Scientific and Technical Periodicals of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A Guide by David A. Kronick

Abstract

676 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Scientific and Technical Periodicals of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A Guide. By David A. Kronick. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1991. Pp. xix + 332; appendixes, bibliography, indexes. $39.50. Bibliography, as George Sarton once observed, is an addiction. It is the good fortune of scholars that no cure has yet been found for it, as David Kronick’s guide to the periodical literature of early modern science and technology once again demonstrates. Kronick has pur­ sued this topic for more than thirty-five years, beginning with his University of Chicago dissertation on the “Origins and Development of the Scientific and Technological Periodical Press, 1665—1790,” published in 1956. Since then, his History of Scientific and Technical Periodicals has appeared in two editions published by the Scarecrow Press in 1962 and 1976. Kronick’s latest publication is a straightforward bibliographic guide and, like his earliest work, is limited to the period from the founding of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London to the end of the 18th century. Unlike R. M. Gascoigne’s relatively recent Historical Catalogue of Scientific Periodicals, 1665—1900 (New York: Garland, 1985) and Kronick’s earlier monographs, this guide is “merely” a traditional bibliography and does not represent an attempt to survey the development of scientific and technical journals. As a bibliography, however, it is a model of clarity and represents several incremental improvements to the existing bibliographical literature. For one, it is the first bibliography of its topic to take into account a major bibliographic database, namely, that of the Online Computer Library Center. In light of Kronick’s apparent willingness to sit in front of the computer terminal, it is too bad that he seems not to have also consulted the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN). The “Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalog,” available on RLIN, offers information that supplements, as well as occasionally varies with, entries in the Guide; it is the only major source of current value that Kronick seems to have omitted from consideration. This guide will be of particular interest to historians of technology. It is not just that the word “technical” appears in the title. The Guide in fact covers technical and economic literature as well as any other area of publishing, and it is now the best bibliographic guide in English to the 18th-century periodicals that covered these topics. Kronick has evidendy pored over Kirchner’s Bibliographic der Zeitschriften des deutschen Sprachgebietes and appreciated Kirchner’s coverage of technical subjects, the practical “arts,” Oekonomie, beekeeping, forestry, and sundry other practical subjects. As Kirchner is not well known among historians of science and technology, this is a small step forward, although it is possible that some users of the Guide may be puzzled by the apparent preponderance of German-language titles. Of the nearly 1,900 titles listed by Kronick, probably no more than 300 are in English, judging from a quick sampling. In a title count, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 677 German is certainly the dominant language of publication, with French second, although many of the Gerfnan-language journals were short-lived or only of regional significance. Nonetheless, these numbers suggest that a good deal could be learned from a multina­ tional treatment of technical publication in the 18th century. When that study begins, Kronick’s Guide will be a valuable resource. Henry Lowood Dr. Lowood is bibliographer for History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University. He is the editor of the annual Technology and Culture “Current Bibliography in the History of Technology.” Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution. Edited by David C. Lindberg and Robert S. Westman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pp. xxvii + 551; notes, index. $59.50 (cloth); $22.95 (paper). Reappraising the grand models of the previous generation seems to be a habit of historians. Hardly have the great figures painted their big picture of historical change than a swarm of fresh minds rush in to query, qualify, revise, and contradict. In an introductory essay to Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution, David Lindberg looks at the origins of our accepted concept of the Scientific Revolution to see how well it stands up...