Towards a history of the royal society in the eighteenth century

Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London

Volumn 50, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 29-46

  Sorrenson, Richard ^a  

^a INDIANA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 1542476668     PISSN: 00359149     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.1996.0003     Document Type: Article

References (65)

1. Patricia Fara, 'Magnetic England in the eighteenth century' (Ph.D.dissertation, University of London, 1993); David Miller, 'Into the valley of darkness: reflections on the Royal Society in the eighteenth century,' History of Science 27:155-166 (1989).
2. Patricia Fara, 'Magnetic England in the eighteenth century' (Ph.D.dissertation, University of London, 1993); David Miller, 'Into the valley of darkness: reflections on the Royal Society in the eighteenth century,' History of Science 27:155-166 (1989).
3. For example, Rupert Hall laments that in 18th century England 'the competent readers of the Principia never numbered more that a few dozen' and that those who ignored the mathematics of the Principia but seized upon its speculations about ethers and short range forces 'took the meringue for the whole pudding.' Rupert Hall, The Revolution in Science, 1500-1750 (London: Longman, 1983), p.357.
4. Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on some of its causes (London, 1830); and Marie Boas Hall, All Scientists Now: The Royal Society in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) respectively outline the case for reform and the actual reforms in the nineteenth century.
5. Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on some of its causes (London, 1830); and Marie Boas Hall, All Scientists Now: The Royal Society in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) respectively outline the case for reform and the actual reforms in the nineteenth century.
6. Michael Hunter gives an excellent bibliographic essay of the substantial amount of literature on the Society's early years in Establishing the New Science: The Experience of the Early Royal Society (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1989). Charles Weld's A History of the Royal Society, 2 vols. (London 1848 & 1858) still remains the best book-length study of the Society in the eighteenth century, a period that Sir Henry Lyons deals with only briefly, and one senses reluctantly, in The Royal Society: 1660-1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1944).
7. Michael Hunter gives an excellent bibliographic essay of the substantial amount of literature on the Society's early years in Establishing the New Science: The Experience of the Early Royal Society (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1989). Charles Weld's A History of the Royal Society, 2 vols. (London 1848 & 1858) still remains the best book-length study of the Society in the eighteenth century, a period that Sir Henry Lyons deals with only briefly, and one senses reluctantly, in The Royal Society: 1660-1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1944).
8. Michael Hunter gives an excellent bibliographic essay of the substantial amount of literature on the Society's early years in Establishing the New Science: The Experience of the Early Royal Society (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1989). Charles Weld's A History of the Royal Society, 2 vols. (London 1848 & 1858) still remains the best book-length study of the Society in the eighteenth century, a period that Sir Henry Lyons deals with only briefly, and one senses reluctantly, in The Royal Society: 1660-1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1944).
9. 'The eighteenth century science' in The Context of English Literature: The Eighteenth Century, ed. P. Rogers (London: Holmes & Meier, 1978), p.158.
10. Babbage, Decline (note 3), p.xiii. pp. 1-2.
11. Miller, makes this point in 'Reflections' (note 1).
12. On membership, see Lyons, History (note 4), Appendices IIIa&b; figures are for non-foreign members only. On finances, see Bluhm, 'Remarks on the Royal Society's finances, 1660-1768', Notes Rec.R.Soc.Lond., 13,82-103 (1958), Tables 1 & 3. Members who did not pay their dues were sued or thrown out during several drives in the eighteenth century to keep the Society's finances sound.
13. On membership, see Lyons, History (note 4), Appendices IIIa&b; figures are for non-foreign members only. On finances, see Bluhm, 'Remarks on the Royal Society's finances, 1660-1768', Notes Rec.R.Soc.Lond., 13,82-103 (1958), Tables 1 & 3. Members who did not pay their dues were sued or thrown out during several drives in the eighteenth century to keep the Society's finances sound.
14. Royal Society Journal Book (R.S.J.B.), 30 November 1748.
15. R.S.J.B., 24 June, 1725; 28 April 1726.
16. R.S.J.B., 30 November 1748.
17. R.S.J.B., 30 November 1749. While Harrison, who was not a clubbable man, was not elected to the Society, his son was.
18. R.S.J.B., 30 November 1758; 1757; 1759.
19. John Money, Experience and Identity: Birmingham and the West Midlands 1760-1800 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977), p.98.
20. Michael Hunter, Science and Society in Restoration England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p.77. thank Norman Thrower for this reference. See also Table 2 later in this paper. Joseph Moxon, a mapmaker, appears to be the only instrument maker elected to the Royal Society in the seventeenth century. See G. Jagger, Notes.Rec.R.Soc.London. 49, 193-208 (1995).
21. Michael Hunter, Science and Society in Restoration England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p.77. thank Norman Thrower for this reference. See also Table 2 later in this paper. Joseph Moxon, a mapmaker, appears to be the only instrument maker elected to the Royal Society in the seventeenth century. See G. Jagger, Notes.Rec.R.Soc.London. 49, 193-208 (1995).
22. The popularization of the natural philosophy has most recently been dealt with by Larry Stewart. The Rise of Public Science: Rhetoric, technology, and natural philosophy in Newtonian Britain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
23. While this policy is nowhere explicitly stated, none was ever rejected. Furthermore, unlike other members, who had to wait 10 meetings between proposal and election, such men could be proposed and elected at the same meeting. R.S.J.B., 10 December 1730.
24. John Heilbron points out that Newton, although a Whig, so hated Leibniz (who had the support of the Hanoverian George I) that he probably blocked the King becoming patron upon his succession to the throne in 1714, lest the new King 'might endeavour to moderate (the RS's and Newton's) treatment of Leibniz, and perhaps even to find a place for his philosopher in the direction of the Society's affairs'. Physics at the Royal Society (Los Angeles: University California Press, 1983), p.36.
25. R.S.J.B., 11 May 1727.
26. The dispute spilled over into a challenge to Sloane's presidency, initially from the Tory faction within the Society and then from others who objected to Sloane on personal and intellectual grounds. The challengers were easily defeated in November 1727. Heilbron, Physics (note 18), pp.37-38 & fn.111.
27. R.S.J.B. 28 May 1727.
28. The following are called 'our worthy brother; in the R.S.J.B.: Gowin Knight, 30 November, 1747; George Graham, 30 November, 1748; Benjamin Robins, 14 March, 1750/51. It is difficult to tell from the minutes whether it is the Secretary of the Society (Thomas Birch) using this term, or the speaker describing their work. Graham, Robins and Birch had some association with the Quakers earlier in their lives, though all three were disowned by the Friends later in life. This association may be the cause of the use of 'brother'. I thank the anonymous referee for this information.
29. R.S.J.B., 13 February 1734/35; 27 March 1735. Copies of Wreden's and Gambiers's election certificates appear in the R.S.J.B. on 14 November 1734. Copies of Locke's and Clare's certificates appear in the R.S.J.B. on 9 January 1734/35.
30. I have begun the table in 1735 since election certificates, which describe the candidates' merits and occupation or social position, were not required until 1731 (R.S.J.B. 10 December 1730).
31. There was much variation of status within each grouping. The grandest of military officers and government officials purchased their office and were often the sons of the aristocracy and landed gentry, while some attorneys and clerics were not much better off than a prosperous master carpenter or grocer.
32. Hunter's data come from Table 5 of The Royal Society and its Fellows, 1660-1700 (Oxford: British Society for the History of Science, 1994), p. 126. Where Hunter's and my categories have not coincided I have added two or more together. For example I had no category for 'scholars & writers' (except schoolteachers) and put such people in the appropriate university degree category (nearly always clerical). Thus I compare Hunter's 'divine' and 'scholars & writers' with my 'cleric', 'bishop' and 'schoolteacher'.
33. Margaret 'Espinasse noted the disappearance of merchants from the Society's membership in Robert Hooke (London: Scientific Book Guild, 1956), Chapter 2, 'Pre-Newtonian and Newtonian Science in England'.
34. I have settled upon subject headings that seem neither too broad to be anachronistic nor too narrow to yield useful insights into trends. Fror further details see Richard Sorrenson, 'Scientific instrument makers at the Royal Society of London. 1720-1780,' (Ph.D.dissertation Princeton University, 1993), pp. 19-37. Agricultural, industrial, and artistic sciences were virtually never practised at the Royal Society; they nourished at the provincial societies (such as the Birmingham Lunar Society) and at the Society of Arts in London.
35. John Heilbron, Weighing Imponderables and other Quantitative Science around 1800 (Berkeley: University California Press, 1993), notes that the appellation applies to continental scientific societies as well, Ch.4 'Varieties of Mercantilist Mathematics'. Fara, Magnetic England note 1), p.114.
36. John Heilbron, Weighing Imponderables and other Quantitative Science around 1800 (Berkeley: University California Press, 1993), notes that the appellation applies to continental scientific societies as well, Ch.4 'Varieties of Mercantilist Mathematics'. Fara, Magnetic England note 1), p.114.
37. Lorraine Daston. 'Probabilistic expectation and rationality,' Historia Mathematica, 7, 234-260 (1980), on p.243.
38. These figures are slightly understated since a few papers in the categories Anat and MMath (particularly a handful in mechanics, ballistics and optics) rely on experimentation for their results.
39. Charles Bazerman, Shaping Written Knowledge: The Genre and Activity of the Experimental Article in Science (Madison: Wisconsin University Press, 1988) p.63. He sampled volumes 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, & 90.
40. Marie Boas Hall, Promoting Experimental Learning. Experiment and the Royal Society 1660-1727 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 139.
41. Richard Forster '.... the number of people in England,' Phil.Trans.R.Soc.Lond. 50; 457-465 (1757) on p.461.
42. Allan Chapman, Dividing the Circle: The Development of Critical Angular Measurement in Astronomy, 1500-1850 (New York: Ellis Horwood, 1990), in passim. John Heilbron 'A mathematicians' mutiny with morals', in World Changes. Thomas Kuhn and the Nature of Science, ed. Paul Horwich (Cambridge: Massachusets Institute of Technology Press, 1993), pp.106-107.
43. Allan Chapman, Dividing the Circle: The Development of Critical Angular Measurement in Astronomy, 1500-1850 (New York: Ellis Horwood, 1990), in passim. John Heilbron 'A mathematicians' mutiny with morals', in World Changes. Thomas Kuhn and the Nature of Science, ed. Paul Horwich (Cambridge: Massachusets Institute of Technology Press, 1993), pp.106-107.
44. Isaac Newton, Principia, ed. F. Cajori, 2 vols. (Berkeley: University California Press, 1962), vol. 2, The System of the World, p.400.
45. R.S.J.B., 12 June 1729.
46. R.S.J.B., 10 November 1757.
47. R.S.J.B., 14 May 1730; 30 November 1759, 8 June 1758.
48. R.S.J.B., 24 April 1740. The use of the word 'pains' in the journal book is rare. A more common response was '[so and so] was ordered thanks for his account.' It is not possible to tell from the minutes exactly who is doing the thanking; generally the thanks is a corporate one, from the assembled members.
49. Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society, Part II, Section xvii, entitled 'Judging the matter of fact,' in English science, Bacon to Newton, ed.Brian Vickers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 169; Steven Shapin & Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air Pump. Hobbes, Boyle and the Experimental Life (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), especially Ch.2 'The Experimental Production of Pneumatic Facts.'
50. Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society, Part II, Section xvii, entitled 'Judging the matter of fact,' in English science, Bacon to Newton, ed.Brian Vickers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 169; Steven Shapin & Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air Pump. Hobbes, Boyle and the Experimental Life (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), especially Ch.2 'The Experimental Production of Pneumatic Facts.'
51. Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society, Part II, Section xvii, entitled 'Judging the matter of fact,' in English science, Bacon to Newton, ed.Brian Vickers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 169; Steven Shapin & Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air Pump. Hobbes, Boyle and the Experimental Life (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), especially Ch.2 'The Experimental Production of Pneumatic Facts.'
52. Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society, Part II, Section xvii, entitled 'Judging the matter of fact,' in English science, Bacon to Newton, ed.Brian Vickers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 169; Steven Shapin & Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air Pump. Hobbes, Boyle and the Experimental Life (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), especially Ch.2 'The Experimental Production of Pneumatic Facts.'
53. R.S.J.B., 18 February 1741/2.
54. R.S.J.B., 17 December 1747.
55. Thomas Hankins, Science and the Enlightenment (Cambridge University Press, 1985), p.40.
56. R.S.J.B., 13 December 1722.
57. R.S.J.B., 10 December 1724.
58. R.S.J.B., 17 December 1724.
59. Harry Woolf, The Transits of Venus. A study of Eighteenth-Century Science (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959), pp. 189-195.
60. Stephen Stigler, The History of Statistics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), p.44. Ellipticity is a measure of how much the Earth is distorted from the shape of a perfect sphere.
61. Ibid. p.54.
62. R.S.J.B., 18 January 1753. The book was titled Disquisitio mathematica in causam physicam figurae et magnetudinis telluris nostrae.
63. Simon Schaffer, 'Astronomers mark time: discipline and the personal equation.' Science in Context, 2; 115-145 (1988), on p.116.
64. Ibid., 124.
65. Copley medal address, R.S.J.B., 30 November 1795.