Periodicals played a vital role in the developments in science and medicine that transformed nineteenth-century Britain. Proliferating from a mere handful to many hundreds of titles, they catered to audiences ranging from gentlemanly members of metropolitan societies to working-class participants in local natural history clubs. Moreover, rather than merely being primarily sites of authorized scientific discovery, they fostered a sense of collective identity among their geographically dispersed and often socially disparate readers, facilitating the reciprocal interchange of ideas and informatio ... More

Periodicals played a vital role in the developments in science and medicine that transformed nineteenth-century Britain. Proliferating from a mere handful to many hundreds of titles, they catered to audiences ranging from gentlemanly members of metropolitan societies to working-class participants in local natural history clubs. Moreover, rather than merely being primarily sites of authorized scientific discovery, they fostered a sense of collective identity among their geographically dispersed and often socially disparate readers, facilitating the reciprocal interchange of ideas and information. In consequence, they offer the historian privileged access into the workings of scientific communities in the period. This wide-ranging volume offers the first in-depth study of these developments. Introductory chapters explore the role of periodicals in community construction and examine the changing forms and audiences of scientific periodicals in nineteenth-century Britain. Subsequent chapters go more into detail concerning a number of particular sciences, including natural history, physics, and public health. The book reveals that a far larger cast of characters was involved in the making of scientific knowledge than has commonly been supposed and offers new insights into how that diversity can best be explored and understood. The historical perspectives offered in this volume also cast new light on current debates concerning the future of the scientific journal and how recent changes can facilitate the involvement of “citizen scientists.”