Philosophical Intelligence: Letters, Print, and Experiment during Napoleon’s Continental Blockade
Iain P. Watts
Isis, Vol. 106, No. 4 (December 2015), pp. 749-770
Abstract:
This essay investigates scientific exchanges between Britain and France from 1806 to 1814, at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. It argues for a picture of scientific communication that sees letters and printed texts not as separate media worlds, but as interconnected bearers of time-critical information within a single system of intelligence gathering and experimental practice. During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte’s Continental System blockade severed most links between Britain and continental Europe, yet scientific communications continued—particularly on electrochemistry, a subject of fierce rivalry between Britain and France. The essay traces these exchanges using the archive of a key go-between, the English man of science Sir Charles Blagden. The first two sections look at Blagden’s letter-writing operation, reconstructing how he harnessed connections with neutral American diplomats, merchants, and the State to get scientific intelligence between London and Paris. The third section, following Blagden’s words fromBritaintoFrancetoAmerica,looksathowinformationinletterscross-fertilizedwith information in print. The final section considers how letters and print were used together to solve the difficult practical problem of replicating experiments across the blockade.