The Red Notebook

The good old BBC has yet again made me proud to be a licence-fee payer. They have just made the entire audio archive of Radio 4′s wonderful In Our Time available online.

Unfortunately, you can’t download the programmes as mp3 files to listen to in your car (I have a work-around, but it’s complicated), some of the older programmes are only available in crappy RealPlayer™ format, and you need to be in the UK to listen to the programmes (unless you can figure out how to access the BBC iPlayer via a proxy server)—but, despite these reservations, this is a very big move by the Beeb.

Some programmes I shall enjoy listening to again include:

Baconian Science
On the Jacobean thinker Francis Bacon and Baconian Science.

Calculus
The dispute between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented calculus.

Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin
Darwin’s early life in Shropshire and his three years at Cambridge.

Darwin: The Voyage of the Beagle
How Darwin’s work during the Beagle expedition influenced his theories.

Darwin: On the Origin of Species
How Darwin was eventually persuaded to publish On the Origin of Species in November 1859.

Darwin: Life After Origins
Melvyn visits Darwin’s home at Down House in Kent.

Electrickery
On the dawn of the age of electricity.

Evolution
On the future of gene therapy and advances in evolutionary biology.

Human Evolution
On the six million year old story of human evolution.

Human Origins
On the evolution of the human species.

Humboldt
On the Prussian naturalist and explorer, Alexander Von Humboldt.

Lamarck and Natural Selection
On Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the 18th century French precursor to Darwin.

Mammals
On the rise of the mammals which began 65 million years ago.

Maxwell
The work and legacy of the often overlooked 19th century scientist James Clerk Maxwell.

Nature
On the attempt to define humanity’s part in the natural world.

Plate Tectonics
On plate tectonics, a theory that transformed our idea of the earth.

Popper
On the Anglo-Austrian philosopher Karl Popper.

Science’s Revelations
On whether science has ruined our sense of poetic wonder at the world.

The Cambrian Period
On the Cambrian period, when there was an explosion of life on Earth.

The Geological Formation of Britain
On the geological formation of Britain.

The KT Boundary
On the KT Boundary and the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The Lunar Society
On the 18th century group of pioneering scientists and engineers.

The Natural Order
On the science of taxonomy; the classification of the natural world.

The Origins of Life
On when and how life on earth originated.

The Permian-Triassic Boundary
On the Permian-Triassic boundary in evolutionary history.

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 1
Melvyn Bragg travels to Oxford, where the young Christopher Wren and friends experimented.

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 2
How Newton tested the lines between government-funded research and public access.

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 3
The 19th century blooms scientifically with numerous alternative, specialist societies.

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 4
The more discreet role played by the Society in the 20th century.

The Scientist
On the origin of the concept and the historical role of the scientist.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics
On the Second Law of Thermodynamics from steam to the Big Bang.

The Whale – A History
On the evolutionary history of the whale.

BBC Radio 4′s In Our Time last week was on the subject of Victorian Pessimism (a goddawful RealPlayer™ listen again facility is available on the site).

I must admit, I thought it was a pretty odd choice of subject, but the programme turned out to be extremely interesting. The consensus among the assembled experts was that the generally optimistic can do attitude of the early Victorians was gradually replaced by a far more pessimistic world view that was reflected in the poetry, literature and art of the second half of the Nineteenth Century. They made a convincing case.

And who was to blame for this new-found pessimism? That’s right, you’ve guessed it: the likes of Charles Darwin and his mate Sir Charles Lyell, for eroding people’s already crumbling faith in the scriptures, showing that mankind, rather than being at the centre of creation, really is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Definitely worth a listen, if you have a spare 40 minutes.

There’s something strangely comforting in reading that geniuses occasionally have to worry about mundane matters, such as the state of their teeth:

Charles Darwin to his cousin William Darwin Fox, 24th October, 1852

[…] Farewell,—do come whenever you can possibly manage it. I cannot but hope that the Carbuncle may possibly do you good: I have heard of all sorts of weaknesses disappearing after a carbuncle: I suppose the pain is dreadful. I agree most entirely, what a blessed discovery is Chloroform: when one thinks of one’s children, it makes quite a little difference in ones happiness. The other day I had 5 grinders (two by the Elevator) out at a sitting under this wonderful substance, & felt hardly anything.

My dear old Friend
Yours very affectionately
Charles Darwin

Darwin was a great proponent of the new miracle substance chloroform, whose anaesthetic properties were first discovered by Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson in 1847.

The Darwins were also very early adopters of chloroform. In 1848, just a year after Simpson first used it, Darwin’s wife, Emma is believed to have received chloroform during the birth of their son, Frances. She was to receive chloroform during all her subsequent acts of labour. Indeed, so impressed was he with chloroform’s miraculous powers that Darwin (who, in his youth, had trained to be a doctor) wasn’t beyond administering it to his wife himself, if a suitably qualified doctor wasn’t available. During the birth of their son Leonard in 1850, as Darwin reported to his friend John Stevens Henslow:

I was so bold during my wifes confinement which are always rapid, as to administer Chloroform, before the Dr . came & I kept her in a state of insensibility of 1 & ½ hours & she knew nothing from first pain till she heard that the child was born.—It is the grandest & most blessed of discoveries.

The use of chloroform during childbirth was highly controversial (which is hardly surprising, bearing in mind how new it was). But, as we have seen, Darwin was quick to recommend it to his friends. In 1854, his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker reported:

My dear Darwin

I did give the Chloroform as before & with the best effect, though the Doctor was horribly prejudiced against it: & he having delv’d. 3–4000 women without it that is perhaps not to be wondered at.

It is hard to imagine such a revolutionary, new medical treatment being adopted quite so quickly these days—and for very good reasons. The Victorian faith in science, admirable though it was compared to today, does seem to have sometimes bordered on the reckless.

Note: The ever excellent BBC Radio 4 series, In Our Time, recently discussed the history of anaesthetics. You can listen to the programme again (in crappy RealPlayer™ format) here.

Woot! In Our Time is back on Radio 4, and the first programme in the new series was about Darwin’s great hero, Alexander von Humboldt:

• Download MP3 file

(only available for one week, I think)

• Listen again (permanent archive in crappy Real Audio player format)
• In Our Time Podcast RSS feed

One for the morning commute tomorrow.