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‘Stones of use’: Cobalt, Spar and the Utility of Architectural Materials
Author(s) -
Ferng Jennifer
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12466
Subject(s) - realm , spar , discipline , architectural design , architectural engineering , natural (archaeology) , engineering , engineering ethics , archaeology , history , sociology , architecture , social science , structural engineering
This article advances a greater understanding of building materials, specifically stone, as a scientific object of experimentation that moved from the realm of natural philosophy and into architectural design and industry trades in eighteenth‐century England. Revd William Borlase contemplated stone's pragmatic use in disciplinary fields that lay beyond the scientist's chemical laboratory or the antiquarian's personal collections. Cobalt, spar and other specimens of stone acted as heuristic models of architectural materials that were tested as they were being conceived in practice. These conceptions of stone gradually transformed these building materials into more industry‐ready incarnations, predicted by naturalists like Borlase.