We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part I - John Tyndall
Dr. Tyndall has, in fact, martyred his scientific authority by deservedly winning distinction in the popular field. One learns too late that he cannot ‘make the best of both worlds’.
P. G. Tait, Nature, 1873Mr. Lewes, though approaching physiological science as a littérateur and not as an officially trained exponent, has compelled members of the guil (Zunft) to allow him a hearing.
Review of G. H. Lewes, The Physical Basis of Mind, Examiner, 1877Our epigraphs serve two purposes. First, they disrupt the classification, by contemporaries and historians, of Tyndall as an expert and Lewes as a popularizer. John Tyndall (1820–93), although an expert experimental physicist and member of the scientific elite, was by the end of his life better known as a popularizer, or‘expositor’, of science. George Henry Lewes (1817–78), by occupation a journalist, critic and popular writer, tried to establish his credentials as a scientific researcher. Here, Lewes is praised for his expertise and Tyndall praised, backhandedly, for ‘distinction in the popular field’.
Second, the epigraphs hint at the contested nature of scientific authority in Victorian Britain. Tait's criticism of Tyndall was made during a series of bitter exchanges. His hostility was driven by personal antagonism, philosophical objections to Tyndall's metaphysical naturalism and nationalist indignation at Tyndall's denigration of Tait's fellow Scottish natural philosophers.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
