The Athens of the North. Eric Melvin
Wed, Oct 19th 2016 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
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Our speaker, Eric Melvin, entitled his talk "The Athens of the North". He started by reminding us that in 1760 the population of Edinburgh was 60,000 squeezed into 14 storey buildings in the "Old Town." It was full of nasty filthy squalor with excrement lying on the streets. In 1819 under the guidance of Lord Provost George Drummond, 6 times Lord Provost, the Council held a competition to develop a Georgian New Town. Out of six entries James Craig was the winner and planned Princes Street to Queen Street and Charlotte Square to St Andrews Square in a regular fashion while Robert Adam designed Register House. The achievement received great acclaim worldwide and the title "Athens of the North" was bestowed upon it.
Eric went on to describe the city at that time as the "Intellectual Capital of the World" due to the Scottish Enlightenment, whose chief values were improvement, virtue and practical benefit for the individual and society as a whole. Among the fields which rapidly advanced were philosophy, political economy, engineering, architecture, medicine, geology, law, agriculture, chemistry and sociology. Among the Scottish thinkers of the period were David Hume, Adam Smith, John Playfair, Joseph Black, John Hope and James Hutton.
The Scottish Enlightenment had effects far beyond Scotland, not only because of the esteem in which Scottish achievements were held outside Scotland, but also because its ideas and attitudes were carried across the Atlantic as part of the Scottish diaspora and by American students who studied in Scotland.
The talk ended with reference to John Kay, caricaturist and engraver, and his "characters" of Adam Smith John Hope and James Hutton.
David Cormack gave a Vote of Thanks on behalf of the Club.
Eric went on to describe the city at that time as the "Intellectual Capital of the World" due to the Scottish Enlightenment, whose chief values were improvement, virtue and practical benefit for the individual and society as a whole. Among the fields which rapidly advanced were philosophy, political economy, engineering, architecture, medicine, geology, law, agriculture, chemistry and sociology. Among the Scottish thinkers of the period were David Hume, Adam Smith, John Playfair, Joseph Black, John Hope and James Hutton.
The Scottish Enlightenment had effects far beyond Scotland, not only because of the esteem in which Scottish achievements were held outside Scotland, but also because its ideas and attitudes were carried across the Atlantic as part of the Scottish diaspora and by American students who studied in Scotland.
The talk ended with reference to John Kay, caricaturist and engraver, and his "characters" of Adam Smith John Hope and James Hutton.
David Cormack gave a Vote of Thanks on behalf of the Club.
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