Edward Grant, A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xvi+361. ISBN 978-0-521-86931-7. £40.00, $70.00 (hardback). ISBN 978-0-521-68957-1. £14.99, $24.99 (paperback).

For a long time writers on international law took it for granted that the subject of their studies was a relatively recent product of modern civilization, and that the ancient world did not know any system of international law. If we go back to the literature of the nineteenth century, we can find a certain feeling of pride among internationalists that international law was one of the best fruits of our civilization and that it was a system which distinguished us from the ancient barbarians. Some of these writers paid special attention to this question of origins and endeavored to explain why the ancient world never could have had any international law.

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The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century. By Richard von Glahn . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. xiv + 461 pp. $99, £64.99 (cloth), $39, £24.99 (paper), $32, £24.99 (ebook).

Journal of Chinese History ◽

10.1017/jch.2016.29 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 222-224

Author(s):

Christian Lamouroux

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Economic History ◽

Cambridge University ◽

History Of

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An Era in Classical Physics: Energy, Force, and Matter . The Conceptual Development of Nineteenth-Century Physics.; P. M. Harman. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1982. x, 182 pp., illus. Cloth, $27.50; paper, $8.95. Cambridge History of Science.

Science ◽

10.1126/science.219.4590.1317-b ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 219 (4590) ◽

pp. 1317-1318

Author(s):

M. Norton Wise

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

New York ◽

History Of Science ◽

Conceptual Development ◽

Classical Physics ◽

Cambridge University ◽

History Of

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Statistics as Social Science

The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820–1900 ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691208428.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 17-40

Author(s):

Theodore M. Porter

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Great Britain ◽

Social Science ◽

Systematic Study ◽

State Policy ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

The State ◽

Statistical Thinking ◽

History Of

This chapter discusses statistics as social science. The systematic study of social numbers in the spirit of natural philosophy was pioneered during the 1660s, and was known for about a century and a half as political arithmetic. Its purpose, when not confined to the calculation of insurance or annuity rates, was the promotion of sound, well-informed state policy. Political arithmetic was, according to William Petty, the application of Baconian principles to the art of government. Implicit in the use by political arithmeticians of social numbers was the belief that the wealth and strength of the state depended strongly on the number and character of its subjects. Political arithmetic was supplanted by statistics in France and Great Britain around the beginning of the nineteenth century. The shift in terminology was accompanied by a subtle mutation of concepts that can be seen as one of the most important in the history of statistical thinking.

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