1/15 In his new column Damien Grant characterises defenders of Matauranga Maori as a sinister 'mob', then salutes a group of slave owners, corpse-stealers, & 'scientific' racists as 'pillars of our society'. The debate about science is exposing some double standards.
2/15 Grant is upset at the 2,059 scientists who signed a letter defending Matauranga Maori. The letter was a response to seven scholars who had written to The Listener to argue that Matauranga Maori 'falls far short of science'.
3/15 Grant is also unhappy that the Royal Society Te Aparangi is investigating two members who criticised Matauranga Maori. Grant argues that today's Royal Society is letting down its predecessors. He's right, but not in the way he imagines.
4/15 Grant calls Britain's Royal Society, which was transplanted to NZ in 1867, 'one of the pillars' of our civilisation, because of its 'three & a half centuries of commitment to open & free inquiry'. Royal Society Te Aparangi should 'return' to this great 'tradition'.
5/15 I doubt if the Afro-British slave who was paraded before an audience of Royal Society members in 1697 felt he was taking part in 'free inquiry'. In his account of the slave's examination, William Byrd explained that young man was 'in possession of Captain Charles Wager'.
6/15 The slave was stripped, so that Royal Society members could see the 'white spots' that 'dappled' his body. In 1697 the Society was only a few decades old, but it already owned many slaves, and was involved in the administration of the slave colony of Jamaica.
7/15 Much of the Society's work involved the examination of black bodies, live or dead, & the creation of pseudo-scientific laws about races. The Society was enriched by slavery, & the ideas it developed about lesser and greater races helped justify the slave trade.
8/15 Royal Society fellow Robert Boyle is renowned as a pioneer of chemistry, but he was also fascinated by skin colour. He performed experiments in which he rubbed silver nitrate into skins. Boyle had friends who were slavers; they supplied him with 'material'.
9/15 Even Royal Society members who did not theorise about race or experiment on humans often relied on the slave trade. James Petiver is a famous naturalist. He cultivated friendships with slave ship captains and surgeons, who collected creatures for him on their journeys.
10/15 Sometimes Philosophical Transactions, the periodical of the Royal Society, reads like a slavers' trade journal. In 1755 it ran an article by Stephen Hales about the 'great advantage of ventilation' in 'slave ships'. Hales praises the 'fresh salutary air' ventilation gives
11/15 Scholar Cristina Malcolmson believes that the 'scientific racism' that reached its extreme in Nazi Germany had its origins in the early work of the Royal Society. But the Society was also directly involved in twentieth century racism.
12/15 Both of the key pioneers of eugenics in Britain, Francis Galton & Karl Pearson, were members of the Royal Society. Philosophical Transactions published a long series of articles by Pearson, who believed in the superiority of Anglo-Saxon 'stock'.
13/15 Pearson worried about the impact of Jews on British society. He opposed intermarriage between 'Anglo-Saxons' and Jews, & denounced the immigration of this 'parasitic' & 'alien' race.
14/15 Britain's Eugenics Society featured many senior members of the Royal Society, and used the Royal Society's premises for its meetings. (To its credit, the Royal Society has launched an investigation project into its past links with eugenics.)
15/15 There is a sad gap between the Royal Society's role in slavery & racism & Damien Grant's rhetoric about a great tradition of free inquiry. I hope that the present Royal Society Te Aparangi does disgrace its predecessors, as it tries to overcome its history.
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