Joseph Priestley as an historian of science : with some account of his philosophical apparatus existing at the present time / C.A. Browne.
- Charles Albert Browne
- Date:
- [1927]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Joseph Priestley as an historian of science : with some account of his philosophical apparatus existing at the present time / C.A. Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[Reprinted from Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 4, No. 2. February, 1927.] JOSEPH PRIESTLEY AS AN HISTORIAN OF SCIENCE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS PHILOSOPHICAL APPARATUS EXISTING AT THE PRESENT TIME* C. A. Browne, Chief, Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Joseph Priestley is in many ways a most interesting figure to students of the history of science. He was not only himself a most eminent natural philosopher, but he was also an ardent student of the history of science, to which subject he made numerous contributions. It is worthy of note that Priestley’s earliest scientific book was his “History and Present State of Electricity’’ which he published in 1767 at the age of thirty-four. The success of this work induced Priestley to form the idea of writing histories upon all the branches of experimental science, and in the continuance of this plan he published in 1772 his “History of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light and Colours’’ in two quarto volumes. The expense and labor connected with the publication of this second work caused Priestley to suspend further efforts upon additional histories of science until he had determined the state of public opinion as to works of this kind. The pleasure I have in this undertaking (he writes), is not so great but that it will depend upon the reception my labors meet with, whether I continue them or not. If those persons for whose opinion I have an esteem favor me with their approbation and the sale of the work indemnify me for the very great expenses I have been at on account of it, I shall persevere with pleasure. If the reception be unfavorable in these respects I shaft certainly desist, and be thankful that I can betake myself to other studies not less agreeable to me. The expense of putting out the “History of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light and Colours’’ was so great that Priestley felt it necessary for purposes of protection to publish it by subscription. The list of subscribers contains 500 names including such celebrities as Jeremiah Bentham, Edmund Burke, Henry Cavendish, John Ingenhousz, Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin Franklin, the latter setting his name down to the generous extent of twenty copies. Franklin, as we know, gave Priest¬ ley the fullest support and encouragement in his historical and scientific investigations. His friendship had a great influence upon Priestley’s work as a political and scientific writer. According to Sir T. E. Thorpe, “it may be truthfully said that Franklin made Priestley into a man of science.’’ Many of the subscriptions to the “History of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light and Colours” were never paid and this fact together with the poor sale of the book caused Priestley to abandon his plan of * Paper read before the History of Science Society at the Philadelphia meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dec. 29, 1926.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30626122_0003.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
