Voyages through empirical common sense: the practice of science in India by James Tod (1782–1835)

Abstract

In James Tod's travel writings we can observe a paradoxical application of the empirical field observations of the emerging British physical sciences, together with the theoretical framework of the Scottish Common Sense school which sought abstract causes for observed phenomena in an overall evolutionary scale. In geodetical surveying, Tod used Western scientific instruments and also resorted to Indian assistants and Indian estimations of local distances. In geology, Tod noted the formations of mountain ridges and volcanic eruptions, while dreaming of profits from copper and precious stone deposits. In botany, Tod seems to have followed Jussieu's natural climate zones rather than Linnaeus's Latin binomial labels, while also respecting William Jones's example in using local Indian plant names when possible, and showing a selective attention to potentially useful plants and likely agricultural revenues. Thus, Tod can be credited with moving ideas of Western science into Indian contexts, following the dominant scientific trends of his time and leaving the scientific techniques of his Indian assistants in a doubly subordinate position – in relation to the professional British scientists in India, and in relation to the metropolitan British scientists in Britain.