JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2645

 In cataloging the following volume of The Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts (volume IV, 1818) amidst a spray of very interesting papers I found J.C. Loudon’s effort, “On the Construction of Prisons”.  Loudon was interested in a different sort of prison for debtors, something a little more removed from the punishing existence for criminals and such. It was also illustrated with two engraved plates, the detail in one in particular is striking and calls for sharing:

The image is a plan for a debtor’s prison, a circular affair with the cells along the circumference. This being a prison distinct from the criminal elements the debtors were given two cells, one for sleeping and the other for work and cooking…

This is the detail from the full image:

The volume I was working my way through was Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts (of the Royal Society of Great Britain); London, printed by John Murray,  volume IV, 1818; 8.5×5”, vi, 416 pp, 9 plates 5 of which are folding. (Also–three of the folding plates are lithographs, which is an extremely early appearance of this process which was invented by Alois Senefelder in Bavaria in 1796, though the process really was comparatively very little used in book production until the first quarter of the 19th century. These images were made at the lithographic press of Moser and Harris and frankly show a number of the early problems–at least at this press–with the process, as the images here are not very strong.)  

The volume contains a few dozen contributions (plus many more in shorter abstracts), though some of the most interesting include the following:

de Candolle, “On the Effect of Elevation above the level of the Sea upon the Geography of Plants in France”;

Michael Faraday, “On the Sulphuret of Phosphorus”, p. 361-2; 

William Scorsby, “On the Greenland or Polar Ice”, pp 247-268;

M.C.F. Brisseau Mirbel, “On the Dissemination of Plants”, 1-7;

M.C.F. Brisseau Mirbel, “Of the Death of Plants”, pp 7-13 (these two papers being the first appearance in English from the French);

And also the following two interesting pieces by John R. Park:

J.R. Park, “An Inquiry into the Influence of Corporeal Impressions in producing Change of Function in the Living Body”, pp 13-30; AND

J.R. Park, “On the Influence of Mental Impressions in producing Change of Functions in the Living Body”,  pp 307-327; 

And one detail of the emotional aspect and its physiological impact on the rest of the body:

 Catalogue of Scientific Papers (1800-1863) lists the following supporting and continuing paper on this subject by Park: