Josiah Wedgewood, An Early Industrial Chemist
Basic and applied science, as well as the practitioners of these disciplines, are often perceived today as being a t opposite ends of a spectrum. The effective communication and good will essential to a balanced relationship which is conducive to productivity and advancement of our profession are unfortunately not always realized because of this perception. However, this situation did not always obtain; indeed, in the 18th Centurv there was a close link between the basic and applied sciences than exists now. Chemistry wm certainly less comolex in the 18th Centurv than it is today, and life may well an havi been much simpler. everth he less, this is appropriate place to reflect on an early industrial chemist who bad a high regard for the basic scientist, and who, for the most part, was held in similar esteem by many contemporary scientists. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Josiah Wedgewood, FRS, a master potter whose name is still associated with aristic objects prized throughout the world. Wedgewood, long regarded as a prototype of the 18th Century English industrialist, was the epitome of the "enlightened" Englishman of that time who believed that a synergistic relationship existed between science and industry, an attitude exoressed bv Francis Bacon a centurv earlier. '\Vedgewod's reputation as a scientist was well accepted bv his contemooraries. as illustrated hy a phrase from his His rommunications to the Rayal Society shew a mind enlightened by science, and contributed to procure him the esteem of scientific men at home and throughout Europe." Because the science of chemistry was still in its infancy in Wedgewood's day, some historians have argued that his contribution to the development of chemistry was negligible. Nevertheless, he has been described as a "persistent and indefatiguable experimenter, as well as an acute observer." For example, Wedgewood's experiment books describe 841 experiments, heginning in 1759, in which the relative proportions of different clays, heat, and time of firing were varied in an attempt to produce a certain kind of pottery. In addition, over 10,000 trial pieces resulting from his experiments to perfect dasnerware are still oreserved. Wedeewood's published writings include articles on glass, porcelain glazes, earths, cements. niements. tables of densities, and furnace construction, all the result of countless expeiiments which could be viewed as clever empiricism rather than as science. It is difficult to decide, except from the vantage point of history, whether experiments conducted in the early days of a science were in the mainstream of its development. Thus, i t is not necessarilv obvious that Wedgewood's attempts to construct trrhlea of densities .~ ~~-~~~~~ or his exGriments on the nroduction of porcelain were any less scientifically motivated than were Hovle's and (;alileo9sdeterminations of the densities of air and water,or Priestley's.'Experimentsand Observationson Different Kinds of Air." Wedeewood's work was inspired by, or had immediate applicati& to, practical and fiianciall; rewardine areas of human endeavor. His contributions to the "body,-shapes, and glazes" of ceramic products have establsihed his name in the annals of the practical and esthetic arts. Wedgewood believed in science, its processes, and the ~
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ultimate usefulness of the results obtained therefrom. His attempts to establish a cooperative research organization among the Staffordshire potters attest to his conviction that research is important to industry. Wedgewood was a patron of science and scientific activities. He was personally known to a number of practicing scientists, among whom was his chief mentor in chemistry, Joseph Priestley. There is evidence that Wedgewood gave Priestley equipment (e.g., ceramic tubes, funnels, crucibles) to conduct h ~ experiments; s the existence of a price catalogue dated as early ns 1772 suggests that such equipment was also available for saleto other chemists. In 1783 Josiah Wedgewood was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He authored papers on the design of a ceramic pyrometer and on the chemical analysis of minerals. Development of the pyrometer, which resulted from his attempts t o make his ceramic experiments reproducible and quantitative, shows that Wedgewood was aware of the techniques of scientific experimentation and was prepared to use them to practical advantage. Wedgewood established and regularly used his personal library of scientific works. Further, his results show that his experiments were directed by study and knowledge of contemporary scientific discoveries and ideas; they were not simply a series of empirical tests. His "commonplace" notehooks contain references to the works of numerous contemDorarv scientists such as BaumC, Beramann. Boerhaave, and kheeie. Wedgewood's experime&al efforts produce a truly white porcelain were guided by what he believed to be the relative phlogiston content of the local white clay and of kaolin; the amount of heat required to produce quality porcelain from the two kinds of claywas considered ameasure of the clay's affinity for phlogiston as well as of its phlogiston content. Thus. if we acceot the theorv of ohloeiston as beine "generally $cientific9' &ing ~edgewobd'skfetime, albe; incorrect. it is obvious that he consciouslv ~ o l i e dscience to - a.. industrial problems. Wedaewood was an earlv a ~ ~ l i escientist. d Ultimatelv. many siientific discoveries aka&a degree of practicality th& their discoverers did not-or could n o t i m a g i n e possible. Application of scientific discoveries to the solution of practical problems requires thowht Drocesses that do not differ ereatlv from those involved iu'thebriginal basic research. yetman; have established, and will continue to establish, an intellectual harrier between basic science and applied science. Today the average person's interest in science stems from its potential benefits to mankind, an expectation that has been fulfilled many times in the past. The layman does not necessarily aporeciate the subtle differences between basic science and applied science. Purists insist that hmic science must progress unfettered lest the natural biases associated with aonlication .. encroach on the development of fundamental concepts and ideas. Others who are interested in the amlication of scientific principles to specific problems claim ;hat science exists to fulfill human needs, both material and intellectual. In asense both groups are correct, which suggests that there will always he tension between these groups. It is important to recognize to prevail to the cornthat neither position can be plete exclusion of the other, for elimination of one would inevitably lead t o the demise of the other. JJL Volume 57, Number 7, July 1980 I 465
