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The Bridgewater Treatises (1833–36) are a series of eight works that were written by leading scientific figures appointed by the President of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in fulfilment of a bequest of £8000, made by
Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater
Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater, (11 November 1756 – 11 February 1829), known as Francis Egerton until 1823, was a noted British eccentric from the Egerton family and supporter of natural theology.
Egerton was a Church of Eng ...
, for a work on "the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation." Despite being voluminous and costly, the series was very widely read and discussed, becoming one of the most important contributions to the Victorian literature on the
relationship between religion and science
The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern u ...
. They made such an impact that
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
began ''
On the Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'' with a quotation from the Bridgewater Treatise of
William Whewell
William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved ...
.
The Bridgewater Bequest
Before unexpectedly becoming the 8th Earl of Bridgewater in 1823,
Francis Henry Egerton
Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater, (11 November 1756 – 11 February 1829), known as Francis Egerton until 1823, was a noted British eccentric from the Egerton family and supporter of natural theology.
Egerton was a Church of En ...
spent most of his life as an absentee parson. He published works of classical scholarship and issued others praising the historical achievements of his family, including those of his father's cousin,
Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater
Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (21 May 1736 – 8 March 1803), known as Lord Francis Egerton until 1748, was a British nobleman from the Egerton family. He was the youngest son of the 1st Duke. He did not marry, and the dukedom expire ...
, the "father of British inland navigation." In 1781, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; after 1802 he lived mostly in Paris, where he amassed a collection of manuscripts later donated to the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and gained a reputation as an eccentric. He died in February 1829, leaving a will dated 25 February 1825, in which he directed that £8000 was to be used by the
President of the Royal Society
The president of the Royal Society (PRS) is the elected Head of the Royal Society of London who presides over meetings of the society's council.
After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was officially founded on 28 November ...
to appoint a "person or persons"
to write, print, and publish, one thousand copies of a work ''On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation; illustrating such work by all reasonable arguments, as, for instance, the variety and formation of God's creatures in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; the effect of digestion, and thereby of conversion; the construction of the hand of man, and an infinite variety of other arguments: as also by discoveries, ancient and modern, in arts, sciences, and the whole extent of literature''.
The President of the Royal Society at the time was
Davies Gilbert
Davies Gilbert (born Davies Giddy, 6 March 1767 – 24 December 1839) was an English engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830. He ...
, who sought the assistance of the
Archbishop of Canterbury,
William Howley
William Howley (12 February 1766 – 11 February 1848) was a clergyman in the Church of England. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848.
Early life, education, and interests
Howley was born in 1766 at Ropley, Hampshire, w ...
, and the
Bishop of London
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
,
Charles James Blomfield
Charles James Blomfield (29 May 1786 – 5 August 1857) was a British divine and classicist, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.
Early life and education
Charles James Blomfield was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the eldest son (an ...
, in selecting authors. Those appointed, with the titles and dates of their treatises, were:
#
The Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Condition of Man' (1833), by
Thomas Chalmers
Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nine ...
, D.D.
#
On The Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man' (1833), by
John Kidd, M.D.
# ''
Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference to Natural Theology'' (1833), by
William Whewell
William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved ...
, D.D.
# ''
The hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as evincing Design'' (1833), by Sir
Charles Bell.
#
Animal and Vegetable Physiology considered with reference to Natural Theology' (1834), by
Peter Mark Roget.
# ''
Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology'' (1836), by
William Buckland
William Buckland DD, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster. He was also a geologist and palaeontologist.
Buckland wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur, which he named ' ...
, D.D.
# ''
On the History, Habits and Instincts of Animals'' (1835), by
William Kirby.
# ''
Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion, considered with reference to Natural Theology'' (1834), by
William Prout
William Prout FRS (; 15 January 1785 – 9 April 1850) was an English chemist, physician, and natural theologian. He is remembered today mainly for what is called Prout's hypothesis.
Biography
Prout was born in Horton, Gloucestershire in ...
, M.D.
In the midst of a movement for reform in the Royal Society and a clamour surrounding the
Reform Act 1832, the administration of the bequest was widely criticized. The calibre and reputation of the authors was, however, of a high order, and they included several prominent scientific figures of the age.
The Bridgewater Treatises
The eight authors appointed to write the Bridgewater Treatises were offered little guidance about what was expected of them, and the individual works were varied. In particular, while the series has sometimes been seen primarily as a contribution to
natural theology, the authors did not agree about the extent to which humans could acquire knowledge of God by observation and reasoning without the aid of revealed knowledge. Instead, the series offered "a working epitome of each of the main branches of natural science, and its final impact was expected to demonstrate the higher meaning of the order of nature and
..to 'ennoble' empirical discovery into morality."
Clerical professors: Whewell and Chalmers
The treatises of the theologically capable university professors
William Whewell
William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved ...
and
Thomas Chalmers
Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nine ...
were the ones that offered the greatest theological sophistication. In his work on "astronomy and general physics," Whewell claimed that his purpose was to "lead the friends of religion to look with confidence and pleasure on the progress of the physical sciences, by showing how admirably every advance in our knowledge of the universe harmonizes with the belief in a most wise and good God." In particular, he argued that the scientific view that nature was "governed by ''laws''" was not at odds with belief in a creator, an argument later used by
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
. Scottish clergyman Thomas Chalmers's treatise on "the moral and intellectual constitution of man" argued that the human conscience and the mechanism of society manifested God's moral qualities, drawing heavily on his previously published views as a
Malthusian
Malthusianism is the idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population die off. This event, ...
political economist
Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour m ...
. He nevertheless placed severe limits on natural theology in a final chapter on "the defects and uses of natural theology."
Medical practitioners: Kidd and Bell, Roget and Prout
The two medical professors
John Kidd and
Charles Bell wrote shorter and theologically lightweight contributions. Kidd's work, on the "physical constitution of man," was claimed to be "but a moderate thousand pounds worth," Like Bell, whose limited subject was "the hand," Kidd set out to show that modern developments in anatomy did not support either
materialism or the
transmutation of species
Transmutation of species and transformism are unproven 18th and 19th-century evolutionary ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a term used ...
, instead confirming belief in the reality of divine design. The two other medical authors,
Peter Mark Roget and
William Prout
William Prout FRS (; 15 January 1785 – 9 April 1850) was an English chemist, physician, and natural theologian. He is remembered today mainly for what is called Prout's hypothesis.
Biography
Prout was born in Horton, Gloucestershire in ...
, wrote lengthier contributions considering how the emergence of physiological laws enhanced the belief in divine design, rather than diminishing it. In his treatise on "animal and vegetable physiology," Roget argued that the laws of "philosophical anatomy" provided a grander vision of divine action. Prout's rag-bag treatise on "chemistry, meteorology, and the function of digestion" was more ambivalent, arguing that God's action was strikingly evident in the laws of chemical action, but also that many phenomena seemed to subvert the general laws.
The Bible and science: Kirby and Buckland
The final two treatises, those of
William Kirby and
William Buckland
William Buckland DD, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster. He was also a geologist and palaeontologist.
Buckland wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur, which he named ' ...
, both addressed the relationship of the Bible to scientific enquiry, but from very different perspectives.
High Churchman
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
Kirby's treatise on the "history, habits, and instincts of animals" began with a quotation from German naturalist
Heinrich Moritz Gaede stating: "It is Bible in hand that we must enter into the august temple of nature." A follower of the view of theologian
John Hutchinson (1674–1737) that the Bible contains hidden symbolic meanings, he argued that modern naturalists such as the transmutationist
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolo ...
had lost their way by failing to honour the Bible. In stark contrast, the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
's Professor of Geology,
Rev. William Buckland, declared in his first chapter that there was nothing in the Bible to suggest that the earth may not be ages old. Accepting the facts of geology only strengthened Christianity, he claimed, by offering new evidence of design and disproving the idea of the
transmutation of species
Transmutation of species and transformism are unproven 18th and 19th-century evolutionary ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a term used ...
.
Ranging across the sciences, the Bridgewater Treatises took different approaches to trying to demonstrate how science was supportive of Christianity. Taken as a whole, they tended to imply that neither natural laws nor a historical process of creation were inconsistent with Christianity. However, they were opposed to both
materialism and
transmutation of species
Transmutation of species and transformism are unproven 18th and 19th-century evolutionary ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a term used ...
.
Reception and responses
The Bridgewater Treatises were published by London publisher
William Pickering and while they were very expensive (they were priced between 9s.6d. and £1 10s.) they nevertheless sold very rapidly. Buckland's treatise on geology sold a first edition of 5000 copies straight away and a second edition of the same size was immediately produced. The series was very widely reviewed and republished, and the treatises were also bought by a large number of libraries, including the libraries of the
Mechanics' Institutes. In 1836,
Thomas Dibdin considered that the Bridgewater Treatises were set to "traverse the whole civilized portion of the globe." Sales tailed off in the 1840s, but the series was reissued in
Henry Bohn's Scientific Library from the 1850s, with some of the treatises remaining in print in the 1880s. The Bridgewater Treatises were republished in the United States by both New York publishers
Harper & Bros. and Philadelphia publishers
Carey, Lea, and Blanchard. They were translated into German by Stuttgart publisher
Paul Neff, and some of the treatises appeared in French, Dutch, and Swedish.
The works are of unequal merit and they attracted criticism from a variety of standpoints. Some religious commentators criticized them for overemphasizing
natural theology, for distracting readers from the claims of the Bible, or for undermining biblical authority. Some scientific commentators attacked their particular views on science.
Robert Knox
Robert Knox (4 September 1791 – 20 December 1862) was a Scottish anatomist and ethnologist best known for his involvement in the Burke and Hare murders. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Knox eventually partnered with anatomist and former teach ...
, an Edinburgh surgeon and major advocate of radical
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
, referred to them as the "Bilgewater Treatises", to mock what he called the "ultra-teleological school" of anatomy. Though memorable, this phrase overemphasizes the influence of
teleology
Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...
in the series, at the expense of the
idealism
In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected t ...
of the likes of Kirby and Roget. The series nevertheless proved very successful in conveying the impression that modern science was in harmony with Protestant Christianity and it became an emblem of that harmony in Victorian Britain and beyond.
The great success of the series prompted authors to publish works in imitation. The most famous of these was by
Charles Babbage and dubbed ''
The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise: A Fragment'' (1836). As Babbage's preface states, this volume was not part of the series, but rather his own considerations on the subject written in response to the claim in Whewell's treatise that "We may thus, with the greatest propriety, deny to the mechanical philosophers and mathematicians of recent times any authority with regard to their views of the administration of the universe." Babbage drew on his own work on calculating engines to represent God as a divine programmer setting complex laws as the basis of what we think of as miracles, rather than miraculously producing new species by creative whim. A fragmentary supplement to Babbage's ''Fragment'' by
Thomas Hill was published posthumously.
See also
*
Relationship between religion and science
The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern u ...
*
Natural theology
References
Further reading
* Addinall, Peter (1991).
Philosophy and Biblical Interpretation: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Conflict'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Alexander, Denis R.; Numbers, Ronald L. (2010).
Biology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins'. University of Chicago Press. .
*
Authors of the Bridgewater Treatises (act. c. 1833–1836). ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. . Retrieved 2022-09-12.
* Brock, W. H. (1966).
The Selection of the Authors of the Bridgewater Treatises. ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London''. 21 (2): 162–179. .
* Clark, John F. M. (2009).
Bugs and the Victorians'. Yale University Press. .
* Desmond, Adrian.
The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London'. University of Chicago Press. .
* Gillispie, Charles Coulston (1996).
Genesis and Geology: A Study in the Relations of Scientific Thought, Natural Theology, and Social Opinion in Great Britain, 1790-1850'. Harvard University Press. .
* Hilton, Boyd (1988).
The Age of Atonement: The Influence of Evangelicalism on Social and Economic Thought, 1795-1865'. Clarendon Press. .
* Rehbock, Philip F. (1983).
The Philosophical Naturalists: Themes in Early Nineteenth-century British Biology'. University of Wisconsin Press. .
* Robson, John M. "The Fiat and Finger of God: The Bridgewater Treatises". In Helmstadter, Richard J.; Lightman, Bernard V. (eds.). ''Victorian Faith in Crisis: Essays on Continuity and Change in Nineteenth-Century Religious Belief''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. .
* Rupke, Nicolaas A. (1983). ''.
* Snyder, Laura J. (2011-02-22).
The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World'. Crown. .
* Spurway, Neil.
Laws of Nature, Laws of God?: Proceedings of the Science and Religion Forum Conference, 2014'. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 91–114. .
* Topham, Jonathan R. (1992).
Science and Popular Education in the 1830s: The Role of the "Bridgewater Treatises". ''The British Journal for the History of Science''. 25 (4): 397–430. .
* Topham, Jonathan R. (1993).
'An infinite variety of arguments': the Bridgewater Treatises and British natural theology in the 1830s' (Ph.D. thesis). University of Lancaster.
* Topham, Jonathan R. (1998).
Beyond the "Common Context": The Production and Reading of the Bridgewater Treatises. ''Isis''. 89 (2): 233–262. .
* Topham, Jonathan R. (2022).
Reading the Book of Nature: How Eight Bestsellers Reconnected Christianity and the Sciences on the Eve of the Victorian Age', University of Chicago Press; {{ISBN, 978-0-226-81576-3
* Young, Robert (1985).
'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Christianity and science
Religion and science
History of science
Series of books
Treatises