Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Ireland ed. by Juliana Adelman, Éadaoin Agnew (review)

This book is a valuable addition to the literature on science and technology in Victorian Ireland. It consists of eleven chapters and an introduction based on papers from a conference held in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, with the support of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland. For the reader interested in this subject, however, it must be realized that the volume, in spite of its broad title, does not attempt to provide a comprehensive view of science and technology in Ireland during these years. For this reviewer, based in Belfast, the principal omission in the book is the almost complete absence of any mention of this city, which was the main center of technological developments in nineteenth-century Ireland.

What the essays seek to do, according to the editors, is to expand the existing literature on the history of science in Ireland and to sow the seeds of future research. They seek to cast light on subjects such as the Irish response to Charles Darwin and different Protestant and Catholic attitudes toward science, and gender issues. The authors come from a range of backgrounds, including history, literature, philosophy, and astronomy, as well as the history of science. Their papers are arranged under the topics of “Innovations,” “Individuals,” and “Institutions,” which are examined from new angles and include a diverse array of ideas and actors. The book looks at the participation of those beyond the intellectual elite and the well-known.

The first essay in the book by Thomas Duddy examines the Irish response to Darwinism. He points out that it is inaccurate to view the reaction of people in Ireland to Darwin’s theory of evolution as simply either outright objection or enthusiastic support. He identifies not only those such as the County Carlow-born John Tyndall, who defended Darwin as part of a more general promotion of scientific practice and methods, but also others from all the religious denominations in Ireland who sometimes objected strongly to Darwinism, but were also occasionally prepared to accommodate his views. He draws attention to individuals such as J. J. Murphy of Belfast who sought to reconcile Darwin’s conception of evolution with religious belief, and the social reformer, Frances Cobbe, originally from Donabate, County Dublin, who accepted both the importance of religious belief and Darwin’s theory of evolution, but who expressed concern that Darwin’s doctrines were dangerous from an ethical point of view and failed to acknowledge morality.

Other chapters also deal with the response in the nineteenth century to new views of science and the world. Patrick Maume looks at the case of Dominick McCausland, an evangelical writer from a prominent landed family who rejected Darwin and evolutionary theory. McCausland moved from writing on biblical prophecy to an attempt to reconcile a literal reading of Genesis with geology and archaeology. James Murphy examines science reading at Castleknock College, Dublin, a leading Catholic boarding school for middle-class boys. He argues that Catholic views on science were more complex than many authors have suggested. Although the Catholic bishops had denounced Tyndall’s approach as materialist and insisted on the indivisibility of science and religion, Tyndall’s experiments in physics were allowed in the college. He also suggests that because Catholics did not rely solely on the Bible for guidance, they did not face the problem for Evangelicals presented by challenges to its literal interpretation.

In the case of Mary Ward, Éadaoin Agnew considers not just the influence of religion on her work, but also the impact of gender restraints. Born in County Offaly and a relative of the famous astronomer William Parsons, the third earl of Rosse, she moved to Castle Ward in County Down where she pursued her interests in observing and recording natural life, particularly with the use of the microscope. In her writing she showed that, for her, science and religion were both compatible and complementary...