|
6. Gilbert's London |
Index 1. De Magnete Review #1 2. De Magnete Review #2 3. More on "De Magnete" 4. A Gilbert Expt. 5. Before Gilbert 6. London in 1600 7. 1600-1820 8. Oersted & Ampére 9. The Lodestone 10. Gauss 11. The Magnetic Sun |
|
The city was congested and unsanitary, and rats carrying bubonic plague thrived in it. Outbreaks usually ocurred in the summer, and at such time the royal court sometimes prudently retreated to the countryside. Physicians such as William Gilbert had their hands full, but they could do little and were unaware of the role of the rats. Gilbert, appointed royal physician in 1601, himself died of the plague in 1603. Shakespeare's creative genius was in full bloom in 1600. He put on his plays in the Globe theatre, a ring-shaped structure built in 1599 on the banks of the Thames from the remains of an earlier theatre. His plays of the 1599-1600 season were Julius Ceasar, 12th Night and As You Like It; in 1600-1 came Hamlet and Merry Wives of Windsor. It is quite likely that Gilbert attended at least some of those plays.
** "London Bridge" as reconstructed in Lake Havasu, Arizona, is a replica faced with stones taken from the rebuilt London Bridge. It thus preserves the appearance of that bridge; the heavy bulk of the actual bridge was torn down. (Thanks for the information, John Craven) Back to the Master List |