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by Peter J. Bowler. Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 2001. xiii, 479 pp. $40.00 U.S. (cloth). Bowler's book shows that interest in the relationship between science and religion [...]

Silvanus Phillips Thompson supported scientists who did science for their own personal edification, in their free time. He believed that such work was edifying, and valuable to society, which reflected his Quaker religious views. The scientific career is seen as not just a job, but a way of life.

Herbert Spencer's evolutionary ideas related not just to the biological world but to the universe and everything in it. Human societies were also viewed through his evolutionary lens so that Spencer's evolutionary and political ideas are inextricably entwined. This essay looks at some of Spencer's ideas and attempts to locate them in the social and intellectual context of his youth. It also speculates on the rise and fall of Spencer's reputation.

Nineteenth-century science fraternities in England provided opportunities for scientists to expand their horizons while requiring scientists to conform to the organizations' established ideals of science, man, and nation. Younger scientists, upset with the exclusivity of the older organizations controlled by aristocrats, formed new exclusive social clubs. A man's promotion and reputation were often tied to the organizations to which he belonged.

In the early nineteenth century, scientific activity in London was located mainly in two areas, Westminster and the City of London. In Westminster, the Royal Society, a growing number of [...]

Chemistry and the Chemical Industry in the Nineteenth Century: The Henrys of Manchester and Other Studies, by Wilfred Farrar, edited by Richard L. Hills and W.H. Brock. Aldershot, Variorum, 1997. [...]

Herbert McLeod was appointed Professor of Experimental Science at the Royal Indian Engineering College (RIEC) in 1871. Some of his experience collected from his diary writings, with the scientific and social world during his fifteen years as a professor is outlined.

The need for a unified time system and for people to co-ordinate their activities in line with it, are discussed. The early evolution of electrical timekeeping in Britain is discussed, which ,over a period of time, made people understand that time could be distributed far and wide telegraphically, and could serve political and commercial interests.

Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper, by William H. Brock; pp. xiv + 374. Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1997, £50.00, $79.95. This book on Justus von [...]

Sir,--Lynn McDonald (Commentary, December 6,2013) shows why 2013 was a banner year for Mary Seacole. It was, however, one among many. Stories of Seacole's 'nursing' prowess have been circulating for [...]

In his 1983 book, The Eclipse of Darwin, Peter Bowler discussed the Lamarckian climate of much late nineteenth-century thinking on evolution. Departing from a whiggish historiography which portrayed (and by [...]

Letters left by the chemist Raphael Meldola show how Herbert Spencer's work was viewed by leading intellectuals in Britain just after his death in 1903. They show that the details of his work were largely forgotten and that there was division amongst Meldola's correspondents over the campaign, led by Meldola, to have a memorial tablet for Herbert Spence placed in Westminster Abbey.