When most people think of science, they envision people cloistered away in labs working mostly with other scientists.  This has never been the reality.  Learning is a social activity the demands you communicate with others.  In the 18^th Century, this certainly took the form correspondence win notable journals and publications like the Proceedings of the Royal Society and the Letters of the American Philosophical Society.  Journal publications allowed ideas to be spread far and wide and this sparked broader discussions and learning but there were more public centered presentations as well.   

When we think of types of entertainment in the 18^th century, we generally don’t think of demonstrations of scientific learning but attending such spectacles was common and popular, especially in major cities.  The eighteenth century saw a rising interest in science and technology. Part of this was the new enlightenment focus on empirical understanding rather than a deference to authority.  Public demonstrations of science, easily observed and explained experiments and observations were of increasingly, an interested the lay public, especially those of middling and elite status.  Public lectures were one part of this.  Many intellectual societies hosted lectures on new theories, ideas and practices.  Some even practiced experiments that were not just observed but the public but allowed observers to join in and participate in scientific discovery.

All this drove an acceptance and need for learning and exciting culture of ‘natural philosophy.’  Many prominent scientist thought it was better to show how these principles worked than dryly tell others of their learning.  This was especially true of studies of electricity which prevaded the salons and parlors of Europe to the point where showing the “electric fire” was often the hit of the party with youths suspended above the floor with their hair dazzled by electric charges, and of course, the ensuing spark.  Public events such as these showcased the latest learning and endeavored to make this science accessible to those with moderate educations. 

A good example of some of the more formal events is that of ‘Mr Warltire’s Philosophical Discourses and Experiments’, held in Northampton in 1799. John Warltire was a renowned ‘lecturer in natural philosophy’ and correspondent of Joseph Priestley, and the author of a book of ‘Concise Essays Upon Various Philosophical and Chemical Subjects’. Here, attendees were able to see demonstrations of ‘optical instruments and vision’, changes of colour ‘by chymical mixture’ and different kinds of air’, the ‘first principles of chymistry’ and the ‘properties of metals, earths and salts’. Mr Warltire also assured those wishing to pay the not-insubstantial sum of 10s for the whole course of lectures that ‘the apparatus is very complete and the experiments numerous’. 

But as well as the more highbrow lectures, also came events which were dedicated to entertainment, as much as education. Here audiences could see anything from card tricks to seemingly-magical events. Visitors to ‘Bunn’s Rural Pavilion’ in Norwich in 1787, for example, could see a demonstration of ‘Mechanical and Philosophical Experiments’ by ‘Mr Martinelli’. In Dublin in 1784 the ‘Celebrated Mr Dinwiddie’, an astronomer, scientist and technologist, offered a lecture on the ‘new discovered airs’ (gases) and how they could be put to practical use in hot air balloons. At the end of the lecture, it was promised, he would fill balloons with air and fire ‘in the space of a few minutes’. 

Whether is was an assent in a balloon, or the demonstration of an orrery showing the motion of planets, the public was often enthralled with science and constantly demanding to learn more. Public demonstrations of science, instruments, mechanics and experiments were popular entertainment as well as serious scholarship.  Arthur C Clark once quipped that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” and this is clearly how the public viewed many of the technological wonders of the 18^th Century.  These public displays of science were meant to “wow” the public much as a conjurer does in a magic show.  They weren’t just meant to educate but also entertain and drive interest.  Eventually, the public became accustomed to seeing such spectacles and they lost the fear of new discoveries.  One wonders if the current anti-science, anti-intellectual movements in America could be reversed by a little 18^th Century public science.

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