This paper takes James David Forbes' Encyclopaedia Britannica entry, Dissertation Sixth, as a lens to examine physics as a cognitive, practical, and social enterprise. Forbes wrote this survey of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mathematical and physical sciences between 1852 and 1856, when British "physics" was at a pivotal point in its history, situated between a field identified by its mathematical methods - originating in France - and a discipline identified by its university laboratory institutions. Contemporary encyclopedias provided a nexus for publishers, the book trade, readers, and men of science in the formation of physics as a field. Forbes was both a witness, whose account of the progress of physics or natural philosophy can be explored at face value, and an agent, who exploited the opportunity offered by the Encyclopaedia Britannica in the mid nineteenth century to enroll the broadly educated public and scientific collective, illuminating the connection between the definition of physics and its forms of social practice. Forbes used the terms "physics" and "natural philosophy" interchangeably. He portrayed the field as progressed by the natural genius of great men who curated it within an associational culture that engendered true intellectual spirit. Although this societal mechanism was becoming ineffective, Forbes did not see university institutions as the way forward. Instead, running counter to his friend William Whewell, he advocated inclusion of the mechanical arts (engineering), and a strictly limited role for mathematics. He revealed tensions when the widely accepted discovery-based historiography conflicted with intellectual and moral worth, reflecting a nineteenth-century concern with spirit that cuts across twentieth-century questions about discipline and field.

中文翻译：

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JD Forbes 为大英百科全书 (1856) 撰写的论文第六篇中的物理学阶段

本文以 James David Forbes 的 Encyclopaedia Britannica 条目，Dissertation Sixth 作为镜头，将物理学视为一项认知、实践和社会事业。福布斯在 1852 年至 1856 年间撰写了这份关于 18 和 19 世纪数学和物理科学的综述，当时英国“物理学”正处于其历史上的一个关键点，位于由其数学方法确定的领域（起源于法国）和由其大学实验室机构确定的学科。当代百科全书为出版商、图书贸易、读者和科学工作者在物理学这一领域的形成过程中提供了联系。福布斯既是见证者，他对物理学或自然哲学进步的描述可以从表面上进行探索，同时也是代理人，他们利用 19 世纪中叶大英百科全书提供的机会招募受过广泛教育的公众和科学团体，阐明物理学的定义与其社会实践形式之间的联系。福布斯交替使用“物理学”和“自然哲学”这两个术语。他将这个领域描述为由伟人的自然天才推动的，他们在产生真正知识精神的联合文化中策划了这个领域。尽管这种社会机制变得无效，但福布斯并未将大学机构视为前进的方向。相反，与他的朋友威廉·惠厄尔背道而驰，他主张将机械艺术（工程）纳入其中，并严格限制数学的作用。