Thomas Dick
Encyclopedia
Reverend Thomas Dick was a Scottish
church minister, science
teacher and writer, known for his works on astronomy
and practical philosophy
, combining science and Christianity
, and defusing the tension between the two.
of Scotland, and his father, Mungo Dick, a small linen
manufacturer, designed for him his own trade. But the appearance of a brilliant meteor impressed him, when in his ninth year, with a passion for astronomy; he read, sometimes even when seated at the loom, every book on the subject within his reach; begged or borrowed some old pair of spectacles, contrived a machine for grinding them to the proper shape, and, having mounted them in pasteboard tubes, began celestial observations. His parents, at first afflicted by his eccentricities, let him choose his own lifestyle when he was sixteen years old.
, supporting himself by private tuition.
His philosophical and theological studies terminated, he set up a school at Dundee, took out a license to preach in 1801, and officiated as probationer during some years at Stirling
and elsewhere. An invitation from the patrons to act as teacher in the Secession School at Methven
resulted in a ten years' residence there, distinguished by efforts on his part towards popular improvement, including a zealous promotion of the study of science, the foundation of a people's library, and what was substantially a mechanic's institute. Under the name Literary and Philosophical Societies, adapted to the middling and lower ranks of the community, the extension of such establishments was recommended by him in five papers published in the Monthly Magazine in 1814; and, a year or two later, a society was organized near London
on the principles there laid down, of which he was elected an honorary member.
As an undergraduate, Dick had several noteworthy classmates at the University of Edinburgh
including Robert Brown
, Joseph Black
and Robert Jameson
.
. During this interval he made his first independent appearance as an author. The Christian Philosopher, or the Connexion of Science and Philosophy with Religion, was published first during 1823.
In this work, among many other topics the author computed that the Solar System contained 21,891,974,404,480 (21+ trillion) inhabitants.
Several new editions were published during the next few years, the eighth edition being published in Glasgow
during 1842. Its success determined the author's vocation to literature. He finally gave up school teaching in 1827, and built himself a small cottage, fitted up with an observatory and library, on a hill overlooking the Tay at Broughty Ferry
, near Dundee. Here he wrote a number of works, scientific, philosophical, and religious, which, from their lucidity and unpretending style, acquired prompt and wide popularity both in the United Kingdom and the United States, and which are available on the internet and in print.
An honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him early in his literary career by Union College
, New York
, and he was admitted to the Royal Astronomical Society
on January 14, 1853. A paper on Celestial Day Observations, giving the results of a series of observations on stars and planets in the daytime with a small equatorial at Methven in 1812-1813, was communicated by him in 1855 to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
(xv. 222). He had written on the same subject forty-two years previously in William Nicholson
's Journal of Natural Philosophy (xxxvi. 109).
.
in the previous century to flourish alongside Victorian
moral and religious thinking. They influenced many scientists, engineers, politicians, writers and thinkers, and by helping to prevent a war between science and religion, contributed to the development of modern technological states in the west, and further afield. For instance David Livingstone
, who inspired health care, education and the end of slavery in central Africa
, regarded Dick's Philosophy of a Future State as his most important influence after the Bible.
Among his works may be mentioned:
- Volume V: Diamond - Drake, edited by Leslie Stephen
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
church minister, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
teacher and writer, known for his works on astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and practical philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, combining science and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and defusing the tension between the two.
Early life
Thomas was brought up in the strict tenets of the presbyterian United Secession ChurchUnited Secession Church
The United Secession Church was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was founded in 1820 by a union of various churches which had seceded from the established Church of Scotland and existed until 1847....
of Scotland, and his father, Mungo Dick, a small linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
manufacturer, designed for him his own trade. But the appearance of a brilliant meteor impressed him, when in his ninth year, with a passion for astronomy; he read, sometimes even when seated at the loom, every book on the subject within his reach; begged or borrowed some old pair of spectacles, contrived a machine for grinding them to the proper shape, and, having mounted them in pasteboard tubes, began celestial observations. His parents, at first afflicted by his eccentricities, let him choose his own lifestyle when he was sixteen years old.
Education
Dick became assistant at a school in Dundee, and in 1794 entered the University of EdinburghUniversity of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, supporting himself by private tuition.
His philosophical and theological studies terminated, he set up a school at Dundee, took out a license to preach in 1801, and officiated as probationer during some years at Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
and elsewhere. An invitation from the patrons to act as teacher in the Secession School at Methven
Methven, Perth and Kinross
Methven is a large village in the Scottish region of Perth and Kinross, on the A85 road due west of the town of Perth. Methven is close to another Perthshire village, Almondbank...
resulted in a ten years' residence there, distinguished by efforts on his part towards popular improvement, including a zealous promotion of the study of science, the foundation of a people's library, and what was substantially a mechanic's institute. Under the name Literary and Philosophical Societies, adapted to the middling and lower ranks of the community, the extension of such establishments was recommended by him in five papers published in the Monthly Magazine in 1814; and, a year or two later, a society was organized near London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on the principles there laid down, of which he was elected an honorary member.
As an undergraduate, Dick had several noteworthy classmates at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
including Robert Brown
Robert Brown (botanist)
Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...
, Joseph Black
Joseph Black
Joseph Black FRSE FRCPE FPSG was a Scottish physician and chemist, known for his discoveries of latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was professor of Medicine at University of Glasgow . James Watt, who was appointed as philosophical instrument maker at the same university...
and Robert Jameson
Robert Jameson
thumb|Robert JamesonProfessor Robert Jameson, FRS FRSE was a Scottish naturalist and mineralogist.As Regius Professor at the University of Edinburgh for fifty years, Jameson is notable for his advanced scholarship in natural history, his superb museum collection, and for his tuition of Charles...
.
Writing career
On leaving Methven, Dick spent another decade as a teacher at Perth, ScotlandPerth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
. During this interval he made his first independent appearance as an author. The Christian Philosopher, or the Connexion of Science and Philosophy with Religion, was published first during 1823.
In this work, among many other topics the author computed that the Solar System contained 21,891,974,404,480 (21+ trillion) inhabitants.
Several new editions were published during the next few years, the eighth edition being published in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
during 1842. Its success determined the author's vocation to literature. He finally gave up school teaching in 1827, and built himself a small cottage, fitted up with an observatory and library, on a hill overlooking the Tay at Broughty Ferry
Broughty Ferry
Broughty Ferry is a suburb on the eastern side of the City of Dundee, on the shore of the Firth of Tay in eastern Scotland...
, near Dundee. Here he wrote a number of works, scientific, philosophical, and religious, which, from their lucidity and unpretending style, acquired prompt and wide popularity both in the United Kingdom and the United States, and which are available on the internet and in print.
An honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him early in his literary career by Union College
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and he was admitted to the Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
on January 14, 1853. A paper on Celestial Day Observations, giving the results of a series of observations on stars and planets in the daytime with a small equatorial at Methven in 1812-1813, was communicated by him in 1855 to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society is one of the world's leading scientific journals in astronomy and astrophysics. It has been in continuous existence since 1827 and publishes peer-reviewed letters and papers reporting original research in relevant fields...
(xv. 222). He had written on the same subject forty-two years previously in William Nicholson
William Nicholson (chemist)
William Nicholson was a renowned English chemist and writer on "natural philosophy" and chemistry, as well as a translator, journalist, publisher, scientist, and inventor.-Early life:...
's Journal of Natural Philosophy (xxxvi. 109).
Later life
Despite the success of his books, however, Dick made such loose bargains with his publishers, that he derived little profits from them, and his poverty was relieved in 1847 by a pension of 50 pounds a year, and by a local subscription of 20 or 30 pounds. He died at the age of eighty-three, on 29 July 1857, and was buried at Broughty FerryBroughty Ferry
Broughty Ferry is a suburb on the eastern side of the City of Dundee, on the shore of the Firth of Tay in eastern Scotland...
.
Influence and legacy
Thomas Dick's books enabled the advances made by the Scottish EnlightenmentScottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy...
in the previous century to flourish alongside Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
moral and religious thinking. They influenced many scientists, engineers, politicians, writers and thinkers, and by helping to prevent a war between science and religion, contributed to the development of modern technological states in the west, and further afield. For instance David Livingstone
David Livingstone
David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...
, who inspired health care, education and the end of slavery in central Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
, regarded Dick's Philosophy of a Future State as his most important influence after the Bible.
Selected works
- The Christian Philosopher, or the Connection of Science with Religion, Glasgow: William Collins; London: Whittaker & Co; (1823). His first popular work, from which he was sometimes known as "the Christian Philosopher".
- The Philosophy of a Future State, Glasgow, 1829, in which he developed a Christian theology compatible with the empirical science of Francis BaconFrancis BaconFrancis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
who advocated "a progressive and continuously increasing mastery over nature through the systematic and uninterrupted pursuit of knowledge." - The Mental Illumination and Moral Improvement of Mankind, New York: 1836, developing a train of thought familiar to the writer during his upwards of twenty-six years, and partially indicated in several contributions to periodical literature.
- Celestial Scenery, or the Wonders of Heavens Displayed, London: 1837, New York: 1845.
- The Sidereal Heavens, and other subjects connected with Astronomy, London: 1840 and 1850, New York: 1844 (with portrait of author), presenting arguments for the plurality of worlds.
- The Practical Astronomer, London: 1845, giving plain descriptions and instructions for the use of astronomical instruments; besides several small volumes published by the Religious Tract Society on the Telescope and Microscope, The Atmosphere and Atmospheric Phenomena, and The Solar System.
Further reading
in Dictionary of National BiographyDictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
- Volume V: Diamond - Drake, edited by Leslie Stephen