victorian age
Nov. 11th, 2025 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crimsoncurrentfile:///C:/Users/gregy/Downloads/Species,%20Serpents,%20Spirits,%20and%20Skulls%20Science%20at%20the%20Margins%20in%20the%20Victorian%20Age%20(Sherrie%20Lynne%20Lyons)%20(Z-Library).pdf
THE VICTORIAN ERA
Was indeed an interesting time, a time of stark contrasts. It was a time of hope and dismay, of great optimism coupled with anxiety, doubt, and fear. It has been called the “age of
science” because of outstanding discoveries in a variety of different fields.1
The theory of electromagnetism continued the grand unification of the
physical sciences, building on the spectacular successes of the scientific
revolution. Developments in natural history, geology, embryology, and
taxonomy meant that in crafting his theory Charles Darwin could draw on
a wealth of information that was unavailable to his predecessors. Victorians
packed the lecture hall of the Royal Institute to hear lectures by Michael
Faraday on electricity and magnetism and watched Humphrey Davy as he
poured water into a model volcano filled with potassium. They listened
attentively to John Tyndall’s arguments against the possibility of spontaneous
generation from inorganic matter. The enthusiasm they showed for Thomas
Huxley’s lectures on man’s relationships to the lower animals caused him to
quip to his wife, “By next Friday evening they will all be convinced that they
are monkeys.”2 The age of science was also a time of unprecedented growth
in the marginal sciences. Large numbers of Victorians experienced mesmeric
1
2
Species, Serpents, Spirits, and Skulls
trances, attended séances, and obtained phrenological evaluations of their
character. Rather than the age of science, perhaps the Victorian period should
be called the “age of contradictions,” as countless numbers of Victorians
became absolutely convinced of the reality of spiritual phenomena. However,
these different interests are not contradictory. Rather, they reflect Victorians’
hope that scientific advancements would make it possible to understand the
human psyche, which in turn would allow them to come to terms with a
rapidly changing society.
Victorian intellectuals themselves characterized the period as the “age
of transition.” For the first time in history, a population thought of their
own time as an era of change from the past to the future.3 Beginning in
1832, a series of reform bills were passed that would change the structure
of British society, breaking down the rigid social hierarchy that doomed
people to remain in the class they were born to. This breakdown of the old
conception of status was not due primarily to ideas of democracy, but
rather was economically driven. The development of commerce provided
many new careers, allowing men to leave the land, dissolving the feudal
hold wealthy landowners had on society.
Developments in science and technology fueled the industrial revolu
tion, totally transforming the economic life of England. Instead of a strict
system of fixed regulations determined by the rigid social hierarchy, we see
the emergence of a laissez-faire capitalism. Many people believed that un
bridled competition would weed out the less fit and lead to an overall im
provement of society. Such ideas provided the backdrop to Charles
Darwin’s developing theory that in nature the constant struggle for exis
tence resulted in selection of the most fit. As Herbert Spencer wrote, eco
nomic competition resulted in the “survival of the fittest” and Darwin
adopted the phrase, realizing that a parallel process was also going on
in nature.4
Such a dynamic society offered men the possibility of success both fi
nancially and socially that never before had existed for members of the
middle and lower classes. However, progress did not come without a
price. Throughout the Victorian period economic cycles of booms and
busts occurred, resulting in large numbers of working-class people peri
odically meeting and agitating. Expanding business, developments in sci
ence, and the growth of democracy were sources of distress as well as
satisfaction. From our perspective today, growth in democracy certainly
seems like an unbridled good, but for many Victorians, fear of revolution
went hand in hand with the idea of democracy. Across the channel, the
French were recovering from the excesses of the French Revolution.
The spread of both political and radical religious propaganda among the
working classes suggested that Britain was not immune to the possibilit
THE VICTORIAN ERA
Was indeed an interesting time, a time of stark contrasts. It was a time of hope and dismay, of great optimism coupled with anxiety, doubt, and fear. It has been called the “age of
science” because of outstanding discoveries in a variety of different fields.1
The theory of electromagnetism continued the grand unification of the
physical sciences, building on the spectacular successes of the scientific
revolution. Developments in natural history, geology, embryology, and
taxonomy meant that in crafting his theory Charles Darwin could draw on
a wealth of information that was unavailable to his predecessors. Victorians
packed the lecture hall of the Royal Institute to hear lectures by Michael
Faraday on electricity and magnetism and watched Humphrey Davy as he
poured water into a model volcano filled with potassium. They listened
attentively to John Tyndall’s arguments against the possibility of spontaneous
generation from inorganic matter. The enthusiasm they showed for Thomas
Huxley’s lectures on man’s relationships to the lower animals caused him to
quip to his wife, “By next Friday evening they will all be convinced that they
are monkeys.”2 The age of science was also a time of unprecedented growth
in the marginal sciences. Large numbers of Victorians experienced mesmeric
1
2
Species, Serpents, Spirits, and Skulls
trances, attended séances, and obtained phrenological evaluations of their
character. Rather than the age of science, perhaps the Victorian period should
be called the “age of contradictions,” as countless numbers of Victorians
became absolutely convinced of the reality of spiritual phenomena. However,
these different interests are not contradictory. Rather, they reflect Victorians’
hope that scientific advancements would make it possible to understand the
human psyche, which in turn would allow them to come to terms with a
rapidly changing society.
Victorian intellectuals themselves characterized the period as the “age
of transition.” For the first time in history, a population thought of their
own time as an era of change from the past to the future.3 Beginning in
1832, a series of reform bills were passed that would change the structure
of British society, breaking down the rigid social hierarchy that doomed
people to remain in the class they were born to. This breakdown of the old
conception of status was not due primarily to ideas of democracy, but
rather was economically driven. The development of commerce provided
many new careers, allowing men to leave the land, dissolving the feudal
hold wealthy landowners had on society.
Developments in science and technology fueled the industrial revolu
tion, totally transforming the economic life of England. Instead of a strict
system of fixed regulations determined by the rigid social hierarchy, we see
the emergence of a laissez-faire capitalism. Many people believed that un
bridled competition would weed out the less fit and lead to an overall im
provement of society. Such ideas provided the backdrop to Charles
Darwin’s developing theory that in nature the constant struggle for exis
tence resulted in selection of the most fit. As Herbert Spencer wrote, eco
nomic competition resulted in the “survival of the fittest” and Darwin
adopted the phrase, realizing that a parallel process was also going on
in nature.4
Such a dynamic society offered men the possibility of success both fi
nancially and socially that never before had existed for members of the
middle and lower classes. However, progress did not come without a
price. Throughout the Victorian period economic cycles of booms and
busts occurred, resulting in large numbers of working-class people peri
odically meeting and agitating. Expanding business, developments in sci
ence, and the growth of democracy were sources of distress as well as
satisfaction. From our perspective today, growth in democracy certainly
seems like an unbridled good, but for many Victorians, fear of revolution
went hand in hand with the idea of democracy. Across the channel, the
French were recovering from the excesses of the French Revolution.
The spread of both political and radical religious propaganda among the
working classes suggested that Britain was not immune to the possibilit