Our next meeting of term will take place on Hallowe'en, and, appropriately enough, we will be exploring so-called 'sensitive flames': could these dancing embers provide a hint on how to reach beyond the grave? We will think about the genre of the scientific journal, the limits of scientific understanding, and how literary form could help determine the remit of the mid-Victorian man of science.
We meet, as usual, from 7.30-9pm in the Newnham Grange Seminar Room at Darwin College. Readings here:
- John Tyndall, ‘On sounding and sensitive flames’, Philosophical Magazine 4 (1867), 92-99.
- W.F. Barrett, ‘Note on “sensitive flames”’, Philosophical Magazine 4 (1867), 216-222.
- [James Clerk Maxwell], ‘To the Chief Musician Upon Nabla: A Tyndallic Ode’, in ‘The British Association Meeting at Edinburgh’, Nature 4 (1871), 288-298, 291.
Optional further reading: Richard Noakes, ‘
The “bridge which is between physical and psychical research”: William Fletcher Barrett, Sensitive Flames, and Spiritualism’,
History of Science xlii (2004), 419-464.
If you have difficulties accessing any of the readings then please email Melanie for pdf copies!
No comments:
Post a Comment