Maclure of New Harmony: Scientist, Progressive Educator, Radical Philanthropist

4 European Sojourn (1800–1808)

40 European Sojourn (1800–1808) At the turn of the nineteenth century, Maclure left Philadelphia for Europe, where he remained until 1808. These were troubled years, when Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, overran Europe, and Britain prepared for an invasion.Withalltheturmoil,armiesandnaviesdashingbackandforth,momentous battles being fought on land and sea, and governments fleeing the French, Maclure still went about his business, meandering the countryside collecting rocks and minerals and recording his experiences in notebooks. ThereasonforMaclure’smovetoEuropeisunknown,asitwasformany of his seemingly sudden and idiosyncratic relocations. Perhaps this sophisticatedcosmopolitecouldtakeonlysomuchofprovincialAmerica ,despite his allegiance to the New World. It is also likely that after taking part in many field trips in the United States, he became particularly interested in geology,andrecognizingtheabsenceofgeologicalinstructionintheUnited States, he wanted to complete his education in Europe with its great geologists and schools of geology. Many years later, when he was a recognized geologist,hewrotethathehadhopedthathisEuropeanexplorationswould enable him to construct a geologic map of Europe, as he later did of the United States. But this task was thwarted by the complexity of the geology ofEuropewithitsconfusingpatternofintersectingmountainrangesandits many volcanoes—too ambitious an undertaking for one man.1 Four • European Sojourn (1800–1808) · 41 We learn from a letter to Thomas Jefferson that in the summer of 1801, he had visited Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Prussia, and parts of Germany and France, and that after residing in Paris for a few months, he had left for England. In Paris he had met with their mutual friend Volney . Although French politics had become so complicated—“beyond my comprehension”—Maclure informed Jefferson that the conditions of the poor in France were much improved, the houses of the rich were in a state of disrepair, and property was now more equitably distributed. Five months later he wrote Jefferson again, and after informing him that he had been to Germany and the Rhine, he launched into a discussion of farming practices, the properties of soil, and the growing of tobacco in Germany and Virginia. He continued with a lecture on economics, banking, and paper money—earnest matters indeed!2 Through constant correspondence, Americans learned much about what was going on in Europe, and conversely Maclure must have been a knowledgeable source of information for Europeans. While visiting Sweden, Maclure visited the laboratory of the eminent chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, a pioneering scientist involved in electrochemicaltheory ,thenotionofatomicandmolecularweights,andchemical composition—the very foundation of modern chemistry (and geology). Although Maclure had an “inordinate appetite for experience” in order to know “the secrets of the world,”3 in fact, painstaking experimentation, necessary for the validation of new theories in the furtherance of science, was not Maclure’s approach (as it was for Berzelius), for it did not suit his restless temperament. There is little doubt that Maclure was thoughtful and creative. But his classrooms were rock formations as well as factories, chemical works, and mines—instruments of the burgeoning Industrial Revolution—not the laboratory. Although travel was slow and isolating and communication was poor, aworldwidenetworkofwell-informedpeoplewithbroadintereststhrived as an agency for the free flow of information. One of the important networks centered around Thomas Jefferson, who seemed to attract countless able people, American and European. Young Americans streamed to Europeongrandtoursforoneortwoyearsbeforesettlingdowntoserious family matters, not only to lead the good life away from parental control and societal scrutiny but also to acquire cultural polish and advanced training in special fields of interest. They gravitated to London and Paris, 42 · Maclure of New Harmony despite Bonaparte’s plan to invade England (brought to a hasty end by the British navy at Trafalgar in 1805). Paris was the center of advanced thinking , the home of major figures in science and art, and conveniently close to all other intellectual and artistic centers. IntherunningbattlebetweenEnglandandFrance,thenewbornUnited Stateswiselyadoptedaneutralstance,foritwashardlyinapositiontofight a war. While its foreign trade grew, and the populace began to flow into the hinterland, especially to the southeast, its ships became the victims of hostile seizure by England and France (each for its own reason), both of whom were rather contemptuous of the upstart republic, its pretensions, and its feeblemilitarycapabilities.WiththesigningofJay’sTreatyin1794,England and the United States ended their hostilities, and American citizens were permittedtoseekredressfortheirwartimelosses.Butactiveconflictonthe high seas escalated into an undeclared war between the United States and France, part of a feared Anglo-American coalition, during which American goods were seized by French naval vessels and privateers (1797–99). AftercostlydefeatsoftheFrenchfleetinflictedbytheAmericanandBritish navies, a besieged Bonaparte thought it best to neutralize the Americans, freeing him to concentrate his forces...