I'm glad to see that the word 'curiosity' has at last appeared in
this fascinating brou-ha-ha on Mersenne!
It was the word for 'precise accurate activity' in the 18th century.
The activity could be any associated with the arts and the sciences
May I quote from a letter from the mathematician Thomas Simpson in
1742 to his pupil and correspondent Francis Blake (cited in F M
Clarke 'Thomas Simpson and his Times' 1929):
'As to the privilege of being admitted a Fellow of the Royal
Society, it is not so easily obtained now [i.e. 1742] as it was
some time ago; for then such numbers were entered without any
sort of Merit, that the Society (as I am informed) have found
it necessary to come to a Resolution not to receive any person
as a Member who has not first distinguished himself by
something curious'
To my mind the first skill any historian of science needs is the
linguistic skill required to understand communications in science
in the sense that the original scientist or communicator meant
Michael Honeybone
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|