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Popular science grew rapidly in London in the early 1700s. The first venues were the coffeehouses, hosting lectures and demonstrations "for the public good" (as the brewer Charles Cox proclaimed) from astronomy to mathematics, chemistry to anatomy (dissections). Ladies, however, did not go to coffeehouses, and a new market suitable for women emerged. The writer and publisher Richard Steele published The Ladies Library, which included scientific topics, in 1714, shortly after he had opened a lecture hall, the Censorium, a venue for lectures on "All the works of Invention, All the Sciences, as well as mechanick Arts." In his promotions, he stress the suitability for women and their presence in a social setting, "Which Room is conveniently fitted for Ladies as well as Gentlemen."
As science, or more precisely the consumption of popular science, became fashionable, it cut across religious and political divisions. It appealed to men, women, and children, although often designed to a "suitable" level for particular audiences. Engaging with science became part of the rising consumer culture, and to be aware of science and conversant with some of it became a mark of social place. Value was placed on a connection to the latest knowledge, with an implication of power and wealth. Even so, the most remarkable new element of this consumption of science was that it was spreading beyond the world of courts and patronage and wealthy gentlemen, available at several levels of society.
Popular books were one avenue of access to science, both making science available and providing a means of support for scientists. Book topics ranged widely, including textbooks, instructional manuals, mathematics, natural theologies, and broad systematic treatises. The "Newtonian" label was applied to all sorts of applications to new areas, from engineering of better machinery to end-times predictions to new business practices. Many of the new books derived from the public demonstrations and lectures given by their authors.
A typical such book is George Wilson's A Complete Course of Chymistry (1699), which detailed the instruments and techniques of the experimental demonstrations that Wilson presented in his lecture series. It illustrated the equipment needed, and guided the reader into investigations. Francis Hauksbee, demonstrator for the Royal Society, produced a guide to various physics experiments, again illustrated. In 1713, J. T. Desaguliers inherited the late Hauksbee's lecture series, and created a highly popular subscription series to lecture-demonstrations of experiments in physics and mechanics (leading to his A Course of Experimental Philosophy). Several demonstrators and philosophers competed in London, with a wide variety of lectures, demonstrations, courses, and books. Along with the presentations rose a market for scientific instruments, necessary for the experiments and investigations not only of the "professionals" but also for their popular audience. These included optical instruments, calculating devices, surveying tools, mechanical devices, and chemical equipment. Not only was science a philosophy safe for religion, it became seen as eminently practical and useful to every level of society.
Willem Jacob 'sGravesande. 1720-21. Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy Confirmed by Experiments, or an Introduction to Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy.
'sGravesande was a Dutch lawyer, member of the Royal Society, and later professor of mathematics and philosophy at Leiden. His text was among the very first popularizations, and become the leading textbook for many years, through several editions. The English translation was by J.T. Desaguliers.
Notice in his opening Preface (pp. i-iii) how he defines physics, following Newton, as dealing only with properties and mathematical laws, not the nature of causes. And it is compatible with religious faith. He opens the text (p. 1) with Newton's laws, and proceeds to present both complicated mathematics and its application in many well-illustrated experiments and devices, demonstrating principles of mechanics.
Ephraim Chambers. 1728. Cyclopædia: Or, an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; containing the Definitions of the Terms and Accounts of the Things Signif'd thereby, in the several Arts, both Liberal and Mechanical, and the several Sciences, Human and Divine: The Figures, Kinds, Properties, Productions, Preparations, and Uses, of Things Natural and Artificial; The Rise, Progress, and State of Things Ecclesiastical: Civil, Military, and Commercial: With the several Systems, Sects, Opinions, etc. among Philosophers, Divines, Mathematicians, Physicians, Antiquaries, Criticks, etc. The Whole intended as a Course of Ancient and Modern LEARNING.
The title, indeed, says it all. One of the very first encyclopedias, Chambers's volumes provided access to the new mechanical knowledge in Newtonian terms, serving not only as a place for anyone to look up sophisticated knowledge but also as a basic textbook. It combined the worlds of theoretical science with practical applications to mechanics and manufacturing.
Henry Pemberton. 1728. A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy.
Pemberton was an acquaintance of Newton's and the source of some of the anecdotes of his working life. Two years after editing the 3rd edition of the Principia (in Latin), he produced his own popular text.
John Rowning. 1734 (editions through the 1770s). A Compendious System of Natural Philosophy: with Notes Containing the Mathematical Demonstrations.
Despite the title's promise of mathematical demonstrations, Rowning's book used only standard Euclidian geometry and avoided difficult mathematical proofs and problems, even as addressing all the topics of Newtonian mechanics. Thus simplified, it served well for schools and new academies.
In his Preface, he explains how mathematics daunts some students, and thus he has produced this book. It is drawn from his lessons for students at Cambridge -- so clearly students were learning the new physics from tutors, despite the continuation of the standard curriculum. The Introduction (pp. 1-6) clearly argues for the superiority of Newton's new philosophy (following Bacon and the Royal Society) over the Scholastics and the Cartesians.
John Theophilus Desaguliers. 1734 [Vol. 1] & 1744 [Vol. 2]. A Course of Experimental Philosophy.
Desaguliers was a French Huguenot who sought refuge in Britain. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and its curator of experiments, and a popular lecturer and public experimenter. In his opening Dedication, he appeals both to his royal patron and to the pious value of contemplating the works of God. This set of his lectures served as a popular textbook for many years, building on basic principles of mechanics and ending with practical applications to machinery. The style is to build on experiments and demonstrations, with many pages of illustrations of the mathematics and devices.
Fransesco Algarotti. 1737. Il newtoniasmo per le dame [transl. into English as Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy explain'd. For the use of Ladies].
A well-known salon intellectual, popular for his eclectic knowledge and elegant presentation, Algarotti also wrote influentially on art. The book was translated by one of England's most learned women, Elizabeth Carter, in 1739. Algarotti explained light and Newton's theory of color; Joshua Charlton's The Ladies Astronomy and Chronology (1735) and A Compleat System of Astronomy (1742) explained astronomy in terms of Newtonian physics for an audience of women and "Young Students."
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet). 1738. Elements de la Philosophie de Newton.
Voltaire popularized the Newtonian philosophy, in a less technical work. Émilie du Châtelet contributed to the discussion of mechanics and mathematics in the text.
Richard Helsham. 1739. A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy.
This is a set of lectures Helsham taught until 1730 at Trinity College (Dublin). After his death, they were compiled into this widely used text, which went through eight editions, into the early 1800s.
Gabrielle-Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet. 1740. Institutions de Physique.
Having studied mathematics and science with Bernoulli and Maupertuis, Émilie du Châtelet combined the principles of physics and mechanics from Descartes, Newton, and Leibniz. She also published the first French complete translation of the Principia in 1759. She included a Commentary in which she provided a clear summary, and she was innovative in using calculus, instead of the standard geometry, in the analysis.
Maria Gaetana Agnesi. 1748. Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana [Foundations of Analysis for the Use of Italian Youth].
Agnesi was known among the salon intellectuals of Bologna as "much attached to the philosophy of Newton," and as a brilliant expositor of physics and math. This is her textbook for the differential and integral calculus, presented as she said, in that "natural order which provides, perhaps, the best instruction and the greatest light." It was translated into both French and English.
Benjamin Martin. 1751. A Plain and Familiar Introduction to the Newtonian Philosophy. And 1759-82. The Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy, 3 volumes.
Martin was a highly popular author on the sciences for the mid-century, his second book being one of the most successful English popular sceintific books. His The Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy presented science as a subject suitable and desirable for genteel people to know, and to be able to discuss. The young gentleman illustrated hear assures his sister that ability to discuss natural philosophy is not too masculine a subject, but a proper accomplishment appreciated by the discerning gentleman.
Andrew Baxter. 1754. Matho: or the Cosmotheoria Puerilis; A Dialogue in Which the first principles of Philosophy and Astronomy are accommodated to the capacity of young persons, or such as have yet no Tincture of these Sciences: Hence the Principles of Natural Religion are deduced.
The dialogue is between Matho, "a boy of fine genius," and a young friend, discussing several Newtonian problems, and the superiority of the Newtonian system over Descartes's. Baxter also develops a natural theology on the action of God in nature.
Pierre Desmaizeaus, editor. 1759. Recueil de Diverses Pièces, sur la philosophie, le religion naturelle, l'histoire, les mathématiques, &c. par messieurs Leibniz, Clarke, Newton & authres célèbres.
A highly influential discussion of physics and of religion, based on letters between Leibniz and the Newtonian Samuel Clarke.
Tom Telescope [John Newbery]. 1762. The Newtonian System of Philosophy; Adapted to the Capacities of young Gentlemen and Ladies, and familiarized and made entertaining by Objects with which they are intimately acquainted: Being, The Substance of Six Lectures read to the Lilliputian Society.
This popular text reached a broad audience, and was reprinted through several editions well into the 19th century.
Although many of these examples come from London, such enterprises spread, for philosophical and commercial reasons, both marketed in the name of "improvement." Inventors and engineers began to be as much the image of the new science as Newton thinking alone in his study.
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