Exquisite atmography’: Theories of the world and experiences of the weather in a diary of 1703
Abstract
This paper describes and analyses a hitherto unknown document of considerable historical significance: a narrative diary of the weather for every day of the year 1703. Available evidence enables us to assign the authorship of the document, with a high degree of probability, to an Oxford graduate residing in rural Worcestershire. The text presents plentiful natural philosophical speculations about the causes of meteorological phenomena, drawing both upon the ideas of leading scientific thinkers and upon vernacular lore concerning the weather. Furthermore, the diarist composed a remarkably personal document, in a richly descriptive style, cataloguing his physiological and emotional reactions to prevailing weather conditions. The document thus represents an empathic and discursive style of meteorology, an alternative to the contemporary efforts to establish objective weather records that have previously been recognized by historians.
Department
History
Publication Date
7-12-2001
Journal Title
The British Journal for the History of Science
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Golinski, J.V. “‘Exquisite atmography’: Theories of the world and experiences of the weather in a diary of 1703,” British Journal for the History of Science 34 (2001), 149-171.
Rights
© 2001 British Society for the History of Science