title: British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment
author:  Jan Golinski 
description: ""British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment" explores the study of the weather in eighteenth-century Britain and America to produce a rich and often novel picture of the relationship of human reason to the natural world. The book serves us a model of the cultural history of science and convincingly argues that study of the natural world should be placed at the heart of the modernity of the Enlightenment in general."--Katharine Anderson, author of "Predicting the Weather"<BR><br /><br />"0;British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment" explores the study of the weather in eighteenth-century Britain and America to produce a rich and often novel picture of the relationship of human reason to the natural world. The book serves us a model of the cultural history of science and convincingly argues that study of the natural world should be placed at the heart of the modernity of the Enlightenment in general.1;2;Katharine Anderson, author of "Predicting the Weather"<BR> -- Katharine Anderson<br /><br />0;As much as it is on our minds now, interest in the climate has historically reflected concerns about modernity, and reference to it has always implied moral and political, as well as meteorological, conditions. In this nuanced and insightful account, the eminent historian of Enlightenment science and society Jan Golinski reveals how the invention of the science of weather exposed underlying scientific vulnerabilities and social anxieties in the quest to predict and rationalize the climate of the times.1;2;Brian Dolan, University of California, San Francisco<BR> -- Brian Dolan<br /><br />0;In this superb book, eminent historian Jan Golinski demonstrates how scholarly research into the past can illuminate the concerns of the present. Ranging from doctors to diarists, from naturalists to novelists, Golinski explores how British people made weather a national preoccupation during the eighteenth century. Reinterpreting modernity as well as history, Golinski exposes the cultural roots of meteorology to present environmentalism as an Enlightenment product. This is essential reading for appreciating current responses to global warming.1;2;Patricia Fara, University of Cambridge <BR> -- Patricia Fara<br /><br />0;An excellent book, solidly researched and original. Jan Golinski has written a cultural history of British attitudes toward the weather, and especially the weather of their own island nation and its colonies. "British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment" looks at the cultural ramifications of beliefs about the weather, along with practices associated with trying to keep track of it and, ideally, understand it. Golinski shows how the values and ideals of the Enlightenment were brought into everyday life in the course of experiencing and examining the weather.1;2;Mary Terrall, University of California, Los Angeles <BR> -- Mary Terrall<br /><br />"A historical account of civilization''s efforts to understand the relationship between location, season, and a person''s moods and health. Considerable research into accounts written in the 17th and 18th centuries relates findings with surprising relevance to the present."-Choice<br /><br />"British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment explores the study of the weather in eighteenth-century Britain and America to produce a rich and often novel picture of the relationship of human reason to the natural world. The book serves us a model of the cultural history of science and convincingly argues that study of the natural world should be placed at the heart of the modernity of the Enlightenment in general."-Katharine Anderson, author of Predicting the Weather<br /><br />"As much as it is on our minds now, interest in the climate has historically reflected concerns about modernity, and reference to it has always implied moral and political, as well as meteorological, conditions. In this nuanced and insightful account, the eminent historian of Enlightenment science and society Jan Golinski reveals how the invention of the science of weather exposed underlying scientific vulnerabilities and social anxieties in the quest to predict and rationalize the climate of the times."-Brian Dolan, University of California, San Francisco<br /><br />"In this superb book, eminent historian Jan Golinski demonstrates how scholarly research into the past can illuminate the concerns of the present. Ranging from doctors to diarists, from naturalists to novelists, Golinski explores how British people made weather a national preoccupation during the eighteenth century. Reinterpreting modernity as well as history, Golinski exposes the cultural roots of meteorology to present environmentalism as an Enlightenment product. This is essential reading for appreciating current responses to global warming."-Patricia Fara, University of Cambridge<br /><br />"An excellent book, solidly researched and original. Jan Golinski has written a cultural history of British attitudes toward the weather, and especially the weather of their own island nation and its colonies. British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment looks at the cultural ramifications of beliefs about the weather, along with practices associated with trying to keep track of it and, ideally, understand it. Golinski shows how the values and ideals of the Enlightenment were brought into everyday life in the course of experiencing and examining the weather."-Mary Terrall, University of California, Los Angeles
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  THE GORGON
  
  By Kathryn Le Veque
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright 1996 by Kathryn Le Veque  
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
  manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief
  quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.  
  
  
    
  Printed by Dragonblade Publishing in the United States of America  
  
  
    
  
  
  Text copyright 1996 by Kathryn Le Veque  
  Cover copyright 1996 by Kathryn Le Veque
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CHAPTER ONE
  
  The Month of May, Year of our Lord 1235
  
  Chaldon Castle
  
  Dorset, England
  
  The sultry August heat was manageable this day. As the sun broke the eastern
  horizon, the lush English countryside embraced the coming day with open arms.
  Not only was the advancing day glorious of weather and promise, but the
  inhabitants of the gentle hills of Dorset were anticipating this day with
  excitement.
  
  In faith, the day itself could have been wrought with storms and foul weather
  and still it would have been a grand morn. For on t