William Clark Russell and Chambers's Journal: elopement and the Victorian nautical novel

This essay examines aspects of the serialisation of the novels of William Clark Russell, the greatest late Victorian nautical novelist. Focusing on the treatment of his work by the Edinburgh firm of Messrs Chambers, the article provides an illuminating perspective on market censorship in this period. Drawing on the archives of Chatto & Windus and the literary agent A.P. Watt, it traces the network of relations between author, agent, magazine editor and book publisher, showing how the various components of the serial market operated in the late 1880s and early 1890s.

Lord Kelvin’s atmospheric electricity measurements

Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) made important contributions to the study of atmospheric elec- tricity during a brief but productive period from 1859–1861. By 1859 Kelvin had recognised the need for “incessant recording” of atmospheric electrical parameters, and responded by inventing both the water dropper equaliser for measuring the atmospheric potential gradient (PG), and photographic data logging. The water dropper equaliser was widely adopted internationally and is still in use today. Following theoretical consid- erations of electric field distortion by local topography, Kelvin developed a portable electrometer, using it to investigate the PG on the Scottish island of Arran. During these environmental measurements, Kelvin may have unwittingly detected atmospheric PG changes during solar activity in August / September 1859 associated with the “Carrington event”, which is interesting in the context of his later statements that solar magnetic influ- ence on the Earth was impossible. Kelvin’s atmospheric electricity work presents an early representative study in quantitative environmental physics, through the application of mathematical principles to an environmental problem, the design and construction of bespoke instrumentation for real world measurements and recognising the limitations of the original theoretical view revealed by experimental work

Fidelity in interpretation: Lord Hoffmann and the adventure of the empty house

This paper explores Dworkin's 'law as a chain novel' analogy and considers the recent work of Dworkin and MacCormick through close scrutiny of two recent judgments of Lord Hoffmann, in Barlow Clowes v Eurotrust International [2005] UKPC 37 and Barker v Corus [2006] UKHL 20. The aim is to examine Dworkin's theory in the context of recent English private law decisions and determine whether Lord Hoffmann's approach to interpretation is consistent with that of Dworkin (as his Lordship has contended in the past). It is argued that Lord Hoffmann's treatment of recent decisions on which he himself sat raises significant questions regarding fidelity, coherence and the institutional structure of the House of Lords.