- This trial is described at length in Annual register for 1840 Chronicle 289 304 the quotation is from 290.
- Most modern references rely on the article by Rigg J.M. Dictionary of national biography London 1921–22 11 586 588 in the 22 vols. for information on Lardner's life. Some earlier biographical summaries include: ‘Gallery of literary characters, no. xxvi: Reverend Doctor Lardner’, Fraser's magazine, 5 (1832), 696–697, somewhat satirical and accompanied by a pencil sketch of Lardner; Men of the time: biographical sketches of eminent living characters (1856, London), 468–470, somewhat expurgated; G. Vapereau, Dictionnaire universel des contemporains (1858, Paris), 1030–1031, complimentary; Alfred Webb, A compendium of Irish biography (1878, Dublin), 282–283, which adds a few new details but relies heavily on Men of the time; and William Bates, The Maclise portrait-gallery of illustrious living characters (1883, London), 122–125, also somewhat satirical, but which grants his importance as an educator and popularizer of science.
- Hale Bellot , H. 1929 . Unirersity College London, 1826–1926 Vol. 133 , 175 – 176 . London and 251. Lardner ‘eaused more pother than almost any other topic in the early history of the college’ (p. 131).
- 1834 . “ Select committee on locomotive steam carriages ” . In Parliamenlary papers Vol. 483 , xi – xi . ‘Select committee on steam communication to India’, P.p., 1837 (539), vi; ‘Second report of the select committee of the House of Lords on locomotive engines being used on railroads passing through narrow streets’, P.p. 1836 (HL. 168), xii.
- 1834 . Report of the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science , 3 : xxxix – xxxix . 4 (1835), xxviii; 5 (1836), ix; 7 (1838), x; 8 (1839), viii; 9 (1840), viii, list the committees and councils on which Lardner served.
- Peckham , Morse . 1951 . Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia . Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America , 45 : 37 – 58 .
- For attendance at Royal Institution lectures see the Ledger Book of Attendance at Royal Institution Lectures, manuscript volume in the archives of the Royal Institution, London. For Lardner at the London Institution, see Hays J.N. Science in the City: the London Institution, 1819–1840 British journal for the history of science 1974 7 146 162 (p. 151). Lecturers at the London Mechanics' Institution are listed in the manuscript minutes of the Quarterly General Meetings of the London Mechanics' Institution, in the archives of Birkbeck College, London.
- Watson , Robert Spence . 1897 . The History of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 234 – 234 . London F. B. Lott, The story of the Leicester Mechanics' Institute (1935, Leicester), 6–7.
- 1835 . Report of the meeting of the British Association Vol. 4 , xlv – xlv . Lardner's essay on Babbage's machines is in Edinburgh review, 59 (1834), 263–327; this essay is reprinted in Philip and Emily Morrison (eds.), Charles Babbage and his calculating engines (1961, New York), 163–224. There is an approving reference to the essay in Charles Babbage, Passages from the life of a philosopher (1864, London), 47.
- 1836 . Report of the meeting of the British Association Vol. 5 , 6 – 6 .
- Memoirs, journal, and correspondence of Thomas Moore Russell Lord John London1853–56 3 44 44 8 vols. William Toynbee (ed.), The diaries of William Charles Macready, 1833–1851 (2 vols., 1912, London), vol. 1, 236, among numerous references to Lardner.
- de Selincourt , Ernest , ed. 1939 . The letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth: the later years, vol. 2: 1831–1840 913 – 914 . Oxford Lord J. Russell (footnote 11), vol. 6, 16, 247, 309 and 347, and vol. 7, 65–67, for some references to Moore's difficulties in finishing his work for Lardner. Southey was originally very critical of Lardner and his encyclopedia (see Kenneth Curry (ed.), New letters of Robert Southey (2 vols., 1965, New York), vol. 2, 328 and 347). But generous offers apparently changed his mind (see John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the letters of Robert Southey (4 vols., 1856, London), vol. 4, 165, 170, 173–174). For Forster's troubles with Lardner see Walter Dexter (ed.), The letters of Charles Dickens (3 vols., 1938, London), vol. 1, 154–155.
- Thackeray satirized Lardner in his Yellowplush papers: Thackeray William Makepeace Works, vol. 14: The history of Samuel Titmarsh and the great Hoggarty diamond, and the memoirs of Mr. C. J. Yellowplush New York 1923 319 333 W. Dexter (footnote 12), vol. 1, 154; J. W. Warter (footnote 12), vol. 4, 170.
- Austin , Roland . 1914 . Letters of Thomas Dudley Fosbroke . Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society , 37 : 135 – 184 . (p. 172)
- Haight , Gordon S. 1968 . George Eliot: a biography 36 – 36 . Oxford reports her fascination with Nichol's windy Viws of the architecture of the hearens (1837).
- 1835 . Edinburgh review , 61 : 105 – 105 . 110–12; Dionysius Lardner, Animal physics; or, the body and its functions familiarly explained (1857, London), 135; ibid., 114; his A manual of electricity, magnetism, and meteorology (2 vols., 1841–44, London), vol. 1, 92–93; his A discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education (1829, London), 18.
- He was non-committal on the subject of phrenology; as late as 1857 he was speaking of it as a ‘new branch of inquiry claiming a place in physiological science’ Animal physics; or, the body and its functions familiarly explained London 1857 115 115 By that date phrenology had been powerfully attacked by the scientific establishment of Britain; see T. M. Parssinen, ‘Popular science and society: the phrenology movement in early Victorian Britain’, Journal of social history, 8 (1974), 1–20.
- For the ‘railway constants’ investigation, see Report of the meeting of the British Association 1838 7 xxii xxii 8 (1839), xiv, xxix, 197–252; 9 (1840), xv, xxvii. Lardner's other papers are listed in Royal Society of London, Catalogue of scientific papers, 1800–63 (1867, London; 1968 reprint, Metuchen, N. J.), vol. 3, 852–853.
- Contemporary expressions of this conviction include Brougham Henry ‘Discourse on the objects, advantages, and pleasures of science’ (1827) Works of Henry Lord Brougham Edinburgh 1872–73 7 291 370 11 vols. and [G. L. Craik], The pursuit of knowledge under difficulties (2 vols., 1830–31, London). Modern discussions include Thomas Kelly, George Birkbeck: pioneer of adult education (1957, Liverpool); Richard D. Altick, The English common reader: a social history of the mass reading public, 1800–1900 (1957, Chicago), esp. pp. 129–212 and 240–293; and David Layton, Science for the people: the origins of the school science curriculum in England (1973, London), esp. pp. 18–33. More generally, for example, Asa Briggs, The age of improvement, 1783–1867 (1959, London), 216–225; and Harold Perkin, The origins of modern English society, 1780–1880 (1969, London), 70 and 304–308.
- Lardner , Dionysius . 1840 . The steam engine explained and illustrated , 7th ed. 9 – 9 . London In his American lectures in the 1840s Lardner was more aware of the difficulties of obtaining a ‘strict professional knowledge’, and he was more sensitive to the differences between a ‘scientific student’ and a ‘popular reader’ than his earlier English writings betrayed (see his Popular lectures on science and art (2 vols., 1848, New York), vol. 1, 18–19).
- Lardner . 1829 . Discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education 27 – 27 . London and 35
- Lardner . 1829 . Discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education 36 – 36 . London I do not know much about Lardner's motives for becoming an Anglican clergyman, but on at least one occasion he was willing to place himself in a potentially difficult position on behalf of his clerical calling. In 1828 he and two other clergymen affiliated with the determinedly non-sectarian University College London attempted to organize a chapel for Anglican services and lectures on divinity; although the chapel was never actually founded, some critics complained that the attempt compromised the institution's principles. See H. Hale Bellot (footnote 3), 57–58; and London University magazine, (1830), 171–175.
- Lardner . 1829 . Discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education 16 – 17 . London
- Lardner . 1829 . Discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education 27 – 27 . London Lardner's opponents at the University of London complained that his natural philosophy lectures were too mathematical in character to be interesting (London University magazine, (1830), 22–23, 330 and 453–454).
- Lardner . 1829 . Discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education 10 – 10 . London
- Lardner . 1840 . The steam engine explained and illustrated , 7th ed. 9 – 9 . London
- There are many discussions of the impact of technology on the Victorian mind. See, for example, Houghton Walter E. The Victorian frame of mind, 1830–1870 New Haven 1957 Jeremy Warburg (ed.), The industrial muse: the industrial revolution in English poetry (1958, London); Francis D. Klingender, Art and the industrial revolution (rev. ed., 1972, London); and Myron F. Brightfield, ‘The coming of the railroad to early Victorian England, as viewed by novelists of the period’, Technology and culture, 3 (1962), 45–72.
- Lardner . 1841–44 . Manual of electricity, magnetism, and meteorology Vol. 1 , 2 – 2 . London his The electric telegraph popularised (‘The museum of science and art’; 1855, London), paragraph 8 (the work is irregularly paginated).
- Lardner . 1829 . Discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education 14 – 14 . London his Treatise on heat (1839, London), 1.
- Kater , Henry and Lardner , Dionysius . 1839 . Mechanics 227 – 227 . London 231 and 242
- Lardner . 1829 . Discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education 8 – 8 . London Crosbie Smith, ‘“Mechanical philosophy” and the emergence of physics in Britain: 1800–1850’, Annals of science, 33 (1976), 3–29 (pp. 16–18).
- Lardner Dionysius Steam and its uses London1856 ‘The museum of science and art:’ paragraph 3 (the work is irregularly paginated). See the similar passage in Lardner, The steam engine (footnote 20), 5.
- Lardner Dionysius Steam and its uses London1856 328 329 ‘The museum of science and art:’ 330. This was a frequent Lardner theme; for example, Edinburgh review, 56 (1832), 99–101.
- Lardner Dionysius Steam and its uses London1856 101 101 ‘The museum of science and art:’ Lardner's value to the economic historian is reviewed in G. R. Hawke, Railways and economic growth in England and Wales, 1840–1870 (1970, Oxford), 93–99. References to his use by other economic historians and economists will be found there and in T. R. Gourvish, Mark Huish and the London and North Western Railway: a study of management (1972, Leicester), 151. Gourvish agrees with Hawke that Lardner was important, but he questions Lardner's originality.
- 1837 . Edinburgh review Vol. 65 , 145 – 145 . For Vignoles' views see Railway magazine, no. 4 (August, 1835), 89–92.
- Quoted in Houghton W.E. The Victorian frame of mind, 1830–1870 New Haven 1957 27 27
- Lardner . 1840 . The steam engine explained and illustrated , 7th ed. 76 – 76 . London and 159
- [Dionysius Lardner], A popular account of Newton's optics Library of useful knowledge: natural philosophy London 1829–38 2 5 5 4 vols. For the general attitudes of the middle-class leaders of the mechanics' institute movement and of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge see (in addition to the works cited in footnote 19) Chester W. New, The life of Henry Brougham to 1830 (1961, Oxford), 347–358; and J. N. Hays, ‘Science and Brougham's Society’, Annals of science, 20 (1964), 227–241.
- Kater , H. and Lardner , D. 1839 . Mechanics Vol. 227 , 40 – 40 . London
- Lardner . 1829 . Discourse on the advantages of natural philosophy and astronomy, as a part of a general and professional education 23 – 23 . London Arthur P. Molella and Nathan Reingold, ‘Theorists and ingenious mechanics: Joseph Henry defines science’, Science studies, 3 (1973), 323–351, illustrates that the doctrine that science takes precedence over the arts was preached in America as well as in Britain.
- Lardner . 1841–44 . A manual of electricity, magnetism, and meteorology Vol. 1 , 40 – 41 . London In another passage Lardner contrasted Franklin with George III, ‘an obstinate and imbecile prince’ (p. 57).
- Lardner . 1841–44 . A manual of electricity, magnetism, and meteorology Vol. 1 , 108 – 108 . London
- Lardner . 1840 . The steam engine explained and illustrated , 7th ed. 84 – 84 . London
- Lardner . 1840 . The steam engine explained and illustrated , 7th ed. 93 – 96 . London He also argued that Watt should be credited with priority in the discovery of the fact that water is a compound, not an element (pp. 305–308).
- 1834 . Edinburgh review Vol. 59 , 318 – 319 .
- 1832 . Edinburgh review Vol. 56 , 100 – 100 . ibid., 57 (1833), 69–80; Lardner, The steam engine (footnote 20), 329; his Railway economy (1850, London; 1968 reprint, Newton Abbot), 60–61.
- 1832 . Edinburgh review Vol. 56 , 127 – 127 . 132–133.
- 1832 . Answer of the directors to an article in the Edinburgh review for October 1832 Liverpool
- 1833 . Edinburgh review Vol. 57 , 69 – 80 .
- 1834 . Edinburgh review Vol. 60 , 114 – 118 . and 124
- Lardner . 1840 . The steam engine explained and illustrated , 7th ed. 481 – 482 . London
- 1837 . Edinburgh review Vol. 65 , 136 – 137 .
- Lardner . 1840 . The steam engine explained and illustrated , 7th ed. 128 – 128 . London
- Parris , Henry . 1965 . Government and the railways in nineteenth-century Britain 21 – 23 . London
- Parris , Henry . 1965 . Government and the railways in nineteenth-century Britain 9 – 10 . London An earlier authority, Edward Cleveland-Stevens, in his English railways: their development and their relation to the state (1915, London), makes only passing reference to Lardner's Railway economy.
- MacDermot , E.T. History of the Great Western Railway Vol. 1 , 1833 – 1863 . (revised C. R. Clinker: 1964, London), 6, 13, 40–46, 364; Hamilton Ellis, British railway history: an outline from the accession of William I V to the nationalisation of railways (2 vols., 1954–1959, London), vol. 1, 34, 67; L. T. C. Rolt, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1957, London), 79–80, 123–125, 179, 192–193; L. T. C. Rolt, George and Robert Stephenson: the railway revolution (1960, London), 49, 185–186; John Pudney, Brunel and his world (1974, London), 41, 77. Hawke, Railways and economic growth (footnote 34), properly takes MacDermot, Ellis and Rolt to task for their uncritical and unsubstantiated assaults on Lardner. For some other cautious views in the 1830s, see Railway magazine, no. 7 (November, 1835), 207–209 and 228; new series. 1 (1836), 54–59, 89–94 and 320–321; new series, 2 (1837), 257–263.
- 1832 . Edinburgh review Vol. 56 , 112 – 113 . A few years later, when the London and Birmingham proposed eight tunnels along its line, Lardner's fears had eased but he was still dubious (see 60 (1834), 107–108).
- 1837 . Report of the Meeting of the British Association Vol. 6 , 150 – 151 . 8 (1839), 250–252.
- 1839 . Report of the Meeting of the British Association Vol. 6 , Edinburgh review, 84 (1846), 522–525. Lardner also there argued that the technical advantages of one gauge or another were not very decisive.
- 1837 . Report of the meeting of the British Association Vol. 6 , 130 – 130 . has only one sentence about what Lardner said. Fuller accounts are found in the Athenaeum, (10 September 1836), 656, and the Times, (27 August 1836), 5. Both these sources clearly show that Lardner simply urged caution, and that he did not declare anything ‘impossible’. I. K. Brunel, in the audience, pressed his belief in the ‘certainty’ of steam crossings. An earlier issue of Athenaeum (16 January 1836), 49–50 shows that Lardner's views on the subject were already well-known by the time of the Bristol meeting. Lardner was involved in more controversy at the next British Association meeting, in 1837, when he questioned the American Joseph Henry's account of the capabilities of Hudson River steam boats (see Nathan Reingold (ed.), The papers of Joseph Henry, vol. 3: January 1836–December 1837, the Princeton years (1979, Washington), 508–509).
- 1840 . Times 5 – 5 . 30 October
- Lardner's most thorough statement of his position in this controversy is in Edinburgh review 1837 65 118 146 Even Railway magazine, a journal often hostile to Lardner, reviewed the question and concluded that Lardner had been maligned (see new series, 3 (1837), 391–399). But Lardner was still defending himself at length in his American lectures in the 1840s (see Popular lectures (footnote 20), vol. 1. 337–358).
- 1837 . Edinburgh review , 65 : 118 – 146 .
- Tyler , David Budlong . 1939 . Steam conquers the Atlantic 115 – 115 . New York and 242–243
- I have summarized the affair from accounts in the Times 1840 April 5 5 13 (14 April 1840), 5; (16 April 1840), 4.
- April 1840 . Times April , 4 – 4 . 16
- Annual register for 1840, ‘Chronicle’ 289 – 304 . The description of the trial there lies between discussions of Lord Cardigan's case against Captain Reynolds, and the story of Louis Napoleon's trial for his attempted coup at Boulogne—so that Lardner's case clearly ranked with the year's legal sensations.
- New York herald November 1841 2 2 19 New York tribune, (19 November 1841), 2, and subsequent issues through November and December, wherein Lardner's lectures are often recounted verbatim with fulsome comment. The American journal of science, however, took no notice whatever of Lardner's American lecturing activities.
- The figure is given in Rigg's article on Lardner in DNB Dictionary of national biography London 1921–22 11 586 588 22 vols. For Macready's impressions, see Toynbee (footnote 11), vol. 2, 225–226, 228, 234 and 275. In 1840 Macready defended Lardner and regarded the judgment against him as an act of hypocrisy (p. 72).
- Klingender . 1972 . Art and the industrial revolution vii – vii . London
- Inkster , I. 1975 . Science and the mechanic' institutes, 1820–1850: the case of Shefficld . Annals of science , 32 : 451 – 474 . Edward Royle, ‘Mechanics' institutes and the working classes, 1840–1860’. Historical journal, 14 (1971), 305–321. Layton (footnote 19), 29–33, defends some of the results of the autodidactic tradition.
Annals of Science
Volume 38, 1981 - Issue 5
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