Science
and Invention
Summary of
chapter. Ireland was in the forefront of scientific research, and
in this period was probably in advance of most countries in the world. It was
very strong in mathematics, physics, and astronomy. For many years the largest
telescope in the world was in Ireland. The study of the Irish language and
antiquities was placed on a scientific basis in this period.
(i) Science in General
(ii) Irish Language and Antiquities
(iii) Scientific
and Learned Societies
(iv)
Improving or
Practical Societies
*****************************************************************************************************
(i) Science in General
The related fields of mathematics
and astronomy were the strong points of Irish science. To these must be added
the skills necessary to devise and construct scientific apparatus.
The serious study of astronomy in Ireland may be
dated from the appointment of Henry Ussher as Regius professor of astronomy in
Trinity College,
Dublin in
1783. In those days a professorship meant little more than a salary of a few
hundred pounds a year, an obligation to give a specified number of lectures,
and a room in which to lecture. Cash was not necessarily provided for
equipment. Ussher (a descendant of the archbishop famous for his biblical
chronology) began by selecting a site for an observatory at Dunsink just
outside Dublin,
and ordering equipment from the best makers of optical instruments in
London. The
instruments were not supplied, presumably because they were not paid for, until
the time of his successor, the Rev. John Brinckley.
The chief task the astronomers at
the time set themselves was to determine the precise apparent location of every
star so that the heavens could be mapped and catalogued. The chief instrument
used for this purpose was called a transit circle. This was a large telescope
carrying a large graduated circle by means of which the right ascension and
declination of a star could be determined as it passed the meridian. When
Brinckley took office in 1792 there was only a single small telescope in place.
In 1808 an altitude and azimuth circle eight feet in diameter was installed
along with other instruments. Among the latter was a small achromatic (glass)
telescope with a clockwork movement perfectly accurate for twelve hours. This
meant that the telescope could be accurately trained on a celestial object for
that length of time. Brinckley was chiefly famous for his studies of the
parallax of the stars. This was an attempt to determine the distances of stars
by comparing their positions at intervals of six months, thus using a base of
180 million miles for triangulation. His experiments were not considered
successful, but he at least determined that enormous distances were involved.
The Lord Primate Richard Robinson
established another observatory in Armagh
in 1794. It was later well equipped by a later archbishop, John George
Beresford. The first astronomer of note in Armagh
was Thomas Romney Robinson who also had other scientific interests. Robinson's
chief contribution to astronomy lay in the assistance he gave to the Earl of
Rosse.
William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse,
began his study of astronomy in 1826. At that time there were two good achromatic (literally
'without colour') telescopes in the British
Isles, that of Mr Cooper in Ireland having
a 13½-inch lens. Glass lenses had to be made by combining several lenses of
different shapes to even out the distortions cause by the glass. The
distortions caused coloured light to appear, so the absence of colour indicated
a good lens. Several attempts had been made to make much larger telescopes on
the reflecting principle, notably by Herschell, but the rapid tarnishing of the
alloys used gave them only a short life. The Earl of Rosse tackled the problem
of a reflecting telescope, and found he had two problems to solve. The first
was to discover a non-tarnishing alloy, and the other was to devise mechanical
equipment to evenly polish parabolic surfaces. These problems being solved, he
constructed at Birr
Castle,
county
Offaly,
two giant telescopes. The diameter of the first was 36 inches, and of the
second 72 inches. This latter diameter was not surpassed in the nineteenth
century. The telescopes were used for studying spiral nebulae.
The fourth Irish observatory was
that of Edward Joshua Cooper of Markree, county Sligo, who
had been taught astronomy by his mother. He purchased an excellent 13½-inch
achromatic lens, and with the aid of Thomas Grubb the instrument maker of
Dublin
constructed a telescope tube for it. His great work was the compilation of a star
catalogue to improve the Berlin
star catalogue. He listed the positions of 60,066 stars, many of them never
previously listed. His star maps were presented to
Cambridge University but
were never printed.
Among other branches of science Dr
Humphrey Lloyd of Trinity
College
pioneered the variations of earth magnetism. He devised and constructed the
most accurate instruments for recording the diurnal and annual variations. He
trained two army officers Sir Edward Sabine and John Henry Lefroy to carry out
a magnetic survey of Ireland
in 1834, one of the first surveys ever done.
Seismic studies, not merely the
study of earthquakes but also the study of underlying rock formations, were
pioneered in Ireland
by Robert Mallet who bored holes in rocks and placed charges of gunpowder in
them. His paper on 'The Dynamics of Earthquakes' was published in 1846, and was
the first attempt to place the study of earthquakes on a firm scientific basis.
Though Irish savants took a leading
part in discussions in the emerging science of geology they did not distinguish
themselves. They were leading opponents of the theories of the Scottish doctor
James Hutton which were later adopted and popularised by Lyell in his Principles of Geology. (An attempt by Archbishop Whately to include the theories
of Lyell in his books for the National Schools enraged Archbishop MacHale.) One
of the starting points for geological theories was the basaltic formations of
the Giant's Causeway,
which were described in scientific journals from around the year 1700. The Rev.
William Hamilton, a pioneer in geological studies, correctly connected basalts
with volcanic action. Dr Richardson (chiefly noted for his studies on fiorin
grass) was a leading opponent of Hutton. Richard Kirwan, the leading Irish
chemist, also denounced Hutton's theories. His bitter attacks had the reverse
effect for they stimulated Hutton to polish and publish his theories
With regard to the publication of
geological maps Ireland
was among the leaders. Richard Griffith was asked to use the knowledge he had
accumulated during his various surveys for minerals to produce a geological map
of Ireland
in conjunction with the Ordnance Survey. (As mentioned earlier more detailed
studies had to be abandoned because of costs.) However it was published by the
Government in 1839 on a scale of four miles to an inch and was the most
detailed and accurate geological map that had ever been produced. The work of the Geological Survey of the British
Isles was not completely abandoned and was continued at
a later date.
Meteorological studies may be said to have
begun in Ireland
with the systematic collection of records of the weather in Dublin by
John Rutty (1698-1755). Systematic records were kept from about 1740. The Board
of Ordnance was keeping some records at its headquarters in the
Phoenix Park in
Dublin at
least from the beginning of the century. Dr Humphrey Lloyd began the systematic
collection of records of rainfall, temperature, barometric pressure, and the
direction and force of winds in Dublin
from 1840 onwards. But by mid-century observations had not
been extended to cover the whole of Ireland.
The
measuring of the force of the winds caused a problem and two Irishmen
contributed in different ways to solving it. The first, the Beaufort scale, was
rough and ready, but had the advantage that it could be easily used world-wide.
Captain Francis Beaufort, a son of the rector of Collon devised it, when
working for the Board of Admiralty. The logbook of every naval ship had to be
sent to the Admiralty at the completion of a voyage. It was difficult to
interpret the meteorological data contained in ship's logs as terms used by
captains could easily vary from one to another. Now as Navy ships were rigged
in a standard fashion, and each captain progressively
reduced sail as wind-speed rose until the ship was almost under bare poles, a
simple practical scale could be devised. When say the topgallants or royals
were struck every sailor in the world knew approximately the force of the wind.
The scale had to be modified later in the century for use on steamships, but by
then the graduations were well established.
By a curious coincidence the Irish
inventor and experimenter Richard Lovell Edgeworth married a daughter of the
rector of Collon. Among his inventions was a simple vertical windmill to which
he added a counter to count the rotations. Dr Thomas Romney Robinson was
intrigued by this windmill and concluded that if the speed of turning could be
related to the speed of the wind an accurate instrument for measuring
wind-speed from any direction could be devised. He first established that the
speed of turning was equal to one-third the speed of the passing wind. He then
improved the shape of the vertical-axis windmill, providing four cups at the ends
of horizontal arms. This instrument was the famous Robinson cup-anemometer.
Astronomy was intimately connected
with mathematics. The serious study of mathematics began in Ireland when
the Rev. William Hamilton Hales published in 1782 a treatise on the motions of
the planets and in 1784 an analysis of mathematical equations. The Rev. George
Miller, headmaster of Armagh
Royal
School
published works on probability and magnetism. John Thomas Graves investigated
imaginary logarithms and laid the basis for Rowan Hamilton's discovery. Sir
William Rowan Hamilton was a professor of astronomy at Dunsink but his real
interest was in mathematics. He was intrigued by the problem of devising
practical uses for imaginary numbers. The seventeenth century French mathematician
Descartes had devised the system of horizontal and vertical scales known as the
Cartesian co-ordinates to all who use graphs. These could be used to give a
mathematical expression to geometrical lines or curves. Rowan Hamilton
extended this into the third dimension, thickness. He noted that in the
Cartesian system that if a mathematical expression of a line is multiplied by
(-1) the line is turned through 180 degrees. If it is multiplied by the square
root of (-1) the line is turned through 90 degrees. From this starting point he
arrived at a formula by which a line in any direction in space could be
described by means of a simple formula w + xi + yj + zk where i, j, and k are
mutually perpendicular vectors whose squares are (-1). (This form is clearer
than the famous original formula which he wrote down on the parapet of a bridge
lest he forget it, I2 = G2 = K2
= IGK = (-1). His formula proved difficult to use and was later simplified into
vector analysis and in this form is used in space flight. The name quaternions
refer to the four vectors. James M’Cullagh was regarded as second only to
Robinson as a mathematician. He developed theories with regard to the
refraction of light of great importance to astronomers, but committed suicide
when still a young man.
Thomas Romney Robinson, a many-sided
man, was interested in applying mathematics to the flow of liquids in pipes.
His studies bore practical fruit in the fields of drainage and sewage works. He
assisted the Earl of Rosse with his telescope, and later, the Earl's son,
Charles Parsons, built on Robinson's work by examining the flow of steam in
turbines. Parson's steam turbine is used extensively in the generation of
electricity, and in the propulsion of ships.
Some other fields of research may be
mentioned where work in Ireland
equalled what was being done elsewhere. The Rev Edward Hincks, the rector of
Killyleagh, co. Down (son of Thomas Dix Hincks the
educationist) was interested in the decipherment of cuneiform scripts being
discovered by archaeologists in the Middle
East. No Irish clergyman however built on these
discoveries or became famous as a biblical interpreter. Richard Chenevix Trench
became Ireland's
leading biblical scholar at a time when German theologians were asking
searching questions, but his works were published after mid-century. Two
Catholic priests in Maynooth
College,
though neither of them outstanding theologians produced useful works aimed at
adapting the theological viewpoints of southern Europe
to a Protestant environment. These were Dr Patrick Murray and Dr George Crolly.
(John Henry Newman joined the Catholic Church after being assured by Dr Russell
of Maynooth that it was not essential to follow every Italian fad or trend.) Dr
Nicholas Callan, also of Maynooth, made a name for himself through his
experiments with electricity. He developed a powerful battery, the Callan coil.
(The Wheatstone telegraph was one of the few practical applications found for
the 'electric fluid' though it had been studied scientifically for over a century.)
The study of botany had long been
pursued by the Dublin Society and by Trinity College,
Dublin. A
lectureship in botany was established in 1711. A book on Irish plants was
published in 1727. Linnaeus had devised his system of classification in the
first half of the eighteenth century. The system was first used scientifically
in Ireland
by Dr Walter Wade, professor of botany to the Dublin Society in his study of
the plants of county
Dublin
in 1794. The Rev Gilbert White's epoch-making Natural History of Selborne had been published in 1789 and formed a
model for enthusiastic study by amateurs, especially ladies, for a long time to
come. Lady Kane published her Irish Flora
anonymously in 1833.
Ireland
produced no outstanding chemist since Robert Boyle, described as 'the father of
chemistry and brother to the Earl of Cork'. Richard Kirwan (died 1812) was the
most noted chemist in Ireland
at the period, and it was he who placed the study of chemistry at the
university on a firm basis. The Dublin Society brought over Edmund Davy, the
son of Sir Humphrey, to lecture on chemistry especially in connection with
chemical analysis agricultural fertilisers like bone manure.
Irish doctors were in the forefront
of advances in the study of medicine, especially the treatment of fever. Sir
Philip Crampton was particularly interested in zoology and was prominent among
the founders of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland. Robert James Graves
specialised in the teaching of medicine, and published his Clinical Lectures in 1843.
Sir William Wilde pioneered the collection of medical statistics and
wrote The Epidemics of Ireland. John
Milner Barry introduced vaccination into Ireland and
wrote several works on fevers. Henry
MacCormack considered the treatment of lunatics and also investigated
tuberculosis. Joseph Clarke studied under William Hunter in London and
introduced improvements in midwifery and peri-natal care. The leading
Dublin
surgeons adopted the use of anaesthetics within a few years of the discovery of
the technique in America.
Francis Rynd invented the hypodermic needle.
Irish
scientific periodicals were among the best in the world, and were eagerly
sought after abroad. Standards fell behind in the second half of the century
(Herries Davies). Almost without exception these scientists were Protestants.
[Top]
(ii)
Irish Language and Antiquities
The scientific study of the Irish
language did not begin until the second half of the century and in fact was
largely developed in Germany.
Scholars with a good knowledge of modern Irish could interpret texts as far
back as the Middle Ages. The inability to interpret
ancient Irish in no way deterred some scholars and others from writing about
ancient Ireland.
The earliest writing on Irish antiquities in the English language in the
seventeenth century was co-temporary with the work of the last of the Irish
annalists.
The study of antiquities, at least
so far as the investigation of monuments was concerned, was begun in Ireland by
Charles Vallencey of the Engineers who became Engineer-in-ordinary in Ireland
in 1762. (In the middle of the eighteenth century Lord Charlemont and Robert
Wood pioneered the study of monuments of antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean.)
Scientific excavation does not antedate the 1890's. Before that date the
antiquarians just dug holes around ancient monuments to see what they could
turn up. Ireland
is very rich in field monuments so there was plenty of scope for digging. There
was a fanciful history of ancient Ireland constructed in the seventeenth
century by Geoffrey Keating based on ancient myths and legends, and this was
combined with archaeological finds to construct even more fanciful accounts of
ancient Ireland. Authors according to their fancy connected the origins of the
Irish with various ancient peoples like the Egyptians, the Etruscans, or the
Babylonians. These were called 'Hiberno-Asiatic theories'. It was from works
like these that the Young Irelanders derived their romantic views of ancient Ireland. The
gentlemen who formed the Royal
Irish
Academy in
1784 began to collect Irish manuscripts.
The first scientific monograph on
Irish archaeology was George Petrie's study in 1845 on the origins of Ireland's
distinctive round towers, in which he proved that they did not antedate
Christianity in Ireland,
or even the Vikings. The ground was laid for Petrie's researches by the
systematic recording of field monuments by the Ordnance Survey. Ring forts,
cromlechs, round towers, high crosses, tumuli, cairns, gallery graves, ogham
inscriptions, beehive huts, and so on were carefully recorded.
John O Donovan was also employed in
the Survey, being charged with the task of establishing the proper forms of the
144,000 placenames recorded, especially those of townlands. He also
standardised the spelling of Irish, and tried to strike a balance between
traditional forms and contemporary pronunciation. His system was followed until
about the time of the Second World War when a simplified system was introduced.
He is chiefly famous for his edition of the Annals
of the Four Masters of which it
can be said that it was good for its time. Eugene O’Curry was also attached to
the Survey, and was particularly concerned with Gaelic manuscripts. Neither he or O'Donovan were particularly learned but they
were pioneers. The proper study of ancient Ireland had to
await the development of philological studies in Berlin.
The systematic study of Irish
written records began in Ireland in
1806 when Lord Redesdale, the English lawyer who was Lord Chancellor,
complained that the public records were badly kept. Accordingly, Commissioners
of Irish Records were appointed in 1810 to arrange and catalogue them. William
Shaw Mason, the statistician, was appointed the first Secretary to the Board, but
he was not much interested in the work. Sir William Betham, the Ulster King
of Arms did much more work, in the Heralds' Office.
Edward Bunting began the study of
Irish traditional music. Though he was born in Ireland his
father was English. When some gentlemen in Belfast in
1792 held a harp festival to promote Irish music only ten traditional harpers
could be found. (The fiddle was the instrument of most ordinary musicians, but
gentlemen patronised harpers.) Bunting was commissioned to write down the music.
Unfortunately he wrote it down in a form to suit the new keyboard harp, and so
neglected to give indications regarding the traditional methods of fingering.
Apart from appearing on the Irish royal coat of arms the harp had no particular
connection with Ireland,
nor had the harp music. The importance of Bunting's music was that it was one
of the earliest attempts to record the music of ordinary people, what was to be
later called folk-music. The tunes he and others recorded were successfully
adapted to Moore's
Irish Melodies, though in this
rendering even more of the traditional form was lost.
[Top]
(iii)
Scientific and Learned Societies
The Royal Irish Academy was
established in 1782 as the Irish equivalent of the Royal Society. It was an
academy of science not of art. An earlier attempt in the seventeenth century to
form such a society had failed. The members of the Society read papers on
scientific and other subjects at its meetings. Among the papers read was one by
Dr Robinson on his cup-anemometer. It received a small annual grant from the
Government that was expended largely on acquiring Gaelic manuscripts. Few of
the members bothered to learn Irish and clung to Vallencey's theories until
they were quite untenable. Petrie's cold dose of reality was not popular in
many circles. The Academy also acquired, chiefly through gifts, collections of
‘antiquities’ that had been assembled by bodies like the Board of Works and the
Ordnance Survey as well as by private individuals. By 1850 it had a large
collection but had no building in which to display it. The present
National Museum dates
from about 1890.
Some societies of a rather
antiquarian kind, none of them long-lived, were established in the first half
of the century to study the Irish language. Only the clergy of the various
denominations studied it, and that for the purely practical reason that they
had often to preach in that language while it lasted. In the eighteenth century
a Gaelic Society had been formed in Scotland to
study the ancient language. On was founded in Ireland in
1806, and another in 1818, but neither lasted long. A Celtic Society was formed
in 1845 by Petrie, O’Donovan, and O’Curry to promote the study of ancient
records, not to encourage the use of the modern language. Among the Young
Irelanders only Thomas Davis had any enthusiasm for the spoken language, and
his efforts to revive it caused amusement among his friends. Serious efforts to
revive spoken Irish date from about 1890.
[Top]
(iv) Improving or
Practical Societies
Rather than conducting original research these
were more concerned with diffusing modern science or methods among their
members. As noted earlier there were various bodies that we would nowadays call
professional bodies that regulated the affairs of the learned professions to
some extent. These were the Society of the King's Inn
(1530), the Royal College of Physicians (1654), the Dublin Society (1731) and
its offshoot the School
of Art
and Design (1746), the Royal College of Surgeons (1784), and the Apothecaries
Hall (1791).
A Farming Society, established about
1800 to diffuse knowledge of modern farming, failed around 1830. But the Royal
Dublin Society then resumed its connection with agriculture that it had been
inclined to leave to the Farming Society. A separate Royal Horticultural
Society was established in 1830 to promote ornamental and kitchen gardening. In
1840 the Royal Irish Agricultural Society was formed and many local farming
societies were linked to it. (The title 'Royal' was granted by royal patent to
signify royal approval of the aims of the Society.)
Following disputes among Irish
artists the Royal
Hibernian
Academy
was founded in 1823 to enable Irish artists more easily to exhibit their paintings.
Great efforts were made in the 1840's to promote and develop art in Ireland. An
Irish Art Union
was organised in 1840 to promote a wider appreciation of art, a Society of
Irish Artists in 1842 to promote exhibitions, and a Society of Ancient Art in
1844 to acquire casts of ancient sculptures to help train Irish sculptors. In
1848 an Irish
Academy
of Music was started and the venerable School of
Art and
Design re-organised. It had taught design for over a century but teaching stone
carving for the Irish Customs House was no help to designers in industry.
Other societies or professional
bodies established between 1830 and 1850 were the Irish Geological Society in
1831, the Irish Institute of Engineers in 1835, and the Royal Irish Institute
of Architects in 1839. The Royal Zoological Society (1830) opened zoological
gardens to match the botanic gardens that had been opened since the 1790's.
Both were increasingly used for the exhibition of exotic rather than useful
species.