Edinburgh Philosophical Journal

This uncommon journal was edited by the eminent scientist Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) and the mineralogist Robert Jameson (1774-1854). Spanning seven years, this complete run contains 888 articles by leading scientists of the period, covering the many subjects of chemistry, optics, electricity, magnetism, practical mechanics, inventions, scientific instruments, natural history, etc. Many of these articles are abstracts of new books written by the authors themselves and as such are an insight into the original thoughts and motivations of this huge gathering of scientists whose ideas crossed from the Enlightenment into the Industrial Revolution. Famous contributors include the editors David Brewster (optics) and Robert Jameson (mineralogy), plus Charles Babbage (1791-1871, mathematician and scientific mechanician), J.F.W.
Herschel (1792-1871, astronomer), Robert Stevenson (1772-1850, engineer and lighthouse builder), William Scoresby (1760-1829, Arctic navigator), Alexander Humboldt (1769-1859, naturalist and explorer), Thomas Stewart Traill (1781-1862, professor of medical jurisprudence), Humphrey Davy (1778-1829, natural philosopher), Robert Knox (1791-1862, anotomist, ethnologist), William Wallace (1768-1843, mathematician), Andrew Fyfe (1792-1861, chemist), Robert Christison (1797-1882, toxicologist), John Franklin (1786-1847, Arctic explorer), and many others. Every volume contains a full contents list and index as well as a digest of scientific notices selected from other contemporary journals. With an average of ten plates per volume, including some coloured plans and fold-outs, this is a journal that should be of interest to research libraries covering the development of 18th and 19th-century scientific thought in Britain.