Abstracts of the History of Science Society 2004 Austin Meeting 18 ...

magic encompassed (including alchemy and astrology), the range of texts in which such accounts appeared (e.g.iatrochemical disputes,
natural histories, life-writings, histories of Britain), and exploring the extent to which some authors of these works thought that their
world was disenchanted while others compiled evidence(historical, material, anecdotal) to the contrary.
Allison B. Kavey, Gonzaga University (akavey@yahoo.com)
Saturday, 20-Nov-04, 3:30 - 5:30 PM - Hill Country C
Structuring Nature: Scripting the Natural in “The Secrets of Albertus Magnus” and “Cornucopiae, or Divers Secrets”
Books of secrets in sixteenth century England provide an excellent opportunity to access popular depictions of the natural world and
images of natural philosophy. The Secrets of Albertus Magnus and Cornucopiae, or divers secrets are particularly useful for this task, since they
produce broad images of nature and give specific instructions for its manipulation by careful readers. This paper will examine the ways
in which each book’s structure contributes to its depiction of the natural world and its position on the appropriate use of natural knowledge
by a broad range of readers.
Christine Keiner, Rochester Institute of Technology (cmkgsh@rit.edu)
Friday, 19-Nov-04, 1:30 - 3:10 PM - Hill Country C
Rats, Humans, and Urban Ecology: The Johns Hopkins Rodent Ecology Project, 1944-1952
This study focuses on the development of a new sub-discipline—rodent ecology—which flourished at the Johns Hopkins School of
Hygiene and Public Health from the mid-1940s through the early 1950s. Thanks to a partnership between Hopkins, the Rockefeller
Foundation, and Baltimore City, the Rodent Ecology Project researchers made pioneering discoveries about rat population dynamics,
populations in general, and urban rat control. Although environmental sanitation had been all but eclipsed by the new public health
tools of pesticides and antibiotics, the complex behavior of the urban rat meant that those who sought to apply pesticide technology
to infested city blocks could not ignore the ecological relationships between rats, humans, and the urban environment. Consequently, I
argue that the Rodent Ecology Project highlights early efforts to apply an ecological approach to the control of urban nature.
Boumsoung Kim, The University of Tokyo (kimbs@mr.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
Friday, 19-Nov-04, 1:30 - 3:10 PM - Hill Country B
Representing Earthquakes: A Historical Interpretation of Seismograms in Meiji Japan
In this presentation, I would like to discuss the history of Japanese seismology from the 1880s to the 1900s by interpreting visual representations.
They include not only representations of earthquakes such as sketches and seismic diagrams, but also the results of scientific
works such as statistical tables, graphs, and maps. It has been said that Japanese science before the 1920s generally was located at
the periphery of the international scientific community, and seismology was not an exception. Many scholars have retrospectively
described seismological research until the 1910s as a local science, which had been conducted before Japanese science developed fully
to the “international” level. I would like to inquire into this general evaluation. I hope that the visual representations will make it more
visible by whom, where, and how the research was conducted, which would further show us the flow of raw data, processed information,
and scientific authority.
Nahum Kipnis, Independent scholar (nahumk@mn.rr.com)
Saturday, 20-Nov-04, 1:30 - 3:10 PM - Hill Country D
Are Old Scientific Theories “Rejected” or “Abandoned”?
To describe the process by which an old scientific theory yields to a new one historians and philosophers of science usually use such
words as “refutation,” “rejection,” and “confirmation.” In particular, there is an opinion that a theory is “rejected” after being found
“refuted.” It is not always clear, however, whether these terms refer to actual contemporary views or to scholars’ interpretations of the
contemporary reaction. I will present examples from the history of electricity and optics of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth
centuries, which show that, whatever the appearances, the choice between two theories was actually made primarily on the basis of positive
evidence rather than a negative one. In other words, the main factor affecting scientists’ choice was a constructive capacity of a
theory rather than its deficiencies. From this perspective, a replacement of one theory by another consisted of a decrease in using the
former and an increased use of the latter. If this were the case, “abandonment” would describe the fate of an old theory better than
its “refutation” and “rejection.”
Jeremy Kirby, Florida State University (Jsk4806@mailer.fsu.edu)
Friday, 19-Nov-04, 1:30 - 3:10 PM - Big Bend A, B, & C