Pandaemonium 1660–1886: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers

by Humphrey Jennings

It is I think interesting to give the exact line of reasoning that leads to the inclusion of this image. It is this: when the ‘bourgeoisie’ took over in 1660, they began the final subjugation and exploitation of this island. They had amassed the necessary capital, ‘fixed’ the church on the laws of usury, tamed the power of the feudal monarchy. The tasks that lay before them were the taking of the land from the people by the Enclosure Acts, the creation of the factory system and the invention of machines and means of power to run them. Before any of these things could be done it was necessary to make an analysis of the materials and forces existing in nature and in these islands which would contribute to the scheme. Hence the financial backing of the Royal Society. Among these forces was electricity – not merely as a source of power but also as an essential part of the development of chemistry. Electricity was studied among other ways by the study of thunder and lightning. Before these phenomena could be studied a radically new attitude had to be developed towards them, and to all natural phenomena. One of strict realism. In this image then we have a contributor to the papers of the Royal Society giving a cold, inch-by-inch analysis and reportage of the effects of a thunderstorm equally without reference to God or man. Without a trace of human feeling for the victim or on the other hand of the ancient awe with which ‘the glance of God’ had been regarded for centuries, even ...