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Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: Sir Humphry Davy’s Idea of Chemical Philosophy

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Romanticism in Science

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 152))

Abstract

In a memoir on the need and usefulness of studying chemistry, the Florentine naturalist Giuseppe Gazzeri underlined in 1802 the “giant and steady steps” made by chemistry in the last years, that had provided it with the status of exact science; he talked about “regeneration” and concluded that chemistry had made more progress “in ten years than in ten centuries”.1

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Notes

  1. Gazzeri, G.: ‘Della necessità ed utilità dello Studio della Chimica, come conducente al perfezionamento delle Arti (5 maggio 1802)’, Atti della Real Società Economica di Firenze ossia de’ Georgofili VI (1810), pp. 191–192.

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  2. Rapporto del Professore di Chimica Dottore Giuseppe Gazzeri’, Annali del Museo Imperiale di Fisica e Storia Naturale di Firenze per il MDCCCVIII I (1808), Firenze, pp. 6–7. I think it is important to stress that Gazzeri utilizes the expression “chemical revolution” and not “revolution in chemistry”.

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  10. Davy, H.: Elementi di Filosofia Chimica cit., Milano, 1814, vol. I, pp. V–VI. This edition by Moretti and Primo is devoted to A. Volta and the experiences and discoveries by Davy, that have “by now given life to a new science”, are presented in relation with the invention of the pile by the physicist from Como. In march 1814, Davy made some research on the nature of the diamond at the Museum of Physics and Natural History in Florence, during his “grand tour” in Italy. Cfr. Pearce Williams, L., (ed.): The Selected Correspondence of Michael Faraday,University Press, Cambridge, 1971, vol. I, p. 62. Siegfried, R.: ‘Sir Humphry Davy on the Nature of the Diamond’, Isis LVII (1966), pp. 325–335. During his stay in Florence Davy met Giovanni Fabbroni who had carried out some pioneer work in “electrochemistry” in 1793. Davy wrote the following to the Florentine naturalist:

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  11. M. Davy did himself the pleasance of calling on Mr. Fabbroni to take leave. He expresses his obligations for the great kindness he has shown him while in Florence. He is sorry that an excursion to Pisa has prevented him from profiting by his Company and Conversation so much as he could wish, but at the same time he cannot help indulging the hope that he may be sometimes favoured with a letter from one he is much esteemed”. (Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, Fabbroni Papers, BF 113, Davy, Sunday, n.d.)

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  12. In 1802 Davy had considered Fabbroni’s research as the second age in the history of Galvanism: Davy, H.: The Collected Works, 9 vols., Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1839–1840, vol. II, p. 189.

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  32. On the widely discussed influence of Boscovich on Davy: Pearce Williams, L.: Boscovich and the British Chemists in White, L. Law (ed.): Roger Joseph Boscovich, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., New York, 1961, pp. 153–157;

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  64. The reference is obvioulsy to Philosophie chimique (1792) by Fourcroy.

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  65. At the end of the 18th century chemistry had become a fashionable discipline. In 1781, G.L. Lagrange very effectively underlined the primacy gained by chemistry and experimental physics over geometry (Lagrange, G.L.: Oeuvres,Gauthier-Villers, Paris, 1882, vol. XIII, p. 368). Samuel Johnson went so far as to advise James Boswell to treat mental depression following “a course of chemistry” (Porter, R.: Mind-Forg’d Manacles,Athlone, London, 1987, p. 172). Davy’s brilliant academic career confirms the ‘public’ backing that chemical studies had, but the ideological justifications for such studies appear to be quite different and, in Davy’s mind, the strengthening of the religious feeling represented the major justification.

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  66. The influence of German idealism on Davy was not direct but probably filtered by Thomas Beddoes (cfr. Stanfield, D.A.: Thomas Beddoes M.D. 1760–1808,D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1984) and the poet S.T. Coleridge (cfr. Levere, T.H.: The Affinity and Matter cit.; Levere, T.H.: ‘Coleridge, Chemistry and Philosophy of Nature’, Studies in Romanticism XVI (1977), pp. 349–379; and ‘Coleridge and the sciences’ in Cunningham, A. and Jardine, N. (eds.): Romanticism and the Sciences cit., p. 295–306; ‘The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Humphry Davy, science and poetry’ in Christie, J. and Shuttleworth, S. (eds.): Nature transfigured. Science and literature, 1700–1900,Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1989, p. 85–101. See: Snelders, H.A.M.: ‘Romanticism and Naturphilosophie and the Inorganic Natural Sciences: An Introductory Survey’, Studies in Romanticism IX (1970), pp. 193–215.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Studi Storico-Sociali e Filosofici, Università di Siena, Italia

    Ferdinando Abbri

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Florence, Italy

    Stefano Poggi

  2. Centro Romantico, Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux, Florence, Italy

    Maurizio Bossi

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Abbri, F. (1994). Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: Sir Humphry Davy’s Idea of Chemical Philosophy. In: Poggi, S., Bossi, M. (eds) Romanticism in Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 152. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2921-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2921-5_3

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