The Philosophical Breakfast Club (67 page)

1
     See Hyman,
Charles Babbage, Pioneer of the Computer
, p. 47.

2
     On Whewell, see reminiscences published in Stair Douglas,
Life and Selections
, pp. 38–39, and Todhunter,
William Whewell
, vol. 1, p. 409. On Herschel, see Maria Edgeworth’s recollections in her
Letters from England
.

3
     See Babbage,
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
, pp. 138–40.

4
     Herschel to Babbage, March 1830, RS: HS 2.245.

5
     Using the GDP deflator index, which makes a comparison based on the average price of goods and services produced in the UK in 1830, relative to 2007 amounts. See Office, “Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount.”

6
     See Babbage to Herschel, May 6, 1829, RS: HS 2.239.

7
     Babbage to Herschel, December 11, 1829, RS: HS 2.241.

8
     De Morgan,
Memoir of Augustus De Morgan
, p. 42.

9
     Blagdon,
Paris as It Was, and as It Is
, p. 395.

10
   Crosland,
Science Under Control
, p. 30.

11
   Babbage,
Decline of Science
, pp. 30–31.

12
   See Wrigley and Schofield,
The Population History of England: 1541–1871: A Reconstruction
, pp. 528–29.

13
   Babbage,
Decline of Science
, p. 155.

14
   Ibid., p. 153.

15
   See Schaaf,
Out of the Shadows
, p. 32, and Kobler,
The Reluctant Surgeon
, p. 20.

16
   Babbage to Herschel, March 19, 1830, RS: HS 2.246.

17
   Rev. Francis Lunn to Babbage, November 28, 1830, BL 37,184, f. 438–39.

18
   See Hall,
All Scientists Now
, pp. 50–51.

19
   See Swade,
The Difference Engine
, pp. 64–65.

20
   Brewster, “On the Decline of Science in England.”

21
   See Babbage,
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
, pp. 166–68.

22
   Moll,
On the Alleged Decline of Science in England
, p. 33.

23
   See Crosland,
Science Under Control
, p. 15.

24
   Cited in Porter,
English Society in the Eighteenth Century
, p. 360.

25
   Herschel to Thomas Young, August 30, 1828, RS: HS 18.345.

26
   Herschel to Whewell, May 17, 1829, WP Add. ms. 207 f. 17.

27
   See Babbage to Herschel, March 8, 1830, RS: HS 2.244; and Babbage,
Decline of Science
, pp. vii–ix.

28
   Herschel to Whewell, September 20, 1831, WP Add. ms. a. 207 f. 22.

29
   Whewell to Jones, November 18, 1831, WP Add. ms. c. 51 f. 119.

30
   Jones to Whewell, November 26, 1831, WP Add. ms. c. 52 f. 44.

31
   On the origins of the Royal Society, see Hall,
All Scientists Now;
Sargent, “Introduction”; and website of the Royal Society,
http://royalsociety.org
.

32
   See Fara,
Sex, Botany, and Empire
, ch. 1.

33
   See Cobb and Goldwhite,
Creations of Fire
, p. 197.

34
   See Buttmann,
The Shadows of the Telescope
, p. 35.

35
   See Hyman,
Charles Babbage, Pioneer of the Computer
, p. 44.

36
   See Hall,
The Cambridge Philosophical Society
, p. 1.

37
   Babbage to Whewell, May 15, 1820, WP Add. ms. a. 200 f. 192.

38
   Edward Bromhead to Babbage, [n.d.], BL Add. ms. 37,182, f. 270.

39
   Herschel to William Henry Fitton, October 18, 1830, cited in Hall,
All Scientists Now
, p. 58.

40
   See Colley,
Britons: Forging the Nation
, p. 155.

41
   Whewell to Roderick Murchison, November 21, 1830, quoted in Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 53.

42
   Whewell to Jones, November 16, 1830, WP Add. ms. c. 51 f. 91.

43
   Jones to Whewell, January 10, 1832, Add. ms. c. 52 f. 19.

44
   Herschel to Babbage, October 15, 1830, RS: HS 2.255.

45
   Herschel to Babbage, November 26, 1830, RS: HS 2.257.

46
   Alexander Crichton to Murchison, November 24, 1830, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 31.

47
   George Harvey to Babbage, January 3, 1831, BL Add. ms. 37,183, f. 429.

48
   John Herschel to Caroline Herschel, January 15, 1831, TXU H/L-0576.1, Reel 1058.

49
   Herschel to Lardner, [September 1830], RS: HS 11.118.

50
   Whewell to Jones, December 26, 1830, WP Add. ms. c. 51 f. 94.

51
   See Hyman,
Charles Babbage, Pioneer of the Computer
, p. 79, and Babbage,
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
, pp. 324–27.

52
   See the description by Mary Somerville, in Somerville,
Personal Recollections
, p. 103.

53
   Brewster to Babbage, April 26, 1824, BL 37,183, ff. 121–22.

54
   Brewster to Brougham, March 14, 1829, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 23.

55
   Brewster to Babbage, February 21, 1831, BL Add. ms. 37,185, ff. 481–82.

56
   Literary and Philosophical Societies (as they were often called) had been founded in Manchester in 1781, Derby in 1783, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1793, Birmingham in 1800, Glasgow in 1802, Liverpool in 1812, Leeds in 1818, Cork in 1819, York, Sheffield, Whitby, and Hull in 1822, and Bristol in 1823. See Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, pp. 13–14.

57
   Ibid., p. 40.

58
   See Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 34.

59
   Babbage to Harcourt, August 31, 1831, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, pp. 50–51.

60
   Brewster to Babbage, September 4, 1831, BL 37,186, ff. 74–75 and September 16, 1831, BL 37,186, ff. 86–87.

61
   Whewell to Forbes, July 14, 1831, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 42.

62
   Brewster, “On the Decline of Science in England,” p. 327.

63
   Whewell to Herschel, September 18, 1831, RS: HS 18.183.

64
   Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 132.

65
   Ibid., pp. 70–76.

66
   Ibid., p. 132.

67
   James Johnston, “Account of the Scientific Meeting in York,”
Edinburgh Journal of Science
, 1832, quoted in Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, pp. 88–89.

68
   
York Courant
, September 27, 1831, quoted in Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 89.

69
   Harcourt, “Address,” in
Report of the First and Second Meetings
, p. 28.

70
   Ibid.

71
   Herschel to Whewell, February 7, 1835, WP Add. ms. a. 207 f. 25.

72
   Dickens, “Full Report of the Mudfog Association for the Advancement of Everything.”

73
   Whewell to Harcourt, September 22, 1831, WP O.15.47 f. 97.

74
   See Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, pp. 425–30.

75
   After the meeting, Brewster told Harcourt that because of Milton’s comments, Babbage would probably refuse to join any committees. See Brewster to Harcourt, November 18, 1831, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 102.

76
   Harcourt to Milton [late November–early December 1831], in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 109.

77
   
Literary Gazette
, 1836, quoted in Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 513.

78
   For example, in an article titled “On the Employment of Notation in Chemistry” (1831) and in a series of letters to Michael Faraday around this time.

79
   Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, pp. 170–74.

80
   Herschel to Sedgwick, August 3, 1833, RS: HS 15.422.

81
   Jones to Babbage, July 3, 1833, BL 37,188, ff. 4–5.

82
   See Whewell to Jones, December 2, 1832, in Todhunter,
William Whewell
, vol. 2, p. 148.

83
   Whewell to Jones, February 14, 1833, in Todhunter,
William Whewell
, vol. 2, pp. 157–58.

84
   Jones to Herschel, January 23, 1833, RS: HS 10.354. See also Jones to Babbage, February 21, 1833, BL 37,187, f. 428.

85
   Jones, “Introductory Lecture,” in
Literary Remains
, pp. 570–71.

86
   Ibid., p. 571.

87
   Whewell to Jones, February 27, 1833, WP Add. ms. c. 51 f. 152.

88
   Whewell to Jones, March 24, 1833, in Todhunter,
William Whewell
, vol. 2, p. 161.

89
   See Porter,
The Rise of Statistical Thinking
, pp. 6–7.

90
   Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 374.

91
   See Porter,
The Rise of Statistical Thinking
, p. 52.

92
   Phillips and Wetherell, “The Great Reform Act of 1832 and the Political Modernization of England.”

93
   Sedgwick, “Speech of June 28, 1833,” pp. 90–92.

94
   Whewell, “Address,” p. xxi.

95
   Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 296.

96
   See Whewell to Jones, March 24, 1834, WP Add. ms. c. 51 f. 164.

97
   Whewell to Quetelet, October 2, 1835, in Todhunter,
William Whewell
, vol. 2, pp. 228–29.

98
   See Porter,
The Rise of Statistical Thinking
, pp. 5–7.

99
   Babbage to Charles Daubeny, April 28, 1832, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 137.

100
 See Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 96.

101
 Ibid., p. 130.

102
 
Yorkshire Gazette
, October 1, 1831, quoted in Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 150.

103
 See Phillips to Harcourt, August 5, 1836, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 233.

104
 Murchison to Harcourt, September 18, 1837, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 258., Sedgwick had a way with the ladies; even twenty years later Whewell would remark admiringly that Sedgwick had numerous “lady disciples” who “fill all the best places” at his lectures in Cambridge. See William Whewell to Cordelia Whewell, November 18, 1855, in Stair Douglas,
Life and Selections
, p. 429.

105
 Jones to Whewell, January 28, 1833, WP Add. ms. c. 52 f. 57.

106
 See Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 155, quoting from Owen’s recollections. Not surprisingly, the British Association took the lead among the national scientific societies in admitting women as full members—they first did so in 1853. It took the Royal Society almost a century more: it admitted its first women fellows in 1945, around the same time as the American (1944), Soviet (1946), and Canadian (1946) counterparts. It would not be until 1979 that the Academy of Sciences in Paris would appoint its first woman member. For more on the issue of women in science, see Sheffield,
Women and Science
.

107
 Murchison to Whewell, October 2, 1831, WP Add. ms. a. 209 f. 88.

108
 See Hall,
All Scientists Now
, p. 79.

109
 Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, pp. 96–97, 310.

110
 See Crosland,
Science Under Control
, p. 30.

111
 See Hall,
All Scientists Now
, pp. 39–40, and Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 323.

112
 Whewell to Herschel, July 25, 1841, RS: HS 18.196.

113
 Murchison to Whewell, September 29, 1840, WP Add. ms. a. 209 f. 109.

114
 See Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, pp. 313–24.

115
 The
Times
, editorial, June 28, 1832, reported in Buckland to Harcourt, July 10, 1832, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 147.

116
 Quoted in Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 95.

117
 Harcourt to Milton, September 1, 1831, reproduced in Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, Appendix I, p. 543.

118
 Sedgwick to Mrs. Lyell, October 16, 1837, quoted in Morrell and Thackray,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Years
, p. 113.

119
 Harcourt to Forbes, October 1, 1835, in Morrell and Thackray, eds.,
Gentlemen of Science: Early Correspondence
, p. 218.