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The Dublin Philosophical Society and the New Learning in Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

K. Theodore Hoppen
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Extract

The study of the history of science has only within the last few decades attained the rank of an important field of enquiry for both scientist and historian. It was thus almost inevitable that, at first, attention should have been focused on the great and original thinkers like Boyle, Newton, Descartes, and Leibniz. But this type of approach frequently results in the presentation of a distorted picture, for few men are geniuses, and these are not truly representative of their age. The Irish scientists of the late seventeenth Century, who ranged from the very able to the pedantically dull, are far more typical examples of contemporary natural philosophers than are Newton or Boyle.

In 1680, science in Ireland was still a rare and infrequent study, and it must be admitted that the country had fallen behind the rest of Europe not only in the natural sciences but also in almost all other intellectual disciplines.

Type
Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 54 , September 1964 , pp. 99 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1964

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References

1 Turnbull, G. H., Hartlib, Drury, and Comenius (Liverpool 1947), p. 204.Google Scholar

2 Ibid.

3 D.N.B. (1908-9 edition), ‘ Nathanial Carpenter ’, by W. P. Gourtney.

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9 Marsh was in fact English, although living in Ireland.

10 Molyneux had a sheet of geographical queries printed, and these were distributed around Ireland. One is reproduced in K. T. Hoppen, ‘ Some queries for a seventeenth Century natural history of Ireland ’, (The Irish Book, ii. 60–61 (1963)). Eventually only four of the projected eleven volumes of Pitt's Atlas appeared, and the Irish material was never used.

11 B.M., Add MS 4223, f. 34. This is a short anonymous account of the life of William Molyneux, most probably written by his son about 1728.

12 Capel Molyneux, An account of the family and descendants of Sir Thomas Molyneux Kt. (Evesham 1820), p. 60. This work contains (PP. 51–78) a ‘Memorial of the life of Wm Molyneux by himself. July 1694 ’, the manuscript of which has since been lost. For an account of Molyneux's scientific interests see K. T. Hoppen, ‘ the Royal Society and Ireland’, in Notes and Records of the Royal Society, xviii. 125–35(1963)

13 C. Molyneux, Account of the family of Molyneux, pp. 63–4.

14 The membership list for 28 Jan. 1683-4 is in B.M. Add. MS 4811, f. 160. This is the minute book of the society.

15 William to Thomas Molyneux, 10 May 1684, (Dublin University Magazine, xviii. 481 (1841)). The Originals of this correspondence are no longer extant.Google Scholar

16 In 1687 the society made an attempt to establish a correspondence with Pierre Bayle (cf. B.M. Add. MS 4811, f. 141), but as it ceased to meet in the April of that year, the scheme came to nothing.

17 For the membership list of 27 Dec. 1684 cf. William Molyneux to Francis Aston (secretary to the Royal Society), 27 Dec. 1684 (Royal Society Library, MS Early Letters M.1.88). The relevant part of this letter is printed in T. Birch, History of the Royal Society (London, 1756–7), iv 353.

18 In the society's transactions he features as ‘ Mr Patterson’. I have identified him as Josias Patterson, Cf. H. F. Berry, ‘The ancient Corporation of barber-surgeons, or Gild of St Mary Magdalene, Dublin’, in R. S. A. I. Jn., xxxiii. 231 (1903).

19 F. S. Taylor, ‘An early satirical poem on the Royal Society’, Notes and Records, v. 38 (1947).

20 Ashe to William Musgrave (secretary to the Oxford Society), l5 July 1687 (Royal Society Library MS Early Letters A.39).

21 ‘St George Ashe's speech to Lord Clarendon’, T.G.D. MS I.4.17 No. 2. This was delivered when Clarendon attended a meeting of the society in January 1685–6. It is printed in I. Ehrenpreis, Swift, the man, his works, and the age (London, 1962), pp. 275–8.

22 Membership of the Dublin Society did not necessarily imply scientific eminence, but only an interest in natural philosophy

23 Ashe to Musgrave, 15 July 1687 (Royal Society Library MS Early Letters A.39).

24 Willoughby to William King, 10 Mar. 1692–3, T.C.D.. Lyon MS no. 224.

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27 Samuel Molyneux to Ashe, 6 Dec. 1707, in Southampton Civic Centre Archives, MS D/M 1/2 p. 23. This is Samuel Molyneux's letter-book for the period from 1706 to 1710.

28 B.M., Add. MS 4812, ff. 30-31. Printed in The works of George Berkeley, ed. Luce, A. A. and Jessop, T. E. (London, 1947–57), iv. 235–8, from a copy in the Molyneux Papers at T.G.D.Google Scholar

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32 Ibid., p. 218.

33 Ibid., pp. 222-3.

34 Ibid., p. 61.

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40 Ibid.

41 Ibid.

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48 Marsh's diary, ibid., pp. 12, 13, 15.

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51 Westfall, R. S., Science and religion in seventeenth-century England (New Haven, 1958), p. 133. Petty's general attitude towards religion makes one wonder how seriously he took his own scheme.Google Scholar

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53 Molyneux, W. (ed. and trans.), Six Metaphysical meditations wherein it is proved that there is a God (London, 1680). From the preface, which is not paginated.Google Scholar

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58 Quoted by Toulmin, S. and Goodfield, J., The fabric of the heavens (London, 1961), p. 251.Google Scholar

59 The works of the honourable Robert Boyle (1772), v. 515.Google Scholar