Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
generated vast enthusiasm. Sometimes, as in London's 'Crystal Palace'
in 1851, the building housing the exhibition was itself a marvel of high
technology. Many of the exhibits there were broadly chemical, and inter-
national juries compared them in various classes and awarded prizes.
Davy had been the apostle of applied science, making big promises
(blank checks on the future); by the mid century, science (especially
chemistry) was delivering utility. Ballyhoo was appropriate.
5. Publications
Reading remained the major way into chemistry for those fired by
lectures or displays. Jane Marcet, excited by Davy's lectures but needing
something more systematic, wrote for girls in the same position her
Conversations on Chemistry,
1806, a best-seller which turned the young
Faraday (a bookbinder's apprentice) towards the science. Hers was not a
chemistry of 'separate spheres'; the girls do experiments, doubtless with
a portable laboratory, and learn the latest science. In the second quarter
of the nineteenth century, the price of topics in Britain dropped sharply
by about a half, so that they ceased to be a luxury - new technology,
longer print runs, and (temporary) collapse of the copyright system all
played a part (St Clair 2004). Categories of chemistry topics were fuzzy:
there were some formal textbooks, for students of medicine and
pharmacy, but in the first half of the century many were aimed at general
readers keen on self-help (Lundgren & Bensaude-Vincent 2000). They
had to be accessible and attractive, unlike textbooks efficiently and
systematically covering the syllabus for an examination that students had
to pass.
There were from the late eighteenth century informal scientific jour-
nals, in Britain published by Alexander Tilloch
(Philosophical Maga-
zine),
William Nicholson
(Journal of Natural Philosophy)
, and Thomas
Thomson
(Annals of Philosophy):
Nicholson and Thomson were both
chemists with substantial publications in the science. 'Taxes on knowl-
edge', which inhibited periodicals, were not lifted until the mid century,
and postage was expensive until then also. But nevertheless in their hey-
day these journals, offering speedy publication, had published some
original papers, reprinted papers from elsewhere, reviewed topics and
