Science and Spectacle in the European Enlightenment - download pdf or read online

Air-pumps, electric machines, colliding ivory balls, colored sparks, mechanical planetariums, magic mirrors, hot-air balloons - those are only a pattern of the units displayed in public demonstrations of technological know-how within the eighteenth century. private and non-private demonstrations of usual philosophy in Europe then differed tremendously from contemporary unadorned and nameless laboratory experiments. technology used to be cultivated for various reasons in lots of diverse areas; medical tools have been outfitted and used for investigative and didactic experiments in addition to for leisure and renowned indicates. among the tradition of curiosities which characterised the 17th century and the excellence among educational and renowned technological know-how that gently emerged within the 19th, the eighteenth century was once a interval whilst medical actions came about in numerous websites, starting from academies, and discovered societies to salons and well known gala's, outlets and streets. This selection of case stories describing public demonstrations in Britain, Germany, Italy and France exemplifies the wide range of settings for medical actions within the eu Enlightenment. jam-packed with sparks and scents, the essays bring up broader concerns concerning the ways that sleek technological know-how confirmed its legitimacy and social acceptability. They element to 2 significant beneficial properties of the cultures of technology within the eighteenth-century: leisure and application. Experimental demonstrations have been attended through apothecaries and craftsmen for vocational reasons. while, that they had to slot in with the style of either well mannered society and industry tradition. Public demonstrations have been a favorite leisure for girls and gents and a ecocnomic job for device makers and booksellers.