ABSTRACT
Astronomy is essentially a popular science. This chapter considers the way in which astronomical communities were manifested through textual space. The English Mechanic was a 2d weekly edited by Ebeneezer Kibblewhite and owned by the philanthropist John Passmore Edwards. Hampden's flat earth theories, although long dismissed by astronomical science, shift into scriptural debates, philosophy and geography. The co-presence of these domains of knowledge not only denies a single authoritative standpoint, but also ensures that a single author cannot authoritatively pronounce on an issue. Knowledge was established in 1881 as a cheaper rival to Nature but, unable to draw upon the financial support of Alexander Macmillan and the discursive weight of the scientific elite, became a monthly in 1885. At the time of death, Proctor was anonymously contributing most of the content of Knowledge from United States. The chapter explores the way textual space configures objects, but also situates these textual spaces, and the objects they carry, within wider spatial configurations.
