Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
1894), and, later on, Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) and Gaston Tis-
sandier (1843-1899) (Raichvarg & Jacques 1991, pp. 41-4, 59-65, 68-
76), while for the Netherlands one might think of W.H. Logeman and
Douwe Lubach, two of the editors of the
Album der natuur
and of many
other works.
The professionalization of science had major consequences for the
nature of science popularization, yet it was not the main driving force
behind the new wave of publications at that time. The science populari-
zation of the early 1850s was still too much bound up with the tradition
of both the old physico-theology and, in particular, the philanthropist and
moralizing approach - aimed at education and enlightening the public -
as embraced by the Dutch Society for the Common Good and the English
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. This is why it is perhaps
more correct to view the flourishing of science popularization in the
years immediately after 1845 as a final twitching of the late-eighteenth
and early-nineteenth-century way of science popularization. Stimulated
by the new post-1848 political realities - that brought liberal profession-
als and industrialist to power - a major publishing offensive was realized
one more time, geared toward educating the youth and elevating the
workers. When its demands were realized in part, as reflected in the
Dutch school acts of 1857 and 1863 and the establishment of technical
schools, it dwindled again. Chemistry and the other natural sciences were
integrated into the regular school curricula, and normal textbooks took
over the function that hitherto had been fulfilled by the popular science
topics. First, however, the popularization of chemistry would flourish as
never before.
Farmers and the rural youth were among the first to receive attention
from the 'knowledge diffusers'. Already from the mid-1840s topics were
published especially for them in which agricultural chemistry was ex-
plained in simple terms. These topics promulgated the view that chemis-
try might well be the most useful and interesting subject to learn more
about (
e.g.
Johnston 1847, Enklaar 1851, Stöckhardt 1854; see also Snel-
ders 1981 and Layton 1973, pp. 48, 51-3).
Not much later the education of the lower classes in the cities gained
attention as well. In more cities and on a much larger scale than in the
1830s, industrial schools, evening courses for workers, and reading cabi-
