Osiris ed. by Arnold Thackray

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 1097 (Philip Wagner). Diffusion takes place “in small steps, each contained in frames of limited possibilities” (Torsten Hagerstrand, pp. 220-21). William McNeil argues that diffusion is “the central process of human history” (p. 75). If he is correct, it deserves careful study by historians of all kinds. This book may be one of the “small steps” toward increased understanding of that process. Kenneth L. Ames Dr. Ames is a professor in the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. He is currently at work on a book on American middle-class material culture of the 19th century. Osiris. Edited by Arnold Thackray. Second ser., vols. 2 and 3. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1986, 1987. Pp. 361, 289; illustrations, tables, notes. Each volume: $39.00 (cloth/institutions); $29.00 (cloth); $18.00 (paper). After much preliminary fanfare, the History ofScience Society (HSS) issued the first annual number of the new series of Osiris in 1985. By the annual meeting of the society in Cincinnati in December 1988, the losses from the first few issues of thejournal had added to fiscal pres­ sures engendered by other activities. Some seeds ofthe situation go back to the heady ebullience attending Osiris’s gestation. Words said and writ­ ten declared the goal of getting the HSS back to the great days when it had two greatjournals. Osiris, ofcourse, was never an HSS publication but the personal property and organ ofGeorge Sarton. With the notable exception ofMertonon Puritanism and Science, Osiriswas a rather mod­ est product even by the standards of the preprofessional era of the his­ tory ofscience. (On the status and nature ofOsiris, see I. Bernard Cohen, “The Publication of Science, Technology and Society: Circumstances and Consequences,”Isis 79 [December 1988]: 571—82, esp. n. 8 and p. 573.) A second argumentfor a revived Osiris was the alleged need foran outlet for articles too lengthy for ordinary journals. The first volume proved a surprise and a great success. Historical Writing on American Science, a critical review of the literature, was reprinted by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Although some had argued for theme issues like the first volume, the second and third volumes are general in scope. The fourth volume is on the chemical revolution, and German science is the subject of a projected fifth volume—by late spring or early summer 1989 HSS had obtained additional private funds for the publication of Osiris, one hopes to the point where the journal becomes self-supporting. Rumor has it that Osiris second series 6 will deal with the Renaissance. A decision has been made to do only thematic volumes. Why did the two volumes under review here not catch on? 1098 Book Reviews I'ECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE In both volume 2 and volume 3, the articles are arranged in rough chronological order from the Renaissance to post—World War II. The topics and models of approach are fairly conventional and present a spectrum ratherthan a particular interpretivestance or methodological thrust. There is no discernible point of view—rather, perhaps, a sense of striving for balanced representations. Alton’s translation and com­ mentary on a piece of Puerbach might have appeared in Sarton’s Osins, but Desmond on artisans’ science and evolution in early Victorian En­ gland is clearly a product of recent trends. Representativeness may be a virtue in consensus building, but the resulting volumes lack a clear audience and market, unlike the theme issues. Of the eighteen articles in the two issues, one is thirty-two pages long and six are under thirty pages. These are solid normal-size contribu­ tions, at least one of which was originally submitted to Isis. One of the long pieces (by Schweber) is in two dissimiliar parts. A number of the other long pieces are obviously divisible or call out for pruning. From Osiris second series 2 and 3 there is no support for the contentions of the need for an outlet for longer contributions. Nor is this surprising, since long articles as such have appeared in Isis and elsewhere. Editors have also published longer writings over several issues. None of these articles, even the long ones, lacksjournal or other outlets in the...