Frankenstein and fascination with science and technology

The novel is studied so much that it’s tempting to oversimplify, but at the risk of doing so I share this article, which is connected to an Australian radio programme. Although many people emphasize the warning aspects of the novel (about playing God, or the evils of technology gotten out of hand), this one reminds us of the wonders of science people experienced in that age.

The article points out that the word “science” wasn’t used yet in 1818, and the audio clip talks about Shelley attending a show, “Mr. Garnerin and his Theatre of Grand Philosophical Recreations“. When I tried to discover more about this show, I found a fascinating book from 1800 on Google Books. The full title will give you an idea:

Gale’s Cabinet of Knowledge or Miscellaneous Recreations: Containing Moral and Philosophical Essays, Propositions, Natural and Metaphysical Maxims, And Observations on Select Subjects of general Utility; with a series of Easy, Entertaining, and Interesting Mechanical, Magnetical, and Magical Experiments: Including the Most Celebrated Card Deceptions Ever Exhibited, Together with about Seven Hundred Serious, Comic, and Humorous Queries, Paradoxes, &c. &c.

 I suspect rather a greater overlap of magic and science and technology than we have today, although Arthur C. Clarke did point out that, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”