ASTRONOMY (Herschel) Group

Some 18th Century Bath Scientists

Chaired by Richard Phillips

Prof. Francis Ring

University of Glamorgan, Chairman William Herschel Society

In the 18^th century Bath was rapidly expanding, new buildings and streets were continually being constructed. It was a city which attracted many from other parts of the country; some wished to leave London, but others came to seek fame and fortune in the fashionable city. People met in tea-rooms and coffee houses because newspapers were not available to everyone; intelligent people enjoyed commenting on current affairs as a means of passing the time. Some were fascinated by science though few had any formal teaching in scientific subjects.There were travelling teachers who made a living by going around with lively and entertaining talks on scientific subjects. They provided a kind of circus act, and could be invited to a gentleman’s home for a fee to provide intellectual entertainment for selected groups of people. The teacher would bring a large box or boxes containing his instruments, microscope etc.

In 1737 a notable science lecturer visited the spa, he was Dr Desaguliers, who advertised in The Bath Chronicle that he would commence a series of lectures on experimental philosophy. He described his planetarium as a means of demonstrating the motions, magnitudes and distances of the heavenly bodies. His instruments also included a new clockwork invention that showed the phenomenon of tides. Another local teacher was John Arden, who taught science and astronomy from his house in St James Street in 1776, at a cost of one guinea for a series of 30 lectures. He required 30 or more to register before he would commence the series!

Edmund Rack, secretary of the Agricultural Society (later also becoming secretary of the Bath Philosophical Society, described below) was in the course on electricity, the air, chemistry, astronomy, hydrostatics and the ‘Globes’. He described John Arden as a very ingenious man and one who has a noble apparatus of the best instruments. In the section on optics, he witnessed several eyes being dissected, which he said were instructive and entertaining.

The Bath Philosophical Society was formed in 1778 to concentrate on physics and general science, which were fashionable hobbies but poorly understood by the enthusiasts of the day. This drew a number of men together from Bath and surrounding areas to meet on a regular basis. Among the interesting founder members were Dr William Falconer, who qualified as an MD in Edinburgh in 1766, and again in Leyden in 1767. He settled in Bath in 1770 and was an honorary physician at the Bath Mineral Water Hospital, then called The Bath Hospital. He was made an Fellow of the Royal Society in 1773. Joseph Priestly, who in 1774 had reported on his discovery of oxygen, and also a number of other gases also wrote an excellent textbook on Light Colour and Optics (John Herschel’s own copy is in the collection at the Herschel Museum, Bath). Dr William Watson and William Herschel were also notable and active members of this group.

Dr William Watson was a local doctor, and is mostly known for his meeting with William Herschel on the pavement in Rivers Street, while looking through a telescope. Sir William Watson MD FRS however, was no mere physician, He wrote an early treatise on electricity and was described as "the most distinguished name in this period of the history of electricity". It is to Watson we owe the term circuit, the plus and minus of electricity and an early reported observation of the flash of light from a discharge in vacuo of a Leyden jar.

The two became good friends for many years, and it was Watson FRS who introduced William Herschel to King George the Third, and to the Royal Society after the discovery of Uranus in 1781. Herschel thrived in Bath, and although a musician by profession, he became dedicated to telescope building and astronomical observation. His regular studies of the heavens led to many notable observations most of which he continued after leaving Bath, and were reported and published through The Royal Society in London. In many ways, William Herschel is remembered as the German musician, who became famous in Bath for his remarkable achievements in astronomy. Some of his success was undoubtedly due to his determination to make a success of larger reflecting telescopes, which had hitherto only been recognised from Newton’s small instrument. Building telescopes became a regular business for Herschel long after he left Bath. There are many Museums and astronomical collections around the world today, where his handiwork can be seen. He needed to combine skills in carpentry, metal work and optics to achieve his goal. The fact that many Royal and wealthy customers placed orders with him, marks him as the pioneer of reflecting telescopes of his generation.

In 1781, after William Herschel had presented his new discovery of Geogium Sidus, later named Uranus, he was invited to move near the palace of Windsor by King George, with a modest stipend. His faithful sister Caroline, who was his devoted assistant, remained in Bath for a while, but subsequently moved to be near her brother in Datchet and Slough.

The activities of these men of science in Bath dwindled after a few years, although after several aborted attempts, activities were renewed by later generations, and form part of the history of The Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution today.

Bibliography

Williams, WJ., Stoddart, DM. Bath Some Encounters with Science( Kingsmead Press, Bath,1978)

Science & Music in 18^th Century Bath, catalogue from the exhibition in the Holburne Museum, Bath, 1977)

The Scientific Papers of Sir William Herschel, (Royal Society & The Royal Astronomical Society vol.1. 1912).

Edmund Rack Joseph Priestly

right A portrait of Sir William Watson, MD, FRS left Sir William Herschel