Instruments and the Imagination

by Thomas L. Hankins, Robert J. Silverman

Thomas Hankins and Robert Silverman investigate an array of instruments from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century that seem at first to be marginal to science--magnetic clocks that were said to operate by the movements of sunflower seeds, magic lanterns, ocular harpsichords (machines that played different colored lights in harmonious mixtures), Aeolian harps (a form of wind chime), and other instruments of "natural magic" designed to produce wondrous effects. By looking at these and the first recording instruments, the stereoscope, and speaking machines, the authors show that "scientific instruments" first made their appearance as devices used to evoke wonder in the beholder, as in works of magic and the theater. The authors also demonstrate that these instruments, even though they were often "tricks," were seen by their inventors as more than trickery. In the view of Athanasius Kircher, for instance, the sunflower clock was not merely a hoax, but an effort to demonstrate, however fraudulently, his truly held belief that the ability of a flower to follow the sun was due to the same cosmic magnetic influence as that which moved the planets and caused the rotation of the earth. The marvels revealed in this work raise and answer questions about the connections between natural science and natural magic, the meaning of demonstration, the role of language and the senses in science, and the connections among art, music, literature, and natural science.

Genres: History Of Science

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine work of scholarship and a brilliant read. This is the history of science like you've never read it before. Instead of the great minds searching out the great theories and testing them by the great experiments, Silverman and Hankins describe the fraudsters, magicians, crackpots and inventors who created the whole panoply of weird and wonderful scientific instruments in Europe from about 1600 to 1900. They claim that this wacky side of the history of science has a lot to teach us about the nature of scientific enquiry, and they're right. Highly recommended.

[Allan Olley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting academic history of various instruments that sit somewhere between what we might now think of as science and showmanship. What the authors call natural magic (applied philosophy of nature). Each chapter discusses a different class of instruments and a different context emerges although some themes recur. While often focused on marginal figures major thinkers like Descartes, Galileo and Helmholtz also play a role. There are links here to the history of stage magic. romantic approaches to science and also the history of graphs and visual thinking and should give one plenty of food for thought.

There are some defects. The authors like to contend that the role of instruments in defining science has been underappreciated in history of science but by 1995 when this book was written there had been major studies (like Leviathan and the Air Pump) that addressed this link and the connection was as far as I can tell well recognized (ignoring that scientists themselves often make the link in their reflective writing). Also, while the examples and discussions are suggestive that there are interesting innovations that do not fit into our current conception of either science or technology, it is not clear if this potential can be realized.

It would be interested to survey what effects this book has had in the literature.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am only skimming this book at present. But my impression is that it describes the transition of science from a realm of witchery in the year 1500 or so to the collection of facts and data we think of as science today. It isn't what I'm looking for at the moment but I do want to read it more closely in the future. The method for illustrating the transition includes stories about "magical" contraptions and grand stories concocted by pseduo-scientists whom we today might think of as magicians or illusionists. There is also a bit of talk about period philosophical notionery.

The book is about 225 pages. A hundred pages of footnotes and references are appended to the end of that.