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The object of this paper is to uncover the changing relationships between scientific culture and social class in one British industrial town during the nineteenth century. Rather than concentrating upon one or two 'significant' figures, the paper attempts to identify the social status and political affiliations of cultural institutions through detailed analysis of their membership. It is argued that until the 1840s the urban scientific culture was supported by a fairly ad hoc mixture of competing social groupings. During and after the 1840s, it becomes possible to interpret the further development of the local scientific enterprise in terms of class conflicts. Increasingly, institutions within which scientific and technical matters were researched, discussed or taught became exclusive to particular social classes, and did not exhibit that variety of occupations, incomes and educational backgrounds found in the well-known provincial and metropolitan forums of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is suggested that the social generation of a scientific culture may have had important economic effects. Where relevant, comparative data are drawn from Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this paper is the nature and development of the scientific enterprise in Australia, with a particular focus on the period from the 1880s to 1916. At its beginning, this period was dominated by the formation of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, and at its end it witnessed the formation of the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry. The 'colonial' characteristics of Australian science are considered by means of a critical examination of George Basalla's analysis of the spread of Western science from its 'centre' to peripheral regions. This is followed by a more detailed historical treatment of aspects of Australian science in the period 1888-1912. I argue that the nature of the Australian scientific enterprise of these years was increasingly conditioned by changing local economic imperatives, a reflection of the loosening of more established imperial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“The large room of the Crown and Anchor Tavern, one of the very largest in the Metropolis, was engaged for the occasion, and at the time appointed for taking the chair, it was completely filled. It is said to hold 2,500 persons; certainly more than 2,000 were present. We were glad to perceive that they consisted chiefly of that class for whose good the institution is intended, namely, working mechanics; and that they showed, by their conduct and demeanor, that they comprehended fully the serious magnitude of the object for which they were assembled, and came to the consideration of it with minds warmed apparently to enthusiasm in its support; yet keenly intent on examining and scrutinizing well the means by which they were to be invited to realize the promised good. It was a meeting of men resolved both to think and act for themselves.... The earnest, discriminating, and orderly attention with which they listened to the whole of the proceedings, exceeded anything we had ever before witnessed in so numerous an assembly . . .”1 1. Mechanics' Magazine, 15 November 1823, p. 177. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]