Abstracts of the History of Science Society 2004 Austin Meeting 18 ...
Abstracts of the History of Science Society 2004 Austin Meeting 18 ...
Abstracts of the History of Science Society 2004 Austin Meeting 18 ...
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logical knowledge. Mastering various forms <strong>of</strong> visual media <strong>the</strong>refore constituted an important part <strong>of</strong> a medical scientist’s pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
repertoire. At <strong>the</strong> same time as specimens conserved in various techniques were on display in medical museums, <strong>the</strong> general public<br />
could see artefacts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> same kind in <strong>the</strong> popular wax museums. Ano<strong>the</strong>r phenomenon closely connected to <strong>the</strong> medical discourse<br />
was <strong>the</strong> freak-show: <strong>the</strong>y both objectified odd or deviant bodies for <strong>the</strong>ir own interests. Wax museums, freak-shows and medical museums<br />
also share a common history, dating back to <strong>the</strong> old collections <strong>of</strong> curiosities. O<strong>the</strong>r connected phenomena around 1900 were<br />
phrenological and hygienic exhibitions. This media history <strong>of</strong> medical imagery and display concerns scientific and popular concepts <strong>of</strong><br />
medicine and <strong>the</strong> body. It also involves questions about cultural representations <strong>of</strong> power, gender, class and ethnicity.<br />
Laura J. Snyder, St. John’s University (snyderl@stjohns.edu)<br />
Thursday, <strong>18</strong>-Nov-04, 5:00 - 7:00 PM - Texas Ballroom VI<br />
Lord Only <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ruffians and Fiends?: William Whewell and <strong>the</strong> Plurality <strong>of</strong> Worlds Debate<br />
Upon receiving a copy <strong>of</strong> William Whewell’s work, Of <strong>the</strong> Plurality <strong>of</strong> Worlds, in <strong>18</strong>53, his friend John Herschel wrote back: “So this <strong>the</strong>n<br />
is <strong>the</strong> best <strong>of</strong> all possible worlds—<strong>the</strong> ne plus ultra between which and <strong>the</strong> seventh heaven <strong>the</strong>re is nothing intermediate. Oh dear! Oh<br />
dear! ‘Tis a sad cutting down. Lord only <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ruffians and Fiends….I can’t give in my adhesion to <strong>the</strong> doctrine that between this<br />
and <strong>the</strong> angelic <strong>the</strong>re are not some dozen or two grades <strong>of</strong> intellectual and moral creatures….” We may presume that Herschel’s tongue<br />
was firmly in cheek, but his dismay was real. Like most o<strong>the</strong>r scientists, philosophers and religious people in Britain in <strong>the</strong> nineteenth<br />
century, Herschel endorsed <strong>the</strong> view that <strong>the</strong> universe contained numerous o<strong>the</strong>r worlds populated by intelligent inhabitants. (Indeed,<br />
his own work on <strong>the</strong> double stars had contributed evidence, according to many, for this pluralist position.) Whewell’s book was one <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> first by an eminent intellectual to oppose this general trend since <strong>the</strong> 16th century. What was perhaps most odd about this is that<br />
Whewell had endorsed pluralism twenty years earlier, in his contribution to <strong>the</strong> Bridgewater Treatises (works commissioned for <strong>the</strong> purposes<br />
<strong>of</strong> showing how various scientific disciplines could contribute to Natural Theology). In this paper I will show that Whewell’s<br />
reversal had mostly to do with three factors: important developments in his philosophical outlook; <strong>the</strong> influence <strong>of</strong> Richard Owen’s<br />
<strong>the</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> archetypes on Whewell’s view <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> argument from design, and Whewell’s perception <strong>of</strong> a need to streng<strong>the</strong>n such arguments<br />
in light <strong>of</strong> evolutionary accounts <strong>of</strong> human origins; and new findings in <strong>the</strong> sciences <strong>of</strong> geology and astronomy. By examining<br />
this shift in Whewell’s position, we may increase our understanding about <strong>the</strong> interplay between science, religion and philosophy in <strong>the</strong><br />
plurality <strong>of</strong> worlds debate in <strong>the</strong> nineteenth century.<br />
Alistair Sponsel, Princeton University (asponsel@princeton.edu)<br />
Saturday, 20-Nov-04, 1:30 - 3:10 PM - Texas Ballroom III<br />
Fathoming <strong>the</strong> Depth <strong>of</strong> Charles Darwin’s Theory <strong>of</strong> Coral Reef Formation.<br />
This paper is a revisionist account <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> Charles Darwin’s <strong>the</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> coral reef formation. I argue that Darwin undertook<br />
a coral program long before <strong>the</strong> presumed genesis <strong>of</strong> his work on reef formation, and show how accounts that emphasize <strong>the</strong> geological<br />
implications <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ory overlook <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>oretical weight <strong>of</strong> his ongoing work on coral biology and distribution. I will propose<br />
that Darwin’s coral <strong>the</strong>ory is based on <strong>the</strong> model <strong>of</strong> Humboldt’s <strong>the</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> altitudinal speciation, and I will argue that this view sheds<br />
new light on <strong>the</strong> significance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Beagle’s hydrographic mission for Darwin’s <strong>the</strong>ory-making.<br />
Mat<strong>the</strong>w Stanley, Iowa State University (stanley@fas.harvard.edu)<br />
Friday, 19-Nov-04, 9:00 - 11:45 AM - Big Bend A, B, & C<br />
The Pointsman: Maxwell’s Demon and Victorian Freewill<br />
James Clerk Maxwell’s “demon” is conventionally understood to be an attempt to show <strong>the</strong> limitations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> second law <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>rmodynamics.<br />
This is certainly an important element, but in this paper I will explore <strong>the</strong> cultural roots <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> demon, particularly in<br />
Maxwell’s religious development. Maxwell’s Christian faith was a mix <strong>of</strong> several <strong>the</strong>ological influences, but issues <strong>of</strong> free-will and human<br />
choice in <strong>the</strong> world were always central to his religiosity. He initially modeled <strong>the</strong> human soul as a pointsman on a railroad as a way to<br />
retain free-will in a mechanistic universe. This image <strong>of</strong> human choice coming from very slight evasions <strong>of</strong> energy physics provided a<br />
resource he later applied to <strong>the</strong> problems <strong>of</strong> statistical understandings <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>rmodynamics. Maxwell’s demon was thus a <strong>the</strong>ological<br />
construct as well as a <strong>the</strong>rmodynamic one, and this paper will investigate <strong>the</strong> relationship between its role in <strong>the</strong>se different contexts.<br />
Laura Stark, Princeton University (lstark@princeton.edu)<br />
Saturday, 20-Nov-04, 9:00 - 11:45 AM - Hill Country C<br />
Practicing Morality: Psychological Research Practices and <strong>the</strong> Rise <strong>of</strong> Human Subjects Regulations in Postwar America<br />
During <strong>the</strong> 1970s, <strong>the</strong> research practices defined by pr<strong>of</strong>essional psychologists as morally acceptable for <strong>the</strong>ir own discipline would form<br />
a prominent part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> newly created US federal human subjects regulations. This extended <strong>the</strong> reach <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> practices beyond <strong>the</strong>ir origins<br />
in experimentalism and in <strong>the</strong> discipline <strong>of</strong> psychology, and <strong>the</strong>refore imposed <strong>the</strong> possibilities <strong>of</strong> knowledge and conceptions <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> subject that such practices imply. By focusing on psychology, this paper develops an account <strong>of</strong> American human subjects regulations<br />
beyond <strong>the</strong>ir legitimating myth, which paints <strong>the</strong> American regulations as an obvious and direct response to <strong>the</strong> Nuremburg Code.<br />
Engaging with recent interest in morality among historians <strong>of</strong> science, this paper argues that postwar psychologists defined <strong>the</strong>ir moral<br />
methods at a time when commitments to <strong>the</strong> proper way to conduct experimental research came into conflict with ideas about <strong>the</strong>