Authors of books which have been registered at the Stationers Hall shall have the sole liberty of printing and reprinting such book for 14 years. Others who print or sell or publish such shall forfeit the books and pay one penny for each sheet found in their custody, 1/2 to the Queen and 1/2 to the suer. The printer shall give a copy of each book printed to the Company of Stationers, the Royal Library, the libraries of the Oxford and Cambridge universities, and certain other libraries.
In 1775, the two universities in England, the four universities in
Scotland, and the several colleges of Eton, Westminster, and
Winchester were given in perpetuity a copyright in books given or
bequeathed to them.
The British Museum was incorporated to hold the collections of Robert Cotton of manuscripts, books, records, coins, and medals and of Hans Sloane, which contained rare books, coins, precious stones, pictures, plants, and mathematical instruments and had been left to the public.
Italian opera was introduced in 1706 by Georg Handel on his visit to England. His music became the standard music of Georgian England. The Academy of Ancient Music was founded in 1710. It set the standard of selection and performance. In existence were the violin (including ones made by Stadivari), viola, cello, double bass, oboe, trumpet, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, horn, flute, harp, organ, harpsichord, in which the strings were plucked, and piano, in which the strings are struck by little hammers. Orchestras had at least thirty members. Many hymns were written.
Painting by artists developed. Gentlemen had portraits painted of their horses and dogs as well as of family. Joshua Reynolds painted the wealth and beauty of England. Painters such as Gainsborough did landscapes and dramatic history paintings too, but neither of these sold as well as portraits. Scenery was painted for the theater. Places of business had signs painted which portrayed animals. Coaches were painted with mythological creatures and such. Gentlemen collected antique statuary and painting, such as by Rembrandt and Rubens. In 1711 an academy of painting was founded, which included women painters. The first public exhibition of paintings was in 1760. The Society of Artists was formed in 1761 and incorporated by royal charter in 1765. This differentiated them from the Painter-Stainers Company of face painters, coach painters, and house painters. The Royal Academy of London was founded in 1768 to merge all private academies and societies into one official body and to recognize the best artistic work. Joshua Reynolds was its first president. It was at first financed by the king. Under George I, sculptors became distinct from masons. They did monuments and portrait busts of the royal family, nobles, and great men. From Italian influence, Palladian architecture came into vogue. It was typified externally by a panoramic look achieved by horizontal lines, balanced alternatives of plain wall and openings, and portico with a heavy pediment like the front of a Roman temple. Stucco was often used to plaster housefronts, flute columns, and ornament pediments. Architects took students. Designers of engraved, etched, and historical prints were given the sole right to print them for 14 years. Copiers had to forfeit 5s. per print.
Foreigners were now interested in learning about English life, philosophy, and opinion. They learned English to read English literature such as Shakespeare. No longer were France and Italy the only centers of culture and influence on other nations. By 1713, England was the leading sea power by far.
The Royal Society was still the principal focus of scientific activity. Issac Newton was its President for several years and drew in more foreigners. Its members were mathematicians, chemists, botanists, physicians, engineers, authors, poets, and theologians. Papers given there generated much discussion at its meetings. Newton opined that particles attract each other by some force in a similar way that large bodies attracted each other. This force in immediate contact was exceedingly strong, at small distances performed chemical interactions, and at greater distances had no effect. Also there were local associations and societies. There were learned journals such as "Philosophical Transactions". In 1714, the mercury thermometer was invented by Gabriel Fahrenheit of Germany; this was more accurate than the alcohol and water thermometer. The hydrometer, which measures air humidity, was also invented. These made possible weather forecasting. In 1718 the French chemist Etienne Geoffroy published a table of affinities among chemical substances. Carolus Linneaus, a Swedish naturalist and botanist, established the scientific method of naming plants and animals by genus and species. When he showed that there was a sexual system in plants, church authorities were so shocked that they suppressed this knowledge as they did other scientific knowledge. In 1727, Rev. Stephen Hales discovered the ways that water that plants lost by evaporation was restored by the roots up the stems. He found that gas could be obtained from plants by dry distillation and invented a way to collect gases by heating certain substances. He made ventilators for ships, prisons, and granaries, using the method of injecting air with bellows. This saved many lives in the prisons.
Hans Sloane, the son of a receiver-general of taxes, who became a physician, had collected hundreds of species of plants in Jamacia while physician to its governor. He became physician to George II and was a benefactor to many hospitals and devised a botanic garden in London for the Society of Apothecaries.
In 1735, George Hadley, a London lawyer and philosopher, determined that the cause of the trade winds blowing from the west direction was the rotation of the earth. Benjamin Franklin in 1743 observed that a particularly violent storm was in Boston a day after a particularly violent was in Philadelphia, and realized that they were the same storm, even though the storm's surface winds were from the northeast. He determined that Atlantic coastal storms traveled from the southwest to the northeast.
In 1738 Daniel Bernoulli, a Swiss university lecturer in physics, mechanics, medicine, and anatomy, showed that as the velocity of horizontal fluid flow increases, its pressure decreases. This followed from his theorem that the total mechanical energy of a flowing liquid, comprising the energy associated with fluid pressure, the gravitational potential energy of elevation, and kinetic energy of fluid motion remains constant; that is it is conserved. He demonstrated that the impact of molecules on a surface would explain pressure, and that assuming the constant random motion of molecules, pressure and motion will increase with temperature. He explained the behavior of gases with changing pressure and temperature. In 1754, Scotsman physician Joseph Black identified carbon dioxide, the first gas recognized as distinct from everyday breathing air. He did this by using a balance to weigh alkalis before and after exposure to heat. They lost weight by losing carbon dioxide. He then ascertained the effects of carbon dioxide on animals and its production by respiration, fermentation, and burning of charcoal. At this time, all flammable materials were thought to contain "phlogiston", which was given off as they burned and was associated with the transfer of heat. Plants were thought to remove phlogiston from the air and therefore burned when they were dry. In 1774, Joseph Priestly, a nonconformist minister, schoolmaster, and tutor, discovered oxygen by heating red oxide of mercury. He got interested in the study of gases by watching the process of fermentation in a brewery next to his house. His gas collection techniques enabled him to work with gases soluble in water. He showed that the processes of combustion, respiration, and putrefaction caused one-fifth of air exposed over water to disappear, and that plants restored air vitiated by these processes. When he isolated oxygen, he noted that it was better than air in supporting respiration and combustion produced by heating certain metallic nitrates. The differences between acids, bases, and salts and their relationship to one another became understood. There was some theoretical as well as empirical knowledge about metals, e.g. in boiling points, intermetallic compounds, and changes in properties.