Talk - Natural Histories and New World Fictions

13th March - Flight

Our final meeting of term takes flight as we escape the earth to travel amongst the clouds with an early account of a ballooning adventure. Hope to see you then!

• Thomas Baldwin, Airopaidia (1786), as much as you’d like of 1-164 (‘The Excursion throu’ the Air’), especially 1-14, 29-59, 94-97.

Recap - Breath

Our second meeting of this term was 'a gas', as we explored the poetics and possibilities of pneumatic medicine. Our discussion of Polwhele's 'Eclogue' focused on a few themes:

• 'Aero-medical science'

We considered the optimism around new gaseous discoveries and technologies, and the confidence that new kinds of air could be used as therapy and remedy. We explored the Romanticism of this kind of auto-experimentation, and the key role of figures such as Davy and Beddoes, and places such as the Pneumatic Institution. Comparison between epistolary, prose, and our set poetic descriptions of the effects of inhaling nitrous oxide, demonstrated how Polwhele drew on these other accounts, but pushed them to a satiric extreme.

• Scientific poetry

We also set the poem in the context of a long 18thC tradition of verses on the Universe, or Botanic Garden, from Pope to Erasmus Darwin. We thought about the different poetic forms this corpus engaged with: some epic, some didactic, some comic (as here). Overall, we discussed how poetry like this formed a key part of (elite) British scientific culture at the time, including commentary on recent discoveries, and conveying accurate information (via footnotes, etc.). Indeed, the use of footnotes by Polwhele was a key topic of conversation.

• Politics and fashion

We thought about how these publications were written in the shadow of the French Revolution, Terror, and Napoleonic Wars: in its very name the conservative Anti-Jacobin Review (where our text first appeared) echoed these concerns. We discussed the contrasting political commitments of conservative Polwhele with the more progressive politics of Beddoes, etc., hence the criticism of them under the guise of this poem. In general, we also thought about the contemporary fad or fashion for Laughing Gas (songs, satirical prints), and made comparisons with Davy's subsequently fashionable lectures at the Royal Institution.

• The poem's success?

We agreed we had all enjoyed reading the poem, and its often superbly awful choice of rhymes; but that perhaps not all of its references were that easy to 'get', and that not all of its humour survives over two hundred years later. We thought about the different voices and characters of the (real) people depicted, and whether or not the author - with contrasting poetic styles - had succeeded in conveying this variegated and personalised bodily experience effectively. As the only stimulant we had to hand was sugar (in the form of a birthday cake for Simon), perhaps a full answer to that last question was not possible.

We closed the evening with the promised performance of two historic songs about Laughing Gas: the songs can be downloaded here and here from the Wellcome Images site.

Yours truly at the piano, with members of the group looking on. Photograph by Charissa.

Laughing Gas sheet music. Photograph by Charissa.

Talk and book signing: 'Cunning, Killer Orchids: sex, science, fiction and Darwin'

Jim Endersby will be giving a free talk based on his new book - Orchid a cultural history - on 25th Feb at 2pm in the auditorium of the Sainsbury Laboratory at the Botanic Garden. Tickets are free but pre-booking is required. Please collect a ticket from the Garden Ticket Offices or email enquiries@botanic.cam.ac.uk or call 01223 336265.

The talk will last about 45 minutes, followed by questions and a book signing.

More about the book:

Revealing the allure and wonder of orchids, following their story through history and exploring how key themes of science, empire, sex and death have shaped orchids and how orchids, in return have shaped our own investigations and associations. Find out how Darwin's theory of evolution became intimately entangled with the story of the orchid as well as the part they have played in our culture.

A preview of next Monday's meeting from @WellcomeLibrary? https://t.co/IEhXgdUxeP #slrgair #poeticgas #laughinggas pic.twitter.com/FRdAQj2n1z

— scilit-reading-group (@scilitreadgrp) February 17, 2017

Workshop - Magic Lanterns and Science

Programme:

9:30-10:15 - Coffee on arrival

10:15-10:30 - Introductory Comments. Sally Shuttleworth (University of Oxford) and Geoff Belknap (Leicester University), Constructing Scientific Communities Project.

10:30-12:00 - Panel 1: Approaches to Science and the Magic Lantern · Iwan Morus (University of Aberystwyth), 'Seeing the Light: Fact and Artefact in Victorian Lantern Culture' · Sarah Dellmann (Utrecht University), 'Images of Science and Scientists: Lantern Slides of Excursions from Utrecht University, NL (c. 1900-1950)' · Emily Hayes (Exeter University), 'Fashioned by physics: the 'scope and methods' of Halford Mackinder's geographical imagination'

12:00-1:00 - Lunch

1:00-2:30 - Panel 2: Magic Lanterns and Museums/Curation · Charlotte New and Meagan Smith (Royal Institution), 'Shedding light on yesterday: Highlighting the slide collections of the RI and relevant preservation' · Frank Gray (Screen archive South-east, Brighton), 'Working with Archive Collections: Development, Access and Historical Context'

2:30-3:00 - Coffee break

3:00-4:30 - Panel 3: Materiality of the lantern · Phillip Roberts (York University), 'Science and Media in the Industrial Revolution: Instrument Makers and the Magic Lantern Trade' · Kelly Wilder (De Montfort University), 'From Lantern Slides to Powerpoint: Photography and the Materiality of Projection' · Deac Rossell (Goldsmiths University), 'Changing Places: Tracking Magic Lantern Culture from Physics to Chemistry to Cinema'

4:30-4:45 - Closing Remarks. Joe Kember and Richard Crangle (Exeter University), Million Pictures Project.

6:15-7:15 - Drinks Reception

7:30-9:00 - Evening lantern show for the general public: · Jeremy Brooker, A Light on Albemarle Street: John Tyndall and the Magic Lantern

Further details here.

Talk - Visualization in medicine between script and print, c.1375-1550

Our current header: two aeronautical paintings by Louis Joseph Watteau, on display at the Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse, Lille 🖼️🖼️🎈🌬️ pic.twitter.com/uySLvkSBBO

— scilit-reading-group (@scilitreadgrp) February 15, 2017

'A Naturalist's Valentine', Edward Forbes: https://t.co/KTHq1u24Au #valentines ⛏️🐚#litsci pic.twitter.com/iTTnNGDCEP

— scilit-reading-group (@scilitreadgrp) February 14, 2017

Talk - A Lab of One's Own