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Science and Sound in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Philosophies and Epistemologies of Sound book cover

1st Edition

Science and Sound in Nineteenth-Century Britain Philosophies and Epistemologies of Sound

Edited By Edward J. Gillin Copyright 2024
    430 Pages
    by Routledge

    457 Pages
    by Routledge
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    Science and Sound in Nineteenth-Century Britain is a four-volume set of primary sources which seeks to define our historical understanding of the relationship between British scientific knowledge and sound between 1815 and 1900. In the context of rapid urbanization and industrialization, as well as a growing overseas empire, Britain was home to a rich scientific culture in which the ear was as valuable an organ as the eye for examining nature. Experiments on how sound behaved informed new understandings of how a diverse array of natural phenomena operated, notably those of heat, light, and electro-magnetism. In nineteenth-century Britain, sound was not just a phenomenon to be studied, but central to the practice of science itself and broader understandings over nature and the universe. This collection, accompanied by extensive editorial commentary, will be of great interest to students and scholars of the History of Science.

    1. John Herschel, ‘Sound’, Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, Vol. IV, (London, 1830), pp. 747-824.

    2. John Herschel, A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green: London, 1831), pp. 246-264.

    3. Mary Somerville, Mechanism of the Heavens, (John Murray: London, 1831), pp. lvi-lviii.

    4. Mary Somerville, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, (John Murray: London, 1834), pp. 130-162.

    5. David Brewster, "Review of On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences", Edinburgh Review, Vol. 59, (Apr., 1834), pp. 154-171.

    6. Mary Somerville, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, 2nd Edition, (John Murray: London, 1835), pp. 148-179 inc. plates 1-4.

    7. William Whewell, Astronomy and General Physics; considered with reference to natural theology, (William Pickering: London, 1833), pp. 96-118.

    8. William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Time, Vol. 1 of 3, (London: John W. Parker, 1837), pp. 102-105.

    9. William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Time, Vol. 2 of 3, 3rd edition (London: John W. Parker, 1858), pp. 23-47.

    10. William Whewell, The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded Upon their History, Vol. 1 of 2, 2nd Edition, (John W. Parker: London, 1847), pp. 295-306.

    11. Christopher Wordsworth, Sacred Music: A Sermon, Preached at the Anniversary of the Choral Association of the Diocese of Llandaff, in the Cathedral Church of Llandaff, Sept., 2, 1868, (Rivingtons: London, 1868), pp. 5-22.

    12. W. Mullinger Higgins, The Philosophy of Sound, and History of Music, (Wm S. Orr and Co: London, 1838), pp. 7-35

    13. Thomas Aveling, Recreations, Physical and Mental, Lawful and Unlawful: A Lecture, (London, 1849), pp. 24-29.

    14. Herbert Spencer, ‘Progress: its Law and Cause’, in Essays Scientific, Political, and Speculative, (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts), pp. 1-54.

    15. Herbert Spencer, "The Origin and Function of Music", in Essays Scientific, Political, and speculative, (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts), pp. 359-384.

    16. Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol 2 of 2, (London: John Murray, 1871), pp. 51-68, 274-278, 330-337.

    17. Herbert Spencer, ‘On the Origin of Music", Mind 16/64 (Oct., 1891), pp. 535-537.

    Index

    Biography

    Dr Edward J. Gillin is Lecturer in the History of Building Sciences and Technology at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction in University College London. A cultural historian of nineteenth-century Britain, he specialises in questions of science, technology, and architecture, and how these relate to broader histories of society, politics, and religion.

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