scholarly journals IV. An account of the late eruption of Mount Vesuvius

1795 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 73-116 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The University

Sir, Every day produces some new publication relative to the late tremendous eruption of mount Vesuvius, so that the various phaenomena that attended it will be found on record in either one or other of these publications, and are not in that danger of being passed over and forgotten, as they were formerly, when the study of natural history was either totally neglected, or treated of in a manner very unworthy of the great Author of nature. I am sorry to say, that even so late as in the accounts of the earthquakes in Calabria in 1783, printed at Naples, nature is taxed with being malevolent, and bent upon destruction. In a printed account of another great eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1631, by Antonio Santorelli, doctor of medicine, and professor of natural philosophy in the university of Naples, and at the head of the fourth chapter of his book, are these words: Se questo incendio sia opera de' demonii? Whether this eruption be the work of devils? The account of an eruption of Vesuvius in 1737, published at Naples by Doctor Serao, is of a very different cast, and does great honour to his memory. All great eruptions of volcanoes must naturally produce nearly the same phenomena, and in Serao's book almost all the phenomena we have been witness to during the late eruption of Vesuvius, are there admirably described, and well accounted for. The classical accounts of the eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and many of the existing printed accounts of its great eruption in 1631 (although the latter are mixed with puerilities) might pass for an account of the late eruption by only changing the date, and omitting that circumstance of the retreat of the sea from the coast, which happened in both those great eruptions, and not in this; and I might content myself by referring to those accounts, and assuring you at the same time, that the late eruption, after those two, appears to have been the most violent recorded by history, and infinitely more alarming than either the eruption of 1767, or that of 1779, of both of which I had the honour of giving a particular account to the Royal Society. However, I think it my duty rather to hazard being guilty of repetition than to neglect the giving you every satisfaction in my power, relative to the late formidable operation of nature.

Self-Scrutiny and the Study of Nature: Robert Hooke's Diary as Natural History

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte Mulligan
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
After Hours ◽  
College Now ◽  
City Of London ◽  
The City

Robert Hooke's intellectual life was steadfastly dedicated to the pursuit of natural philosophy and the formulation of an appropriate method for studying nature, His daily life, however, was seemingly fragmented—an energetic rush in and around the city of London, with him acting now as curator (and later secretary) of the Royal Society, now as Cutlerian Lecturer in the History of Nature and Art, now as Geometry Professor at Gresham College, now as architect and surveyor of postfire London, and forever as a member of a number of intersecting social, intellectual, and professional circles that made up London's coffeehouse culture. Such a range of activities was perhaps wider than that of many of his contemporaries, though other diarists, most notably Samuel Pepys, recorded similarly crammed lives. Yet despite the apparently unsystematic nature of his daily round he was, also like Pepys, a methodical man who hated to waste time, and for long periods he kept a diary that helped him account for how he spent it.I argue here that his diary keeping was an integral part of his scientific vision reflecting the epistemological and methodological practices that guided him as a student of nature. The diary should be read, I propose, not as an “after-hours” incidental activity removed from his professional and intellectual life; both its form and its content suggest that he chose to record a self that was as subject to scientific scrutiny as the rest of nature and that he thought that such a record could be applied to producing, in the end, a fully objective “history” with himself as the datum.

Richard Bradley's Relationship With Sir Hans Sloane

1970 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-77 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Prolific Author ◽  
Good Picture ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) is remembered more for his activities in the spheres of science and medicine than for his original contributions to these fields. His large treatise on the natural history of Jamaica (2 vols., 1707- 1725) and other writings were useful additions to the scientific literature, but they were overshadowed by his activities as President of both the Royal Society (1727-1741) and the Royal College of Physicians (1719-1735) and by his having provided the collections which became the foundation of the British Museum. There is no definitive study on him, but the two recent biographies by De Beer and Brooks provide a good picture of his life and work (1). Sloane carried on a voluminous correspondence, and most of the letters written to him are preserved in the British Museum—largely unpublished (2). Among them are a dozen letters from Richard Bradley (1688?—5 November 1732), which throw somewhat more light on Bradley than on Sloane. They also illustrate the adverse conditions under which men without wealth have sometimes worked when pursuing scientific activities. Bradley was a prolific author of books on agriculture, horticulture, biology, and medicine. As will appear from his letters, he was often the pawn of booksellers, and John Martyn (1699-1768), his malicious rival, commented shortly after his death that ‘The booksellers have lost a good easy pad’ (3). Bradley was at times only a popularizer or a hack, but he also produced writings having scientific merit (4). Furthermore, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and the first Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge. His correspondence with Sloane is therefore of interest for adding to our knowledge of both men and the scientific activities of their time.

scholarly journals XXXIV.—A Biographical Notice of the late Thomas Chalmers, D.D. & LL.D.

1849 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 497-518
Author(s):  
E.B. Ramsay
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Pure Mathematics

Mr President,—It has been a practice from the foundation of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to commemorate its deceased distinguished members by memoirs or biographical notices, read at the ordinary meetings of the Society. Some of these have been printed in the Transactions; and our published volumes are enriched by papers of Dugald Stewart, Professor Playfair, Sir John MacNeil, and Dr Traill, on the characters and writings of Adam Smith, Dr Hutton, Professor Robison, Sir Charles Bell, and Dr Hope. A biographical notice is now due to the memory of a distinguished countryman, late Vice-President of the Royal Society; and the following remarks will, in attempting that object, make a deviation from those more severe discussions with which the time of the Society is usually occupied, in connection either with pure mathematics, natural philosophy, or natural history.

‘Charting’ a Personal and Institutional Life

2021 ◽  
pp. 333-352
Author(s):  
Anna Marie Roos
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
New Science

In 1750, Folkes became president of the Society of Antiquaries, in addition to that of the Royal Society and contributed to efforts to unite both organisations. Although he failed, illness forcing him to resign both offices, chapter nine analyses the ensuing disciplinary boundaries between the two organisations in the early Georgian era. While natural philosophy and antiquarianism were disciplines that we normally assume were fast becoming disconnected in this period, our work will reconsider these assumptions. The Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries were nearly reunited for good reason. Both societies incorporated techniques and affinities from antiquarianism—natural history and landscape—and the ‘new science’—engineering principles, measurement, and empiricism. We will conclude with Folkes’s final years, the circumstances of his memorial at Westminster Abbey, and an assessment of his life and letters, particularly with regard to his relationship with Voltaire.

The Reverend Thomas Hincks FRS (1818–1899): taxonomist of Bryozoa and Hydrozoa

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale R. Calder
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural History Museum ◽  
History Museum ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University ◽  
Royal Society Of London

Thomas Hincks was born 15 July 1818 in Exeter, England. He attended Manchester New College, York, from 1833 to 1839, and received a B.A. from the University of London in 1840. In 1839 he commenced a 30-year career as a cleric, and served with distinction at Unitarian chapels in Ireland and England. Meanwhile, he enthusiastically pursued interests in natural history. A breakdown in his health and permanent voice impairment during 1867–68 while at Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds, forced him reluctantly to resign from active ministry in 1869. He moved to Taunton and later to Clifton, and devoted much of the rest of his life to natural history. Hincks was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1872 for noteworthy contributions to natural history. Foremost among his publications in science were A history of the British hydroid zoophytes (1868) and A history of the British marine Polyzoa (1880). Hincks named 24 families, 52 genera and 360 species and subspecies of invertebrates, mostly Bryozoa and Hydrozoa. Hincks died 25 January 1899 in Clifton, and was buried in Leeds. His important bryozoan and hydroid collections are in the Natural History Museum, London. At least six genera and 13 species of invertebrates are named in his honour.

Locke and the Methodology of Newton’s Principia

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-335
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Mathematical Physics ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Synoptic View

Abstract A number of commentators have recently suggested that there is a puzzle surrounding Locke’s acceptance of Newton’s Principia. On their view, Locke understood natural history as the primary methodology for natural philosophy and this commitment was at odds with an embrace of mathematical physics. This article considers various attempts to address this puzzle and finds them wanting. It then proposes a more synoptic view of Locke’s attitude towards natural philosophy. Features of Locke’s biography show that he was deeply interested in mathematical physics long before the publication of the Principia. This interest was in line with important developments in the Royal Society. It is argued that Locke endorsed a two-stage approach to natural philosophy which was consistent with an embrace of both natural history and mathematical physics. The Principia can be understood as consistent with this approach.

scholarly journals On Swan's Prism Photometer, commonly called Lummer and Brodhun's Photometer

1902 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 12-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. G. Knott
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Modern Literature ◽  
High Interest ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University

In 1849 William Swan, subsequently Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of St Andrews, read a paper on the “Gradual Production of Luminous Impressions on the Eye and other Phenomena of Vision” before the Royal Society of Edinburgh (see Transactions, Vol. XVI.). This paper contains some results of high interest, but I have no recollection of ever having seen it referred to in modern literature on the subject.

scholarly journals William Wright Smith, 1875-1956

1957 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 192-202
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
Living Things ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
Second Year ◽  
The University ◽  
Regius Professor

Sir William Wright Smith, the eminent botanist, who was President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1944 to 1949, died on 15 December 1956, in his eighty-second year. For thirty-four years he held the dual appointment of Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh and Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh; he was also Queen’s Botanist in Scotland. Born at Parkend near Lochmaben on 2 February 1875, the son of a Dumfries-shire farmer, he early acquired the interest in living things and a love for the country, which (though he was to spend the greater part of his life in Edinburgh) remained predominantly with him all his days. His school was the Dumfries Academy where he went till the age of sixteen, when he left for Edinburgh as first University Bursar. Every day he had to travel to school by train, yet he found time to explore his native countryside, and his regard for natural history was by no means confined to plants. For example, he enjoyed watching birds and fishing, or, with one or two companions, guddling for trout or, again, in a leisure hour lying on some sunny bank by a convenient rabbit warren with book and gun. Though not robust he played conventional games, and he was fond of cycling, sometimes covering long distances, once at least more than a hundred miles in one day.

scholarly journals Denis Papin (1647-1712)

1947 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-50 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Medical Degree ◽  
Académie Des Sciences ◽  
Bronze Statue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University ◽  
Work Done

No record of the history of the Royal Society would be complete without some reference to the work done for it by Denis Papin. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society for more than thirty years and a curator of experiments for four years. During this time he read over one hundred papers to the Society and showed numerous experiments in illustration of these. This year is the tercentenary of his birth, for he was born on 22 August 1647 at Blois. It is understood that a celebration of this event is to take place at his native town in the coming summer and that a commemorative volume of his life and work is to be published. His name has been given to the principal street in Blois and a bronze statue commemorates his achievements. Papin was educated at the University of Angers and it was here that he took a medical degree in 1669. He did not, however, intend to practise medicine as he was much more interested in natural philosophy and mechanics. He was of an inventive mind and although many of his ideas were ingenious, only a few proved to be of much practical use. His first post was as an assistant to Huygens in his laboratory at the Academie des Sciences in Paris where he carried out many experiments with the air-pump. He published the results in a book printed in Paris in 1674 entitled Expériences du Vuide and in a series of five papers with Huygens communicated to the Royal Society and published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1675.

The President gave a short Review of the Session

1884 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 937-940
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Short Review

The President said—This session of the Royal Society, not the least interesting or remarkable of the series, is now about to close. I have been furnished with a statement of the papers which have been read, which exhibits a creditable amount of industry as well as of ability among its members. It seems that of these 16 were in Natural Philosophy, 15 in Mathematics, 6 in Geology, 2 in Chemistry, 6 in Mineralogy, 6 on Meteorology, 2 in Spectroscopic Astronomy, 4 in Natural History, 5 on Botany, 5 in Physiology, 1 on Language, 2 on History and Antiquities, 2 on Anthropology, and 5 on Political Economy.

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