The 18th Century
" Every country and every age has dominant terms, which seem to obsess men's thoughts. Those of eighteenth century England were property contract, trade, and profits." Sir Lewis Namier
Under the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714),1 the Whigs lost much of their power while the Tories gained influence in Parliament. By the time Anne died in 1714, England had been irrevocably transformed from the monarchy of a century earlier. King George I assumed the crown and Parliament was opened in 1715. He was succeeded by his son George II in 1727, who, in turn, was succeeded by his son George III in 1760. George III was king until 1820. The Crown was reasonably stable throughout the century, except for 1788 when, the king had a bout with mental illness.
During the 1700's, Britain began to modernize in a number of areas. In the legal area, the first Copyright Act (1709) was enacted and the Newspaper Stamp Act appeared in 1712. Bank notes were first issued in 1718. The first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant , appeared in London in 1702. The first evening newspaper appeared in 1706, but it was not until 1780 that the first Sunday newspapers appeared. The use of Latin in the legal system was prohibited in 1735. A long overdue, progressive move was made when the laws against witchcraft were repealed in 1736. The last witch had been executed in 1712. In 1737 the Licensing Act started the control of public theater in London, assigning the role of censor to Lord Chamberlain. In 1751 January 1 was declared New Year's Day, and in 1752, Britain switched to the Gregorian calendar. September 2nd jumped to September 14th in one day.
In the political arena, England and Scotland joined to create Great Britain in 1707. Ireland was declared indispensable to England in 1719, setting in motion difficulties that continue 275 years later. A symbolic and practical building was erected at 10 Downing Street in Westminster in 1731 for the purpose of housing the Prime Minister. The direction of government was quite clear. The institution of government was being established to replace the monarchy.
In the early years of the 1700s, Britain had stepped up its colonization of America along the mid-Atlantic coast and in New England. By the 1760s trouble in those areas progressed to the point of revolution that ended in 1783 with Britain acknowledging the sovereignty of the United States. At the end of the century, in 1798, in response to the costs of war, Britain instituted an income tax of ten percent on incomes over \pounds200. In addition to war with America, Spain had declared war on Britain in 1779. Moreover, Britain was engaged in wars in India and the French had declared war on Britain in 1744. It was a century of constant warfare for Britain and the rest of Europe. Near the century's close, the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, and slowly spread across the globe, causing widespread advances in production capabilities and economic disruption for workers.
Looking at the universities, in many ways the Cambridge of 1700 was not much different from the Cambridge of fifty years earlier. Although the personalities were different, activities remained the same. Religious men controlled the universities through the government, using laws, acts and finances to achieve their ends. The doctrines of those in power at the moment were forced on academics, although more and more toleration was allowed as time passed. It was not until the nineteenth century that dissenters were allowed the same rights as those who were members of the Church of England. Toleration was seldom countenanced. But the universities did more than worry about religious allegiance. They carried on with teaching and other academic pursuits, such as mathematics, as always, while the rest of the country moved forward.
Mathematics in the eighteenth century did not develop in England as well as on the continent of Europe. Although the mathematicians were first rate in terms of their ability, they did not have creative insight or motivation to improve. There were some bright spots, however.
Mathematics saw the introduction of pi to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, e to represent the natural logarithm, and i to represent the square root of negative one. These were some of the small steps that led to big leaps later on. The period was one of establishing mathematical representations of important mathematical ideas.
In chemistry the eighteenth century brought a steady discovery of elements including hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chromium, titanium and beryllium. The formation of water from the component parts of hydrogen and oxygen was accomplished. Physics saw some movement forward as disagreement about fundamental laws occupied the attention of those involved in trying to find solutions to existing problems of understanding the nature of the universe. Newton published Optics in 1704. He put forth his "corpuscular" theory of light, that is, light is composed of particles. He allowed for wave-like behavior of light caused by these particles causing vibrations in the ether. The existence of the ether was to be a question for the next two hundred years. The ether was believed to be a medium that contained all objects in the universe. A number of theories of its makeup were discussed including the idea that it was an elastic solid or even a fluid with special properties. The discussion about the nature of light continued for the same two hundred years. Was it wavelike or particle in nature? Evidence existed for both.
Leonard Euler, a Swiss mathematician responsible for many of the improvements in mathematics in the eighteenth century, figured out the mathematics for the refraction of light using waves. Each wavelength represented a particular color, which is still accepted as correct. This gave great impetus to acceptance of the wave theory.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century the first textbook on astronomy using gravity principles, Astronomiae physicae et geometriae elementa , was published by David Gregory. Newton was having an effect. Astronomy was becoming important as more than just an academic interest: it was used for the navigation of ships, giving it a critical role in world exploration. In 1714, both England and France offered prizes to anyone who could devise an accurate method for determining longitude at sea. In today's world, it is hard to imagine that sailors were using methods just slightly better than guesswork to sail around the world. Europe's large scale shipping industry required a more dependable method than simple guesswork.
In 1752 Benjamin Franklin established the connection between electricity and lightning. Electricity would eventually play an important role in both our day-to-day lives and our understanding of the fundamental forces in nature. Towards the end of the century some improvements in physics occurred when Henry Cavendish figured out the gravitational constant G in Newton's equations. It was still unknown until 1798 and was an important addition to scientific understanding. That same year Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson) showed that the currently accepted theory of heat, the caloric theory, which postulated that heat is a fluid contained in objects, was incorrect. He proposed instead that heat was a form of motion happening as a consequence of friction.
The progress of the eighteenth century was driven by the discoveries of Newton and by the indirect consequences of the idea that discoveries could be made. He demonstrated that a man could use mathematics and logic to understand principles which, when applied, gave people a control that had been beyond reach. He put the planets and the stars within everyone's grasp. The change at this point is not unlike the conquering of the sub-four minute mile. Once it was accomplished, many runners were able to do it. No new techniques were required, just the breaking of the psychological barrier. The barrier that Newton broke was an important obstacle to progress in mathematics, science and technology. The contributions in the eighteenth century came from all over Europe in many areas, but in England the Lucasian professors struggled to keep up in mathematics. This century starts with William Whiston, a creative and vocal man trying to explain much of nature using Newton's discoveries.
Footnotes
- [1] Christopher Hill, The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1980), 240.