The Age of Wonder (93 page)

British Association for the Advancement of Science: proposed and founded, xix, 440, 446; early meetings, 446-50, 452, 460; women attend, 447, 452; public and press reception, 452-3; women members, 459-60

British Balloon Club, 137, 147

British Library (new), 404n

British Museum: Davy’s trusteeship, 403-4

Brock, Claire:
Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel’s Astronomical Ambition,
201n

Brontë, Anne:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,
455

Brougham, Henry
(later
Baron), 299

Brown, Dr John, 255

Browne, Sir Thomas, 321

Bryan, Margaret, 179

Buchan, Alexander, 13-15, 44

Buckland, William, 447, 452, 460

Buddle, John, 361-3, 368-9, 372, 375

Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de, 204

Bullman, Mrs (Herschel’s Bath neighbour), 82

Burch, Druin:
Digging up the Dead,
284n

Burney, Charles, 136, 140, 166, 174-5

Burney, Esther, 306

Burney, Fanny (Mme d’Arblay), 41, 50, 174-6, 188; mastectomy without anaesthetic, 283, 305-6

Burns, Robert, 213

Burton, Robert:
Anatomy of Melancholy,
323

Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron, 205, 250, 276, 307, 318, 327, 338, 378, 380, 384-5, 431, 457;
The Bride of Abydos,
350;
Childe Harold,
250; ‘Darkness’, 383;
Don Juan,
350, 380, 385

Cabanis, Pierre, 322

Calais: monument to first balloon crossing of Channel, 151-2

caloric (supposed element), 250, 277

Cambridge: third British Association meeting (1833), 447-50, 452

Camden, John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess of, 223, 226, 231

Cameron, Julia Margaret, 465

Campbell, Thomas, 209-10, 409

Cape Town: John Herschel and family in, 462-5

carbon dioxide: in respiration, 245-6

carbon monoxide, 257-8

Carlile, Richard, 336;
Address to the Men of Science,
336

Carlisle, Sir Anthony, 245, 274, 283

Carlyle, Thomas:
Signs of the Times,
435

Cassini, Jacques, 101, 181

Cavallo, Tiberius, 143, 168, 171

Cavendish, Henry: and discovery of Uranus, 101; discovers hydrogen with Priestley, 127, 133, 158; and ballooning, 134, 158; analyses upper atmosphere, 147-8; visits Herschel, 199; Marie-Anne Paulze (Lavoisier) translates, 248; interviews Davy for Royal Institution post, 277; and founding of Royal Institution, 285; in Walker’s composite portrait, 303; in Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein,
328; Davy praises, 344

Chalmers, Thomas, 447, 452;
Discourses on Astronomy,
209

Chambers, Neil, 57n

Chapman, George, 206

Charles, Alexandre, 126, 131-3, 146-7, 152

Charlotte, Queen of George III, 174, 177-9

Charlotte Augusta Matilda, Princess Royal, 111, 177

Châtelet, Gabrielle-Émilie, Marquise du, 179, 201n

chemistry: Davy’s interest in, 244, 247, 254-5, 257, 275; Lavoisier’s eminence in, 248; attacked as charlatanry, 273; Davy lectures on, 288; and electricity, 296; Davy writes on, 343-5, 355; Davy claims as crown of liberal education, 430; John Herschel idealises, 444

Chenevix, Richard, 328-9

child labour: Victorian control of, 375

Christianson, Gale:
Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae,
84n, 119n

City Philosophical Society, 352, 358, 363

Clanny, Dr William, 351, 363, 370-1, 375

Clarke, Charles Cowden, 206-7

Clay Hall, near Windsor, 164

Clayfield, William, 257-8, 294

Clerke, Captain Charles, 53

Clift, William, 307

climate change: in early nineteenth century, 383

Cline, Henry, 306-7, 316

clouds: classified, 159-60

coal mines: fire-damp danger, 351, 361, 370;
see also
miners’ safety lamp

Coal Mines Safety Committee, 361, 363

Coates, Mr (of Bristol), 265

Cockney School of poets, 318

Coke, Lady Mary, 41, 43

Coleridge, Revd John, 111

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: on scientific endeavour, 48n; on Banks as source of drugs, 56; published by Johnson, 106, 271; shown night sky as child, 111-12; moon and star imagery in poems, 113n; on clouds, 160; on ballooning, 161; stands godfather to Wordsworth’s son John, 203n; on concept of the infinite, 205n; and redemption by vision of life, 220; regional roots, 236; and Pantisocracy, 252; friendship with Davy, 266-8, 448; inhales nitrous oxide, 267; on psychosomaticism, 267, 315n; ‘conversation poems’, 268, 316; influence on Davy, 268, 270, 276; and Davy’s experiments on galvanism, 274; scientific observations, 274; on Davy’s romantic attachments, 281; on pain, 282-3, 417; and Davy’s view of therapeutic value of science, 290; on ‘the One Life’, 291, 316; on Davy’s success in London, 292-3, 340; opium addiction, 292, 297, 307-8; on Mediterranean tour, 293, 295; Davy invites to lecture at Royal Institution, 295, 297; returns from Mediterranean, 297; lectures on ‘Poetry and the Imagination’ at Royal Institution, 299-300, 467; and Beddoes’s death, 302; on effect of celebrity on Davy, 304; treated by Abernethy, 307-8, 311; with Gillman in Highgate, 308, 321-2; on ‘science of mind’, 314; absent from Haydon’s ‘Immortal Dinner’, 318, 320; letter from Southey on Davy’s rejection of poetry, 320; understands formation of rainbow, 320-1; in Vitalism debate, 321-2; on evolution, 322; and ‘Theory of Life’, 322; edits
The Friend,
340; estrangement from Davy, 340, 346; quarrel with Wordsworth, 340; on Davy’s contribution to science, 345-6; and Davy’s philosophical speculations, 357; on chance and inspiration in Davy’s scientific discoveries, 367-8; on steamships, 382; depicted in Davy’s
Salmonia,
417; on Newton and Shakespeare, 429 & n; on new poetry, 438n; effect of poetry on John Stuart Mill, 441; attends Cambridge meeting of British Association, 448; friendship with Faraday, 448-9; obituary, 460;
The Ancient Mariner,
18n, 112, 219-20;
Biographia Literaria,
431, 449; ‘Christabel’, 266;
Church and State,
205n; ‘Does Fortune Favour Fools?’, 367; ‘Kubla Khan’, 59, 267;
Lyrical Ballads
(with Wordsworth), 254, 268, 275, 283, 291;
Notebooks,
274, 321; ‘Notes Towards a New Theory of Life’ (with Gillman), 321;
Philosophical Lectures,
xvi; ‘The Three Graves’, 212; ‘Youth and Age’, 382

Colonial Office: finances Mungo Park’s second expedition, 222, 231

combustion, 245, 247

Comet,
HMS, 412

comets: Caroline Herschel discovery of, 171-4, 176, 188, 193; nature of, 172

Commerson, Philibert, 3, 11

computers: Babbage devises early machine, 437-8

Condillac, Étienne Bonnot de, 249

Condorcet, M.J.A.N. de Caritat, Marquis de, 125, 128;
Life of Voltaire,
261

Conduit, John, xviiin

Connaissance des Temps, La
(annual), 88n, 124, 172, 175-6

Conrad, Joseph, 220;
Heart of Darkness,
228n

consciousness, 322

Constable, John: cloud paintings, 160

Conte, Nicolas, 156

Cook, Captain James: commands
Endeavour
voyage, xvi, 3-6, 9-11, 13; wariness of venereal disease, 4, 18; on
Niger
expedition, 9; and seaman’s suicide on
Endeavour,
14; security on Tahiti, 15-16; activities in Tahiti, 20, 23, 35; observes Transit of Venus, 21; on sexual practices in Tahiti, 26; impounds Tahitian canoes, 27-8; circumnavigates Tahiti, 29-32; takes Tahitian hostages, 34; explores New Zealand and Australia, 38 & n; on civilised and indigenous peoples, 39; praised on return from voyage, 42-3; journal appropriated by officials, 44; second Pacific expedition
(Resolution,
1772), 46-7; third Pacific expedition (1777), 61; invites James Lind on second voyage, 121n; killed in Hawaii, 53-4; Charles Darwin studies voyages,
461; Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean
(ed. John Rickman), 53;
A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World,
51

Cooke, T.P., 334-5

Cooper, Astley, 306-7, 316, 323

Copernicus, Nikolaus, 205, 247

Cornwall, 236-8, 268, 350

Cottle, Joseph, 251, 254, 256, 258-9, 263-4

Courier
(newspaper), 408

Coutelle, Carles, 156

Coutts & Co. (bankers), 251

Cowper, William, 51;
The Task
(poem), 51-2

craniology, 310-11

Creation, xviii, 91, 198, 451, 454, 459

Crick, Francis, 373n

Croker, John Wilson, 405

Crosse, Andrew, 419-20

Crowe, Michael J.:
The Extraterrestrial Life Debate,
168n

Cruikshank, George, 453

Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of, 69

Cuvier, Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron, 7, 57, 306, 310, 312, 353, 430, 439, 454

Dalton, John, 236, 247, 303, 394, 399, 447, 448

Darwin, Caroline, 461

Darwin, Charles: voyages on
Beagle,
xvi, 438, 446-7, 455, 461; visits Tahiti, 59n; posits other possible solar systems, 106-7; on biological evolution, 204; theory of evolution by natural selection, 313, 451 & n, 461; refers to Davy’s
Consolations in Travel,
430; influenced by John Herschel’s
Study of Natural Philosophy,
445, 461; at Cambridge, 460-1; visits Herschels in Cape Town, 462-3; achievements, 468;
On the Origin of Species,
445, 451

Darwin, Erasmus: friendship with Joseph Wright of Derby, xix; on Pilâtre’s death, 155; on early balloonists, 161; on Herschel’s view of cosmos, 197-8; friendship with Beddoes, 250; Coleridge on, 322; and artificial generation of life, 327; and plausibility of
Frankenstein,
328; and ‘voice of Love’, 379; Mary Shelley on, 457;
The Botanic Garden,
92, 106, 107n, 193, 197, 344

Datchet, near Windsor, 111, 114, 117

Davy, Edmund (Humphry’s cousin), 298n

Davy, Grace
(née
Millet; Humphry’s mother), 237-9, 250, 253, 259, 266, 268, 343, 397, 412, 414

Davy, Sir Humphry: discoveries, xx; on Herschel’s discovery of infra-red light, 199; praises Hypatia of Alexandria, 201n, 248; appearance and character, 235-6, 239, 359; Banks’s interest in, 235; poetry, 235, 240, 242, 243, 254, 259-60, 265-6, 268-9, 275-6, 279-80, 300, 354, 360, 378-9, 415-16, 518, 522-3; spoken French, 235, 242; background and upbringing, 236-40, 243; story-telling, 239; apprenticed to Borlase (surgeon-apothecary), 241; career at Royal Institution, 241n, 272, 277, 285, 292; reading, 242-3; early writings, 243, 254-5, 272; keeps diary and notebook, 243-5, 270, 275, 298, 357; interest in chemistry, 244-5, 247, 254-5, 257, 275; on alchemists, 247-8; influenced by Lavoisier, 248-9; early chemical experiments, 249-50; works with Beddoes at Pneumatic Institute, 252-3, 255-9, 263; on human consciousness and physiology, 254-5; near-death from inhaling carbon monoxide, 257-8; experiments with nitrous oxide, 258-67, 269-70, 281, 315n, 348; experiments on self, 258-62, 269-70; friendship and correspondence with Southey, 265, 293; forms friendship with Coleridge, 266-8, 293, 448; first visit to London, 267; belief in science, 268; uses Watt’s portable gas chamber, 269; philosophical and intellectual speculation, 270, 357, 360-1, 424-30, 450; experiments on animals, 271; self-criticism and reappraisal of scientific method, 272; attacked and satirised, 273; interest in electricity, 273-4, 295-6; attracted to Anna Beddoes, 278-81, 288; romantic experiences, 281; and anaesthetic potential of nitrous oxide, 282, 284; leaves Bristol for London, 285; lectures and demonstrations, 285-92, 294-9, 304, 309, 325, 337, 340, 343; publishes papers in Royal Society’s
Philosophical Transactions,
286; addiction to nitrous oxide, 287; hints at romantic entanglements, 287-8; success and reputation, 287, 291, 303-4, 438; walking in Wales, 287; on philosophy and romance of science, 288-90; avoids revolutionary declaration, 289-90; attractivenes to young women, 291-2, 337; in cartoons by Rowlandson and Gillray, 291-2; influence on Coleridge and Wordsworth, 291; elected Fellow of Royal Society, 292; salary and payments, 292; and death of Gregory Watt, 293; and idea of soul, 294; awarded Royal Society’s Copley Medal, 295; invites Coleridge to lecture at Royal Institution, 295, 297, 299; visits Lake District, 295; fly-fishing and angling, 297, 337, 346, 349-60, 356, 359, 361, 377, 398, 413-14, 416; patriotism, 297; awards and honours, 299, 352; seriously ill with jail fever, 299, 301; hallucination of beautiful unknown woman, 301, 377-8, 425, 427; and Beddoes’s death, 302; in Walker’s composite portrait, 303; meets and falls for Jane Apreece, 304, 337-41; and Vitalism, 309-10, 421, 428, 431; on ‘mystery’ in life, 313n, 467; interest in Ritter, 328, 330; engagement and marriage to Jane, 342-3; knighthood, 342-3; honeymoon in Scotland, 346; eye injured in explosion, 347-8; research on explosives for war effort, 347; marriage relations, 348-50, 375-6, 397, 400-1, 412-14, 431; friendship with Byron, 350; Continental tour (1813-15), 352-5; first analyses iodine with Gay-Lussac, 353-4; writes on limits of contemporary scientific research, 355-6; investigates natural gases in Italy, 356-7; appointed Vice-President of Royal Institution, 358; buys house in Mayfair, 359; on eternal physical laws, 360; investigates fire-damp in coal mines, 361-4; develops safety lamp for miners, 364-70; awarded Rumford Medal from Royal Society, 369; baronetcy, 369; Stephenson disputes priority in developing safety lamp, 371-4; honoured in Newcastle, 374; two-year European tour with Jane (1818-20), 375-81; childlessness, 376; temper, 376; and Banks’s final illness and death, 380, 397; in Byron’s
Don Juan,
380; buys house in Park Street, 397; elected President of Royal Society, 397-401; shooting holiday with Sir Walter Scott, 398; revisits Penzance, 400-1; clumsy handling of Royal Society committee meetings, 401; jealousy of Faraday, 402; supposed involvement in laboratory injury to Faraday, 402-3; public activities and offices, 403-5; investigates copper hull corrosion on naval ships, 411-14; unpopularity at Royal Society, 412; satirised and mocked, 413; socialising, 413; Continental tour with brother John (1827), 414-15; heart disease and strokes, 414, 432-3; and mother’s death, 414, 428; resigns presidency of Royal Society, 419; final Continental tour (1828), 420-1; takes morphine, 420, 433; nursed by Josephine Dettela in Laibach, 421-3; sends late papers to Royal Society, 431-2; death, 433, 435; estate and bequests, 433-4; Babbage’s view of, 439; researches into electricity, 444; accepts Natural Theology, 450; on evolution, 455; Mary Somerville writes on, 458; ‘The Chemical Philosopher’, 249;
Collected Works
(ed. John Davy), 434;
Consolations in Travel,
248, 294, 356, 378, 424-33, 450;
Elements of Chemical Philosophy,
343-5, 356-7; ‘Essays on Heat and Light’, 250;
On the Safety Lamp for Coal Miners, with Some Researches into Flame,
370;
Researches Chemical and Philosophical,
264, 270-1, 277, 279, 281-4;
Salmonia, or Days of Fly-Fishing,
262, 416-20, 423-4, 432