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Science Periodicals in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Constructing Scientific Communities ed. by Gowan Dawson et al. (review)
Victorian Periodicals Review ( IF 0.3 ) Pub Date : 2021-06-24
Rachel Crossland

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:

  • Science Periodicals in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Constructing Scientific Communities ed. by Gowan Dawson et al.
  • Rachel Crossland (bio)
Gowan Dawson Bernard Lightman Sally Shuttleworth, and Jonathan R. Topham, eds., Science Periodicals in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Constructing Scientific Communities\ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020), pp. viii + 400, $55 cloth.

Bringing together research by historians of science and scholars of literature and science, Science Periodicals in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Constructing Scientific Communities explores in detail the two-way relationship between nineteenth-century science periodicals and scientific communities. It demonstrates how the material conditions of periodical production and the different readerships targeted and constructed by science periodicals influenced the ways in which scientific societies and publications developed at specific moments. These factors, in turn, affected the broader development of scientific disciplines themselves. By including readers as active participants and contributors, commercial science publications could improve their chances in an increasingly competitive periodical market. However, questions of authority, legitimacy, and inclusivity were never far away, leading to complex negotiations between scientists and amateurs and between societies and commercial publishers. As Geoffrey Belknap stresses at the end of chapter five, balance was key.

The volume begins with an introduction by Gowan Dawson and Jonathan R. Topham that situates this study in relation to previous work on both nineteenth-century science periodicals and communities. Dawson and Topham are clear about what this volume can and cannot do: given that "a conservative estimate suggests that something well in excess of a thousand" scientific periodicals were published in nineteenth-century Britain, the individual [End Page 147] chapters consider "a series of representative examples" rather than providing "comprehensive treatment" (5). This means that certain sciences, including chemistry, do not feature. This volume will certainly form a stepping stone to further work on science periodicals, including non-British publications and periodicals focused on sciences not covered here.

Part one, "New Formats for New Readers," consists of three essays that provide a broad overview of nineteenth-century science periodicals and their material contexts. These chapters will be significant touchstones for further research in this field, and there is much here of use to periodical researchers working in other areas as well. Dawson and Topham explore the availability, changes to, and development of scientific, medical, and technical periodicals from the end of the eighteenth century through the end of the nineteenth, showing how such developments fit into the growth of nineteenth-century periodicals more broadly. In chapter two, Topham argues convincingly for the importance of attention to changing technologies of illustration in the period between 1790 and 1840, and he explores the relative advantages and disadvantages of each technology in terms of ease of use, expense, and aesthetics. Alex Csiszar then looks at the complicated relationships between the transactions, proceedings, and journals of learned societies and the ways in which each format developed in response to the commercial press.

After these more general chapters, part two, "Defining the Communities of Science," moves to essays focused on particular areas of science in order to provide case studies of associated periodicals. Thus we have Dawson on geology journals, Belknap on natural history periodicals, Matthew Wale on just one entomology publication, Graeme Gooday on physics periodicals, and Bernard Lightman on astronomical society journals. The chapters take rather different approaches. While Dawson seeks to cover a broad range of publications, others employ a more limited but detailed focus, and Wale looks at a single periodical, the Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer. These different methodologies sit well alongside each other and highlight the utility of each to periodical research.

The two essays in part three, "Managing the Boundaries of Medicine," consider journals dealing with medical and public health topics. Sally Frampton makes a convincing case for the value of "publicly oriented medical titles," which were rejected by the professional medical community at the time and have been overlooked by historians of medicine since (330). Similarly, Sally Shuttleworth focuses on sanitary and public health journals which, she argues, have been unfairly overlooked. A select bibliography at the end of the book provides a valuable resource for researchers in this field. Unfortunately, I could not find the "useful searchable list of more than one thousand British science...



中文翻译:

十九世纪英国的科学期刊:构建科学社区编辑。作者:Gowan Dawson 等。(审查)

代替摘要,这里是内容的简短摘录:

审核人:

  • 十九世纪英国的科学期刊:构建科学社区编辑。作者:Gowan Dawson 等。
  • 雷切尔克罗斯兰(生物)
Gowan Dawson Bernard Lightman Sally Shuttleworth 和 Jonathan R. Topham 编辑,十九世纪英国的科学期刊:构建科学社区\(芝加哥:芝加哥大学出版社,2020 年),第 viii + 400 页,55 美元布。

汇集科学史家和文学与科学学者的研究,《十九世纪英国的科学期刊:构建科学共同体》详细探讨了 19 世纪科学期刊与科学界之间的双向关系。它展示了期刊生产的物质条件以及科学期刊针对和构建的不同读者群如何影响科学社会和出版物在特定时刻的发展方式。这些因素反过来又影响了科学学科本身的更广泛发展。通过让读者成为积极的参与者和贡献者,商业科学出版物可以提高他们在竞争日益激烈的期刊市场中的机会。然而,权威、合法性和包容性的问题从未远离,导致科学家和业余爱好者之间以及社会和商业出版商之间的复杂谈判。

本书以 Gowan Dawson 和 Jonathan R. Topham 的介绍开始,将本研究与 19 世纪科学期刊和社区的先前工作联系起来。Dawson 和 Topham 很清楚这本书能做什么,不能做什么:鉴于“保守估计表明有超过一千种”科学期刊在 19 世纪的英国出版,个别[End Page 147]章节认为“一系列具有代表性的例子”,而不是提供“综合处理”(5)。这意味着某些科学,包括化学,没有特色。这本书肯定会成为进一步研究科学期刊的垫脚石,

第一部分“新读者的新格式”由三篇文章组成,对 19 世纪的科学期刊及其材料背景进行了广泛的概述。这些章节将成为该领域进一步研究的重要试金石,对在其他领域工作的期刊研究人员也有很多用处。Dawson 和 Topham 探索了从 18 世纪末到 19 世纪末科学、医学和技术期刊的可用性、变化和发展,展示了这些发展如何更广泛地适应 19 世纪期刊的发展。在第二章中,托普汉姆令人信服地论证了关注 1790 年至 1840 年间不断变化的插图技术的重要性,他探讨了每种技术在易用性、费用和美观方面的相对优势和劣势。Alex Csiszar 然后研究了学术团体的交易、会议记录和期刊之间的复杂关系,以及每种格式为响应商业新闻而发展的方式。

在这些更一般的章节之后,第二部分“定义科学共同体”转向专注于特定科学领域的论文,以提供相关期刊的案例研究。因此,我们有地质学期刊的 Dawson、自然历史期刊的 Belknap、昆虫学期刊的 Matthew Wale、物理学期刊的 Graeme Gooday 和天文学学会期刊的 Bernard Lightman。各章采取了截然不同的方法。虽然道森试图涵盖广泛的出版物,但其他人则采用更有限但更详细的重点,而威尔则着眼于单一期刊,昆虫学家周刊情报员。这些不同的方法论彼此并存,并突出了每种方法对定期研究的效用。

第三部分“管理医学边界”中的两篇文章考虑了处理医学和公共卫生主题的期刊。莎莉·弗兰普顿 (Sally Frampton) 为“面向公众的医学头衔”的价值提出了令人信服的理由,当时这些头衔被专业医学界拒绝,自 (330) 以来一直被医学史学家忽视。同样,Sally Shuttleworth 专注于卫生和公共卫生期刊,她认为这些期刊被不公平地忽视了。本书末尾的精选参考书目为该领域的研究人员提供了宝贵的资源。不幸的是,我找不到“超过一千个英国科学的有用搜索列表......

更新日期:2021-06-24
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