The Benefits of a Mechanics’ Institute and the Blessing of Temperance”

Science and Temperance in 1840s Ireland

Bibliographic Data

ID12970931
AuthorsElizabeth Neswald (corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume22
Issue2
Pages209-227
Publication date2008-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Social History of Alcohol Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0887-2783 • E-ISSN: 2640-7329
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/shad22020209
OpenAlexW204119972
LanguageEN
References cited12

In the 1840s the temperance movement swept through Ireland inspiring hundreds of thousands of Irish Catholics to take the total abstinence pledge. Simultaneously, this decade witnessed the proliferation of societies and institutions for the acquisition and dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge. Scientific and temperance movements developed a close relationship that took on a particular significance in this impoverished and deeply divided country. Not only were sobriety and scientific knowledge deemed to be the prerequisite for individual self-improvement and prosperity. In conjunction with the movement for Repeal of the Union and with the more radical, nationalist Young Ireland movement, the combined economical and moral improvement that scientific and temperance movements strove to achieve was promoted as the potential foundation for building a peaceful, prosperous, non-sectarian and inclusive Irish nation

Irish · Nationalism · Pledge · Political science · Politics · Prosperity · Sobriety · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of scientific knowledge · History of Science and Natural History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Medical History and Innovations · Psychology

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