Review of on the Connexion of the Physical Sciences

Abstract

Published in the venerated organ of Scottish political, philosophical, and scientific thought, the Edinburgh Review , David Brewster’s review of Mary Somerville’s On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences was significant for two reasons. First and foremost, Brewster’s general endorsement of Somerville’s work carried authority. Brewster was a specialist in optical phenomena and had gained popular kudos for his invention of the Kaleidoscope, an account of which he published in 1819. Among the more recent enquiries on the subject of light, Mrs Somerville gives a brief account of those of M. Plateau of Brussels, the ingenious improver of that beautiful instrument called the Phenakistiscope . Recent experiments by Plateau of Brussels prove that direct and accidental colors differ essentially. To acquire a deep and extensive knowledge of the phenomena and laws of the material world, is doubtless a subject of just congratulation: to succeed in imparting that knowledge to others, must be a source of pure and unalloyed pleasure.

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