Science Serialized: Representations of the Sciences in Nineteenth-Century Periodicals (review)

Geoffrey Cantor, professor of history of science at the University of Leeds, and Sally Shuttleworth, professor of English at the University of Sheffield, have combined their research interests in their editorial role for this in-depth analysis of Victorian periodicals. Combining the research of thirteen scholars, this volume considers a range of scientific topics that interested the Victorians. Although the text contains differing topics, the editors' organisation provides an uncomplicated examination for the reader.

Ann B. Shteir begins the collection with a chapter that explores the gender divide between contemporary periodicals in their explorations of botany. Shteir demonstrates the simplistic approach periodicals took in teaching women about botany, a lesson applicable to other sciences discussed in women's magazines. The second chapter, by Jonathon R. Topham, discusses another division of the periodical, religious magazines. Topham firmly establishes that natural theology was not the platform for the treatment of religion within these magazines, and instead focuses on several Christian attempts to integrate science within their belief systems.

Frank A. J. L. James delves into the periodicals' coverage of the Royal Institution lectures of the mid-nineteenth century. Because the lectures' audiences were limited to members and their guests, the Royal Institution relied on periodicals such as the Quarterly Journal of Science and the Literary Gazette to publish the lectures of scientists such as Michael Faraday, who encouraged these publications. James's chapter is followed by Roger Smith's fascinating look into the treatment of physiology and psychology in the periodical. Smith argues that through the periodicals' publications of theories of the physiology of the mind and will, the public perception of psychology was shaped. Graeme Goody follows with his study of Balfour Stewart's use of periodicals to promote his anti-material-ist view on energy, based on the 1859 research into sunspots and their effect on terrestrial life. Using Macmillan's Magazine, Nature, and other periodicals, Stewart communicated his insight on scientific discoveries involving the sun and energy to the nonacademic public.

Crosbie Smith and Ian Higginson turn to the North American Review (NAR) for their research into science and reform in the United States. The authors clearly outline the influence of government upon periodicals and trace the development and demise of the NAR, due largely to political reforms imposed by President Grant. On the other side of the ocean is the Academy, thoroughly discussed in this volume by Gillian Beer, who analyses its social importance from its inception and guidance under Charles Edward Appleton. Appleton's aim was to unite the various disciplines in a common pursuit of intellectual advancement and to use the journal as a means to encourage research rather than teaching in universities.

The volume devotes three chapters to the work of John Tyndall and W. K. Clifford, first in Bernard Lightman's work, which studies the effects of Tyndall's Belfast Address as the president of the British Association of the Advancement of Science in 1874. His speech, which to the public hinted at a materialist viewpoint, was criticised in all the major science periodicals of the time. Similarly, Clifford's publication of "The Ethics of Belief" in the Contemporary Review in 1877 caused another rift in the periodicals, as Helen Small explains in her chapter. The overly rational and insulting article that belittled religion resulted in a change in editorial staff and the creation of Nineteenth Century. Finally, Gowan Dawson considers Clifford's lasting effect on periodicals. Thanks to the efforts of his wife Lucy, who forced his work into periodical publication, the debates over Clifford's liberalism continued long after his death.

The last three chapters are dedicated to Darwin and his influence on Victorian society. Jonathon Smith discusses Grant Allen's role in explaining Darwinian concepts of botany to the general public through the use of periodicals, namely the Cornhill Magazine and the Pall Mall Gazette. James G. Paradis then turns to the debate between Darwin and...