Abstract

Most North American work on the history of science concentrates on the period of the 1840s and beyond, a time when permanent scientific institutions were founded and science emerged as a professional pursuit. The originality of this thesis lies in its examination of the earlier period and the demonstration that amid the large-scale social, religious, political and economic change in Montreal there was an emergent, amateur urban science culture and practice. Recent studies have emphasized the importance of the local setting and the factors there that facilitated or retarded the development of science culture, the practice of science and the growth of scientific institutions. This thesis examines the multiplicity of ways in which science became a part of the cultural attitudes of English-speaking Montrealers during the period from 181 5 to 1842. Attitudes toward science were shaped by public spectacles and lectures, informal and formal learning experiences, and by the growth of such institutions as libraries and scientific institutions. By 1835 a number of elementary and secondary schools included some science in the curriculum. Civic pride and emulation lay behind the founding of literary and scientific institutions in Montreal. Members of the Natural History Society of Montreal (NHSM), which was founded in 1827, sought to form a museum of natural history specimens found in the Canadas and to diffuse a knowledge of science among the public. The research for this thesis is based on a wide range of primary source materials, including the archives of the NHSM and the Montreal Mechanics' Institute (MMI) held respectively at McGill University and the Atwater Library, as well as contemporary newspapers, periodicals and other printed documents