This essay explores the range of Dutch interaction with the electrical machine in terms of its identities and uses and in terms of the Dutch culture in which it sparked so much interest. Thanks largely to the relatively open borders of the Netherlands, Dutch eighteenth-century electrical science seems similar to its counterparts elsewhere, especially in Great Britain. But two characteristics of Dutch culture led to important differences. First, the long-standing existence of a market economy habituated the Dutch to the commodification of their culture, leaving them largely undisturbed by a blurred distinction between "serious" scientific demonstration and entertainment. Second, the Dutch perceived themselves to be suffering from economic and moral decline in the eighteenth century. To combat this double-faceted fall from grace, they recruited scientific demonstration as a vehicle for civic cooperation and amelioration. Even after revolution broke out in 1787, the Dutch maintained their moderate Enlightenment vision of the virtues of scientific drama and display.
Current issues are now on the Chicago Journals website. Read the latest issue. Since its inception in 1912, Isis has featured scholarly articles, research notes and commentary on the history of science, medicine, and technology, and their cultural influences. Review essays and book reviews on new publications in the field are also included. An official publication of the History of Science Society, this is the oldest (and most widely circulating) English-language journal in the field. With a new Editor and editorial office in the Netherlands, the Press would like to acknowledge the following supporters: Ammodo Foundation; Descartes Centre, Utrecht University; Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University; Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands; Museum Boerhaave, Dutch National Museum for the History of Science and Medicine. Subscriptions to Isis are concurrent with membership in the History of Science Society. All individual and student subscribers are automatically enrolled as HSS members, with all attendant benefits.
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