new departure’ and ‘the exception rather than the rule at this point in the history of scientific journalism’ (pp. 111-112). Houghton calls the Journal’s influence seminal (p. 18); for Guerlac. Rozier’s new publication filled a lamentable gap in the scientific periodical literature of France, which had been largely monopolized by the leisurely publications of the Academy of Sciences’ (p. 61).
31. It is impossible in this context to treat the printed book or its role in facilitating scientific communications in the eighteenth century. The relative importance and degree of connection of the book and the scientific periodical are still matters for research. On scientific books see Kronick, 63-64; and Thornton and Tully, chs. v-vi.
32. Kronick, ch. ii (“Definitions of the periodical): and Table I (“Typos of scientific periodicals 1665- 1790’), 78.
33. Kronick, ch. v (‘Original publication: the substantive journal) for these details concerning the ‘substantive’ journal.
34. Kronick, Table 2 (‘Substantive serials by country and subject’), 89; and Table 7 (‘Comparison of duration: society proceedings and substantive journals’), 123.
35. Other aspects of the contemporary ‘scientific’ press that cannot be dealt with here in detail (in toto a further 28% of Kronick’s survey) include ‘review’ and ‘abstract’ journals (into which categories the Journal des scavans, the Acta eruditorum, the Memoires de Trevoux, and the Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres are usually placed), collections or compilations of reprinted materials (such as the Collection acad’emique, referred to below in footnotes 27-28 and text), dissertations, almanacs, and so on (see Kronick, 78). Book reviews, summaries, digests, republications and announcements of scientific material originally presented in ‘substantive’ journals or learned society proceedings dominate these forms of publication (Kronick, chs. vii-xi). How much journals like the Journal des scavans or the Acta eruditorum provided a common or important outlet for so-called original publication is an open question. Compare, for example, Kronick’s categorization of the ‘review’ journal (pp. 184Jf.) with what Ornstein has said of the substantive content of the early issues of the Acta eruditorum (Ornstein (footnote 1), 204-206 and notes). Kronick later indicates that various types of review and general periodicals were used as outlets for original scientific publication (p. 255), but one suspects that these types of derivative publications were of ever less importance to eighteenth-century men of science.
36. Kronick, ch. vi (‘Original publication: society proceedings’); and Table 9 (‘Active society proceedings by subject and decade’). 123. For more on the rise and growth of learned societies (and their journals) in the eighteenth century, see D. McKie, ‘Scientific societies to the end of the eighteenth century’. Philosophical magazine, 150th Anniversay Number (1948, London), 133-143.
37. J. McClellan, ‘The international organization of science and learned societies in the eighteenth century’ (1975, Ph.D. Thesis, Princeton University: University Microfilms #76-20369-00000). passim, and here appendices ii and iii. These two works are cited subsequently as ‘McKie, ‘Scientific Societies”; and ‘McClellan’.
38. R. Schofield, ‘Histories of scientific societies: needs and opportunities for research’. History of science, 2 (1963), 70-84.
39. Kronick, ch. vi; and McClellan, ch. ii (‘The two models’) for the details of this paragraph.
40. Kronick, Table 1,78. This latter judgement is common to those who have written on the scitentific press of the eighteenth century (see Kronick, 112; Houghton, 17; McKie, ‘Periodical’, 125-126, ‘Scientific societies’, 138: and Thornton and Tully, 262-265 and following).
41. Hahn. 24. 60-63.
42. It is commonly held that the Philosophical transactions was the private publishing endeavor of’the secretary of the Royal Society. From the 1690’s, however, the Council seems to have played some role, and in 1752 the Royal Society formally assumed complete control over its publication
43. Philosophical Transactions, 47 (1751-1752), ‘Advertisement’, following title page and before table of contents.
44. D. Stimson, Scientists and amateurs. A history of the Royal Society (1948, New York), 114, 144, 169.
45. H. Lyons, The Royal Society, 7660-1940 (1944. Cambridge). 151, 179 and following.
46. Hahn, 31.
47. Stimson, Scientists and amateurs. A history of the Royal Society (1948, New York), 144.
48. Hahn, 60-61. The Swedish, Prussian and Russian academies were granted various monopolies (almanacs, map sales, customs duties) which supported their publishing activities
49. McClellan, 97, 101-104,117-120. In addition, the Saint-Petersburg Academy had its own academic press associated outright with the organization of the Academy
50. A. Vucinich, Science in Russian culture, a history to 1860 (1963, London), 76-77.
51. A. Lipski, ‘The Foundation of the Russian Academy of Sciences’, Isis, 44 (1953), 349-355.
52. Kronick, Table 7, 123.
53. Kronick, Table 11 (‘Average intervals between the appearance of volumes of society proceedings’), 162; Neave 6 (1950), 419; Guerlac, 64; McKie, ‘Periodical’, 127; and McClellan. 418-419.
54. Kronick, 143.
55. McClellan, 138.
56. A. von Harnack, Geschichte der Ki’miijlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (3 vols., 1900, Berlin), vol. 1,349-350.
57. S. Lilley, ‘Nicholson’s Journal, 1797- 1813’, Annals of science, 6 (1948), 78-101, esp. pp. 90—91.
58. For complete publication data for the Philosophical transactions, see Library of Congress card #17—4684-9.
59. Note the comment of the Saint-Petersburg academician Nicolaus Fuss, who remarked in 1782 of a paper he read in 1780: ‘It is very discouraging for an author to see his productions thus buried in the storerooms’ (Imperial Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg, Protoholi Zasidanii Konferensii Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk c 1725 po 1803 goda (4 vols., 1897-1911, Saint-Petersburg), vol. 3, 22 August 1782; author’s translation). These printed minutes of the meetings of the Saint-Petersburg Academy are cited hereafter as ‘Protoholi’. Unless indicated, from here on all translations from non-English sources are the author’s. Original texts from manuscript sources will be transcribed in the footnotes.
60. Hahn, 61.
61. Kronick, 118. Two pieces by Laplace, for example, were refused publication in the Russian Commentarii on account of this discriminatory principle
62. Protokoli. vol. 3. 25 June 1772.
63. The formal title of the Samns etrangers series is Memoires de rnathematique et de physique presentes a I’ Academie Rnyale des Sciences par divers savans et lus dans ses assemblies (Hahn, 61-62: Kronick, 143; and.McClellan, 211, 312-313).
64. For the episode in Saint-Petersburg, see Protokoli, vol. 3, 26 August 1784. The entry reads: ‘As the Academy already possesses several interesting memoirs that have been sent to it by its correspondents and by other foreign savants which cannot as a result be inserted into its Aits, the ‘inference was unanimously of the opinion to make a separate collection of them and to publish them under the title of Memoires presentes a 1’Academie Pmperiale par des savans etrancjers to the extent that enough are accumulated to make a volume’. Nothing seems to have come of this proposal.
65. Kronick, 212-215.
66. McClellan, 208-210.
67. The ‘Partie francaise’ of the Collection academique (16 vols., 1754-1787, Paris) abridged the Memoires of the Paris Academy.
68. Collectionacademique. vol. 1, ‘Discours preliminaire’, xxxviii; translated after Kronick, 213SRozier’s remarks to this effect, quoted clow at footnote 37. That there was a problem of accessibility of learned society proceedings or that the Collection academique relieved it to some extent is further evident in the following communication of 1774 sent by Jerome de halande in Paris to Pehr Wargentin in Stockholm: he 8° volume dc Bologne. e’est le seul qui vous manque est aussi rare ici quo chez mils, et je ne sais pas si je le trouverai: mais si vous voules le volume francois de la Collection academique ou [sic] sont les ex traits de Bologne. de meme que leur volume de l’acad. de Suede, je puis vous les envoyer. Je ne sais pas non plus si le 4e volume de Turin se trouvera a park… (letter. Lalande to Wargentin, Paris, 8 March 1774, in the ms. collection. ‘Brev till och fran P. Wargentin’. Kungl. V etenskapsakademiens Archiv. Stockholm: hereafter cited as ‘ Warijentinbrec’).
69. Another factor may have had a bearing on the currency of academic journals. It is not altogether clear that learned societies actually intended their publications to serve the function of actively disseminating their scientific productions so much as fulfilling merely commemorative or archival purposes.
70. Kronick, 163.
71. For descriptions of Rozier’s Journal, see Kronick, 106-112.
72. McKie, ‘Periodical’, 127-130.
73. McClellan, 421.
74. Such promptness of publication’, comments Kronick, ‘would be considered exemplary even today’ p. 158.
75. Neave 6 (1950), 419. One might note that Lavoisier used the intervening period between 1772 and 1776 to revise and extend the results he published in Rozier’s Journal
76. J. B. Conant (ed.), ‘The overthrow of the phlogiston theory’, Harvard case histories (1957). vol. 1. 77-78.
77. D. Agoty’s journal was also known under the title Observations periodiques sur la physique, Vhistoire naturetle et les beaux arts: ‘C^et ouvrage renferme les secrets des arts, les nouvelles decouvertes, et les disputes des philosophes et des artistes modernes’ (see Bolton (footnote 5), 422^,23; McKie, ‘Observations’, 73; and Neave 6 (1950), 416). It should be pointed out that d’Agoty used beautifully colored paintings or prints (the precise method is unclear to the author) to illustrate points of natural history and botany. An attempt seems to have been made in the 1780s to revive d’Agoty’s periodical under the original privilege.
78. For biographical details on Rozier. see A. J. Dugour. Notice sur la vie et les ecrits de l’Abbe Rozier’. appended to Rozier’s Cour complct d’agriculture, vol. 10(1801. Paris), 1-16.
79. A. de Boissieu, Eloge de l’Abbe Rozier (1832, Lyon).
80. M. Cochard. Notice historique. sur VAbbe Rozier (1832. Lyon).
81. A. Thiebaut de Berneaud, Eloge historique de Francois Rozier (1833. Paris). The memoirs by du Boissieu. Cochard and de Berneaud were submitted as part of prize competitions sponsored in 1830 and 1832 by the Academie des Sciences, Belles-lettres et Arts of Lyon for an eloge of Rozier.
82. Nouvelle biographic gen’erale, vol. 42 (1863), cols. 827-830. Rozier, who had been managing the family agricultural property near Lyon, apparently beat a hasty retreat to Paris, after having quarrelled with his elder, inheriting brother (see Cochard, 7-8).
83. McKie reprints Rozier’s ‘Prospectus’ of 1771 in ‘Observations’. 73-77.
84. ‘Prospectus’ in McKie, ‘Observations’, 73-75.
85. Rozier began publishing an initial duodecimo version of his Journal in July 1771.
86. Rozier Obs. 1(1773).
87. ‘Avis’, 3-4. Other portions of this ‘Avis’ of 1773 are reprinted in McKie. Periodical’. 127-129; and Kronick, 107-110. Translation based on Kronick.
88. Rozier Obs. 1(1773), note verso to title page. There is some confusion about this title change. Bolton (footnote 5), 267, attributes the new title to the second volume of the 1777 reprint, Introduction a Mir observations…, with the first volume (January-June 1773) of the revised series called Observations et memoires stir la physique, sur Vhistoire naturelle et sur les arts et metiers and with the second (July- December 1773) and subsequent volumes under the standard title. Scudder (footnote 4), 110, lists the Tableau du travail title appearing in 1772 (sic) with the continuation as Observations sur la physique, sur Vhistoire naturelle et sur les arts, contenant I’abrege de Vhistoire et des memoires des academies etrangeres…. The catalogue of the Biblkitheque nalionale (vol. 158, col. 589) indicates the Tableau du travail title for the January 1773 number, with all others under the standard title. I am indebted to an anonymous referee for the very probable suggestion that Rozier first published in 1773 using the Tableau du travail title and then replaced the original title page with a new cancel leaf or leaves. Versions of the first (1773) volume of the Observations that I have seen are printed with the standard title but with a notice on the back of the title page remarking that the new title. Tableau du travail, is being suppressed and the old title, Observations sur la physique, kept. This notice is printed verso to the title pages of every number (except May and June) through November 1773.
89. In this connection it is noteworthy that in 1773 Rozier similarly aligned his new publication with the Collection academique series.
90. In the prefatory ‘Avis’ of 1773 Rozier remarks of his Journal that it can be regarded and will be in effect the complement to the Collection academique’. Elsewhere, he speaks of his journal as the ‘suite indispensable’ of the Collection academique (2 (1773). verso to title page). In the copy of Rozier’s.Journal in the American Philosophical Society Library (Philadelphia) this notice is reprinted verso to the title pages of the July to November 1773 numbers of the Observations.
91. The ‘Avis’ printed verso to the title pages of numbers of the Observations from January 1774 through November 1775 remarks that Rozier’s series ‘fait suite avec les Collections academiques’ (author’s emphasis).
92. Rozier’s bibliographic connection to the Collection academique and to the series of the learned societies is stressed by J. M. Querard, La France litt’eraire (10 vols., 1827-1839, Paris), vol. 8, 272.
93. Hatin, Histoire politique et litteraire de la presse en France, (8 vols., 1859. Paris), vol. 3, 173.
94. This point is made emphatically by all who have written on Rozier McKie, ‘Periodical’, 127.
95. Observations, 85-89.
96. Guerlac. 53-54 (where he points to Rozier’s notice of a key work by Priestley barely a month after it was presented to the Royal Society of London): and Neave. passim. Coulomb was a later contributor of note.
97. Several comments on the quotidian use of the Journal exist. Rozier published one: ‘Your Journal, by the care you give it having become a general repository for all the observations of physical scientists physiciens and naturalists, would you allow me to consign a discovery that just took place four leagues from here’ 14 (1779), 157.
98. Guerlac, 61.
99. A. J. Dugour. Notice sur la vie et les ecrits de l’Abbe Rozier’. appended to Rozier’s Cour complct d’agriculture, vol. 10(1801. Paris), 7.
100. A. de Boissieu, Eloge de l’Abbe Rozier (1832, Lyon). 13. The figure of 1500 seems a little high for contemporary journal publication.
101. D. Kronick. ‘Scientific journal publication in the eighteenth century’. Bibliographical Society Papers, 59 (1965), 28—44, esj. p. 32. For more on the circulation and distribution of Rozier’s Journal, see section 5 below.
102. For indications of Rozier’s work-load, see McKie, ‘Observations’, 82-83.
103. Rozier Obs. (1) 9 (1777), ‘Avis’, #5. verso to title page, where he says: ‘On nous pardonnera de ne pas repondre a toutes les lettres qu’on nous fait 1’honneur de nous eerire. Deux Commis ne suffiroient pas’. (Beginning with the February 1777 number of the Observations. Rozier ceased printing a title page with each number (see (2) 9 (1777). 81n). The various Avis’ and Avis essentiels’ that he appended to the Observations from that date do not form part of the regular pagination and therefore do not appear in all bound copies of the Journal. References to these ‘Avis’ and ‘Avis essentiels’ are to the unbound copies of the Journal in the Bibliotheque de rinstitut, Institut de France, Paris (4° AA 127).) For further evidence of the present point, see also Rozier’s letter to J.-F. Seguier dated Paris. 20 May 1772, wherein he notes: ‘Mes occupations sont aujourd’hui si multipliees qu’a [sic] peine ai-je le terns de remplir ma tache’. This letter is part of an important cache of thirty-three Rozier letters to be found in the Bibliotheque de la Ville de Lyon, Ms. #791 (cited hereafter as ‘Lyon, Ms. #791’).
104. With regard to the two translations (Samrnlung brauchbarer AbJiandlungen aus Roziers Beobachtungen uber die Natur und Kunst (Leipzig), and Osservazioni spettanti alia Jisica, alia storia nnturale ed alia arti (Venice)) see Scudder (footnote 4) #2098, #3010; and Rozier Obs’., 8 (1776), 411. In 11 (1778), ‘Avis essentiels’, #10, Rozier remarks: ‘MM. les Traducteurs & Contrefacteurs de ce Journal, sont pries \sic de faire parvenir un Exemplaire de leur Traduction ou Contrefaeon a l’Auteur, & il le leur payera. > pet it egard est bien du pour la peine qu’il prend de leur fournir des materiaux’.
105. Travels during the years 1787. 1788 and 1789 [in France] (1792, Bun- St, Edmunds), 261 (28 December 1789). Young had earlier sought out Rozier in Beziers. at which time he called him the celebrated editor of the Journal de physique’, (p. 32 (24 July 1787)).
106. See section 1 above.
107. Kronick. 103-106.
108. Hahn, 132—133.
109. L. Aucoc. L’Institut de France: lots, status et reglements roncernant les anciennes academies et VInstitut de 1635 a 1889 (1889. Paris), 1-3. The prologue to the regulations concerning this reform notes: ‘… Sa Majeste a reconnu que la division des classes adoptee [en 1699] n’embrassoit plus aujourd’hui luniversalite des sciences dont 1’Academie s’occupe; que 1’agriculture, l’histoire naturelle, la mineralogie. la physique, ne paroissent pas etre entrees dans le plan de son institution, quoique ces sciences ne soient pas moins dignes que les autres de l’atteution des savants et de la protection du Gouvernement’ (p. ci).
110. Kronick, 12, 94-99.
111. McKie, ‘Periodical’, 130-131.
112. ‘Scientific societies’, 139-142.
113. Thornton and Tully, 283 and following for related details.
114. Rozier Obs., 11 (1778), 454. Rozier discusses specialized societies in this passage: just a few months earlier and in almost the identical language he addressed the same problem with regard to journals, but there the distinction between disciplinary specialization and the general separation of science from other cultural enterprises is not made as explicit as it is here 11 (1778), 78-80; Kronick reprints these latter remarks on his pp. 110-111.
115. See in passim the olassificatory indices that Rozier issued for each semi-annual volume of the Observations. The distribution of papers according to the disciplines mentioned varies in each number, but generally each category is represented. If there is an order, it would descend as listed. See also the alphabetical subject index Rozier published for articles appearing in the Observations from 1771 to 1777 in Rozier Obs., 10 (1777), 437-508. and Neave. 6 (1950), 417.
116. Rozier Obs., 11 (1778), Avis essentiels’, #6. It is noteworthy with regard to the possibility of the Journal’s specializing in chemistry or physics that, if anything, the complaint to Rozier was that not enough space was devoted to natural history.
117. Rozier letter to Seguier dated Paris. 18 January 1774. wherein he speaks of the ‘public qui se plaint de ce que jene donne pas asses d ‘articles d histoire naturelle’ (Lyon, Ms. #791).
118. Note that in its eighteenth-century context the term “experimental physics’ (physique ex- perimentale) did not mean the same thing as our present word ‘physics’ (which implies more mechanics and mathematical analysis) but, rather, empirical (and even popular) investigations and demonstrations concerning heat, light, (static) electricity and magnetism see Hahn. 91-92.
119. J. Torlais. ‘La physique experimentale’. in R Taton (ed.). Enseiijnemcnt et diffusion des sciences en France an X V111’ siecle (1904. Paris).619-645.
120. C. S. Gillmor. Coulomb and the evolution of physics and enijineerivg in eiyhteent/i- century France (1971, Princeton), passim and esp. pp. 80-83.
121. Hahn. 76 98-99.
122. McCk’llan. 72-75.
123. Harnack, Geschichte der Ki’miijlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (3 vols., 1900, Berlin). vol. 1. 299-300.
124. D. Alembei’t’s Discours preliminaiie’ to the Encyclopedic with its taxonomic diagram of human knowledge, where the ‘seience of nature is subdivided into “mathematics’ and ‘particular physics” (physique partuuliere).
125. R. N. Schwab, trans. (1963. Indianapolis), passim and esp. pp. 144-145. The clearest statement d’Alembert makes in his text with regard to this division of the sciences is the following: ‘Such is the plan we must follow in that vast part of physics la Physique] called General and Experimental Physics. It differs from the physico-mathematical sciences in that it is properly only a systematic collection of experiments and observations. On the other hand, the physico-mathematical sciences, by applying mathematical calculations to experiment, sometimes deduce from a single and unique observation a large number of inferences that remain close to geometrical truths by virtue of their certitude’ (Schwab trans. 24).
126. Rozier Obs. 1 (1773). note verso to title page: and section 2 above at footnote 38.
127. The parallels in form and purpose between liozioi’s Journal and those of Nicholson and Silliman are especially close, Nicholson’s Journal of natural philosophy, chemistry and the arts at the time of its foundation was described in Rozier’s Journal as being modelled on the Observations, and Lille 1 remarks on the connection see Rozier Obs, 45 (1794 [sic]) 2, 403.
128. Lilley, ‘Nicholson’s Journal, 1797- 1813’, Annals of science, 6 (1948), 79-80.
129. The similarities to Silliman’s Journal can be seen in E. Dana, ‘The American journal of science from 1818 to 1918’, in Dana et al. (eds.), A century of science with special reference to the American journal of science (1919, New Haven), 13-60.
130. Note the familiar ring to Silliman’s programmatic statement prefacing his first volume: ‘This Journal is intended to embrace the circle of the Physical Sciences [sic]… It is designed as a deposit for original A merican Communications’ A merican journal of science, 1 (1818). 5-6, Silliman’s emphasis.
131. Thornton and Tully, 285-286.
132. 1771 ‘Prospectus’ in McKie, ‘Observations’, 73-75.
133. 1771 ‘Prospectus’ in McKie, ‘Observations’, 74. Elsewhere in the ‘Prospectus’ of 1771 Rozier specifically invites ‘amateurs’ as well as ‘scavans’ to send illustrations along with their work to the Journal.
134. The price of a subscription was twenty-four livres, with six livres postage.
135. J’etois venu a pans pour des affaires de famille et par des circonstances accumulees, j’ai ete constraint de m’y fixer—Mes amis m’ont procure un privilege [sic] pour un journal dont vous aves ci-joint Le prospectus. Oserois-je vous prier de le Repandre dans votre ville et de me procurer par vous meme des souscripteurs. faites-moi L’amitie d’en Remettre ches Le principal Librarie de nimes et de Lui faire dire que je Lui donnerai suivant La coutume une provision de 10 pour 100 a condition qu’il Recevra L’argent des souscriptions… Oserai-je encore vous prier de me communiquer Les memoires qu’on Lira a votre academie [sicj concernants Les Trois parties que je traite… Vous alles Trouver ma demande indiscrette et jesens Tout L’embarras dans Lequelje vous jette’ (letter, Rozier to Seguier, Paris, 28 May 1771, Lyon Ms. #791).
136. 1771 ‘Prospectus’ in McKie, ‘Observations’, 73-75.
137. Rozier Obs. 1 (1773).
138. ‘Avis’, 5.
139. ‘Avis’, 3-4.
140. Rozier Obs. 1 (1773).
141. ‘Avis’, 5-6.
142. ‘Avis’, 3-4.
143. McClellan, ch. x.
144. Rozier Obs. 1 (1773).
145. ‘Avis’, 5-6; 8 (1776). 411: 10 (1777). 437n.
146. ‘Avis au lecteur’ in Rozier’s Xouvelles tables des articles confirms dans les volumes de VAcademie Royale des Sciences de Paris depuis 1666ju.iqu’en 1770 (4 vols. 1775-1776, Paris), vol. 1. v-vii for similar language. Rozier’s letter to Benjamin Franklin dated Paris, 21 April 1779, likewise evidences this same sort of commitment: ‘Monsieur, Permettes moi de vous prier de me communiquer votre memoire [sic] sur L’aurore Boreale, Pour L’imprimer dans Le journal de physique. J’ose vous faire cette demande au nom de Tous Les physiciens. vous saves combien Tout ce qui sort de votre Plume est interressant [sic] Poureux. Le mercure de France en donnera un extrait, mais un extrait n’est Bon que pour ceux qui ne s’occupent pas Bien serieusement. Le journal de physique au contraire qui ne parle ni de comedie [sic], ni des Bouquets a clous est fait pour” Les Travailleurs et ces Travailleurs vous demandent Leur instruction’ (American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia, autograph letter, Hayes catalogue XIV, 52^).
147. Roger Hahn explores the nature of the French scientific community in his Anatomy, 51 and following, and also in two, related articles: ‘Scientific research as an occupation in eighteenth-century Paris’, Minerva, 13 (1975), 501-513.
148. ‘Scientific careers in eighteenth-century France’, in Crosland, The emergence of science in Western Europe (1976, New York), 127-137. In the latter two studies Hahn minimizes the career aspect of professionalism in the eighteenth-century French scientific community. For another view suggesting a functional occupation in and around academies
149. J. McClellan, ‘Un manuscript inedit de Condorcet: sur l’utilite des academies’, Revue d’histoire des sciences. 30 (1977), 241-253.
150. M. Yardeni, in her ‘Journalism et histoire a 1’epoque de Bayle’, History and theory. 12 (1973), 208-229, esp. p. 211, consigns journalists to the bottom rung of the Republic of Letters.
151. Protokoli, vol. 3, 23 August 1784. The Berlin Academy also received a solicitation for this same project. Its response is unknown, but seemingly nothing came of the idea.
152. ‘Registres de l’Academie 1766-1786’, 377 (19 August 1784), Akademie der Wissenschaften, Archiv, Berlin (DDR).
153. Dijon, Archives departementales de la Cote-d’Or, Academic des sciences arts et belles-lettres. ‘Registres’, 15, 65 (6 May 1784). For other solicitations of a similar nature to the Dijon Academy, see Archives departementales de la Cote-d’Or, serie D 131, letter from Brussels dated 20 November 1776; serie D129, printed circular from Florence dated 1770. Perhaps because of its greater prestige, I find only one such communication directed to the Paris Academy, again with uncertain outcome (see Paris, Institut de France, Archives de 1’Academie des sciences, ‘Registres des proces verbaux des seances’ (hereafter ‘PV’), vol. 94, 114 (29 April 1775); the project concerned a ‘Journal Litteraire’ of one de Rossel).
154. Dijon Academy ‘Registres’ (footnote 69), vi. 30-31 (14 June 1771); Rozier letter to Seguier, Paris, 20 May 1772, where the incident regarding the Nimes academy is related (Lyons, Ms. #791).
155. Berlin Academy, Memoires, 24 (1768)
156. ‘Second discourse… on the principal goal of academies’, 358-366, esp. p. 362
157. Berlin Academy, Memoires, 23 (1767), 367-381
158. Hahn, 101. Formey’s addresses formed the basis of the article, ‘Academies, advantages des’, which appears in some later editions of the Encyclopedic.
159. A. A Kunik, Sbornick matericdof gla istorii Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk p VIII veka (2 vols., 1865, Saint-Petersburg), vol. 2, 519-530.
160. Lomonosov in Kunik (footnote 73), vol. 2, 520-521.
161. Curiously. Lomonosov’s attack was directed against the Leipzig journal, Vommentarii de rebus in scientia naturali et medicina gestis (1752-1798), which enjoyed a rather high reputation as a journal of medicine and science (see Kronick, 188, 190; and McKie, ‘Periodical’, 126). The basis of Lomonosov’s distinction between the roles of academies and journalists was that academies should judge science and journalists merely report on it.
162. ‘.J Ailitque M. Rozier auteur du journal des observations sur la physique, l’histoire naturelle et les Artsetaient venu me prier d’offrirdesa part a 1’Academie la communicationde tout ce qui viendroit a sa connaissance et qui pout rait I’interesser.I’ai ete charge de le remercier de sa politesse de la part de 1’Academic’ (I’Y (footnote 69). vol.4.24) (14 December 1771).
163. I’Y (footnote 69). vol. 91. 105. 304. 329 and following; see also Guerlac. 53. 63-65.
164. See Guerlac. 59. For more on the Tradables, see S. Delorme, ‘TJne famille de grands Commis de I’Etat. amis des sciences au XVIII’ sieele: les Trudaine Revue d’histoire des sciences, 3 (1950), 101-109. Note the tantalizingly vague remark Rozier makes in the ‘Avis’ of 1773 (footnote 37)
165. ‘The Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris for a long time has felt the importance of this Collection. Several of its Members proposed it last year pretty much along the same lines we have adopted. Special reasons prevented the complete execution of this proposal’ (p.v).
166. Rozier Obs., 1 (1773). ‘Avis’, note to p. vi.
167. Cited at footnote 65; see also Kronick, 215-216.
168. PI’ (footnote 69), vol. 93, 135 (6 April 1774): ‘… cet ouvrage pouvoit etre tres utile et l’auteur meritoit l’encouragement de l’Academie’.
169. For Rozier’s use of these officials as postal cover, see Guerlac, 64 and letters and reports cited in footnotes 84 and 85 below. For evidence concerning the Fonts et chaussees, see Rozier letter to de Bernieres, Tnspecteur des ponts et chausses [sic], au Louvre’, dated Paris, 6 December 1777, Lyon, Ms. #791: ‘Vous saves que La comite [sic] d’emulation a decide que j’impresserois dans mon journal de physique La description des voitures, fardiers, ou chariots qui ont merite des encouragemens—elle [sic] a encore decide qu’elle supporteroit Les frais du dessein des machines… Permettes moi de vous prier de presser ces desseins…’. A note in another hand at the top of this letter says: ‘Presente au Comite d’inspection du 10 Xbre 1777’. In the June 1778 number of the Observations Rozier did publish a ‘Description d’un Fardier, nomme la Gabrielle…’ along with one plate (see Rozier Obs., 11 (1778), 522526 and plate).
170. Turgot’s government unfortunately had collapsed by the time Rozier returned (see Nouvelle biographic generate, vol. 42, col. 828). He later undertook a similar mission to Holland, perhaps with government support (see de Boissieu (footnote 33), 15-16; and Cochard (footnote 33), 11-12).
171. See Rozier 06a., 14 (1779), 418^21; and Kronick, 238-239. Another noteworthy Paris group making use of the Observations was the Societe Royale de Medecine through its secretary, Vicq d’Azvr (see Rozier Obs., 16 (1780), 306).
172. Montpellier, Archives departementales de la Herault, Societe Royale des Sciences de Montpellier, serie D203, #71, Rozier letter dated 15 February 1772
173. Dijon Academy, ‘Registres’ (footnote 69), vi, 117 (6 March 1772)
174. Wargentinbrev, Rozier letter dated 22 March 1772.
175. See printed letter dated Paris, 24 January 1773, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society Library, Miscellaneous Manuscripts; this letter is reprinted in its entirety in W. Wilcox (ed.), The papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 20 (1976, New Haven), 27-29.
176. See also reports in the Berlin Academy, ‘Registres 1766-1786’ (footnote 68), 241 (2 July 1778)
177. Berlin Academy, Nouveaux memoires, 33 (1778), 69
178. Saint-Petersburg Academy, Protokoli, vol. 3, 20 August 1778.
179. Letter to American Philosophical Society (footnote 85).
180. ‘Mori but en envoy ant a toutes les eompagnies savantes de I’Europe, le journal de physique, aete de les engages [sir] a eoneourir avee moi aux progres [sir] des seienees. La lenteur avee laquelle elles se propagent, le peu de communication qu’il y a d’un Royaume a un autre, tout en un mot concourit a nous laisser ignorer souvent pendant plusieurs annees des decouvertes les plus utiles. J’ai done cherche a les Rapproa<:her par un centre commun, par un depot general [.sicJ. ou chacun doit avoir lafaculted’y prendre acte de son travail et de se faire connoitre’ (letter to P. Wargentin, 8 August 1775, WargerUinbrev).
181. Letter to P. Wargentin, H August 1775 (Wurgentinbrev).
182. Cochard (footnote S3), 9-10; and de Boissieu (footnote 33). 12-14. For background see E. Justin, Les societes royales d’argiculture au XVIII’ Steele (1935, Saint-Lo), passim.
183. J. B. Dumas, Histoire de VAcademie Royale des Sciences. Belles-lettres et Arts de Lyon (2 vols., 1839, Lyon), vol. 1, 358.
184. For more on Rozier’s connections to the Lyon Academy, see vol. 1, 78, 344-346; vol. 2, 542.
185. See footnote 84 above.
186. Montpellier, Archives departementales de la Herault. serie D123 (‘Registres de la Societe Royale des Sciences’), 26 March 1778 and serie D199 (‘Liste des savants etrangers’).
187. Dijon Academy, Registres (footnote 69), vi. 117 (6 March 1772). See also Cochard (footnote 33), 13, where he prints a list of Rozier’s society memberships along with dates of election.
188. Cochard (footnote 33). 13.
189. Rozier letter to an unidentified correspondent dated Paris, 14 September 1770 (Bordeaux, Bibliotheque municipale de Bordeaux, Ms. 828. no. 57) wherein he remarks: ‘Les academies [sic] du Royaume sont autant, ou du moins devroient Etre autant de corps correspondans Les uns avee Les autres et qui doivent plus specialement faire mouvoir ceux qui sont dans Leur arrondissement ou dans Leur sphere [sic] d’aotivite… J’ai dit quelque part que les porte-feuilles des academies Rassembloient asses aux coffres font des avares. pourquoi ne pas communiquer au public Les articles interessansT.
190. Rozier Obs., passim; and Cochard (footnote 33), 13.
191. D. Roche, Le siecle des lumieres en province, academies et acaderniciens provinciaux, 1680-1789 (1978. The Hague), passim; and McClellan, chs. iii and vi.
192. Wargentinbrev. Rozier letters dated 22 March 1772 and 8 August 1775. Work of the Swedish academicians appeared already in the first (1771) number of the Observations (see McKie, ‘Observations’. 78).
193. Sten Lindroth. Kinu/I. Scenska Vetenskapsakademiens Historia. 1739-1818 (1967, Stockholm), 214 and note.
194. E. W. Dahlgren. Svenska Vetenskapsakademien Personforteckningar 1739-1915 (1915, Stockholm). 125.
195. Autograph postscript to American Philosophical Society letter (footnote 85).
196. American Philosophical Society, Early proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1744-1838 (1884, Philadelphia), 83, 88,95 and following. Even though Rozier’s printed letter of 1773 says that his journal would not harm the publication of society memoirs, the American Philosophical Society was jealous of its own, relatively new series of Transactions, the first volume of which appeared in 1771, and hence would not send papers before they were published.
197. Franklin to Rozier, dated London. 22.June 1773, American Philosophical Society Library, Hayes Catalogue, XLV. 65. This letter is reprinted in (footnote 85), 242-243.
198. Dawson (ed.). The Banks letters (1958. London)
199. Magellan letter 0 (London, 1779)
200. Rozier mentions Magellan (of Portuguese origins) as someone through whom correspondence could be forwarded in the postscript to his letter to the American Philosophical Society (footnote 85): see also Guerlac, 36 and following, for more concerning Magellan.
201. Elmsley is likewise mentioned as a contact for English correspondence for Rozier in his letter to the American Philosophical Society (footnote 85).
202. Royal Society of London, Archives, ‘Journal Book’ (Copy), vol. 28, 84 (19 May 1774) and following.
203. Berlin Academy, ‘Registres 1766-1786’ (footnote 68), 79, 149, 154. 212 and following.
204. Berlin Academy, Nouveaux memoires. 32 (1777), 42.
205. Berlin Academy, ‘Registres 1766-1786’ (footnote 68), 241 (2 July 1778).
206. Berlin Academy. ‘Registres 1766-1786’ (footnote 68), 290 (7 September 1780).
207. Protokoli, vol. 3, 20 March 1775.
208. Protokoli. vol. 3, 13 November 1775 and dates following.
209. Protokoli. vol. 3. 20 August 1778; Rozier’s letter was dated 18 January 1778.
210. Protokoli, vol. 3, 20 August 1778. 114Protokoli, vol. 3. 21 June 1779.
211. Rozier Obn., passim,; and Cochard (footnote 33), 13.
212. Du Boissieu (footnote 33), 21 and following; and Cochard (footnote 33). 14 and following. There is evidence, however, that Rozier kept a hand in the running of the Journal well into the 1780s (see letters to Amoreux. forexample, Beausejour. 4 December 1783. etc., where he discusses editorial matters in Lyon, Ms. #791). From 1781 Rozier published his (‘ours complet d agriculture 12 vols. 3 posthumously, 1781— 1805). He was killed by a bomb in the siege on Jacobin Lyon in 1793.
213. Berlin Academy, Registres 1786-1786’ (footnote 68), 290 (7 September 1780)
214. Protokoli, vol. 3, 18 August 1783 and dates following. See also Paris Academy, P V (footnote 69), passim; and Royal Society of London, ‘Journal Book’ (copy) (footnote 106), passim for the continued receipt of Rozier’s Journal. The London-based Society for the Encouragement of Arts. Manufactures and Commerce was one noteworthy institution to begin receiving Rozier’s Journal after 1780; see its Transactions, 3 (1785), 201; 5 (1787), 234-235.
215. The importance of the Observations as a journal of science and relevant to the academies seems to drop off, as one of its later editors, Delametherie, espoused the phlogiston theory of chemistry and with the coming of the French Revolution was violently anti-academy in his thinking (see Neave 7 (1951), 105; and Hahn, 181-182).
216. Evidence suggests that Rozier did offer free subscriptions. In addition to what has already been seen (the receipt of the Journal by numerous institutions, with the Saint-Petersburg Academy seemingly having been the only paying customer), in his printed letter of 1773 (footnote 85) he did state flatly that ‘Chaque mois. a commencer a la tin de Janvier de cette annee, je ferai remettre a l’Ambassadeur de votre Souverain residant a Paris, un Exemplaire de mon Journal’.
217. Kronick, ‘Scientific journal publication’ (footnote 42), 42-44, where he discusses the general problem of a distribution system for periodicals in the eighteenth century
218. McClellan. 311-322.