ESPANSIONI DI TESTO

MODULE A - Scotland's Golden Age (p. 45)

TASK
a. Underline the names of the ' men of talent' mentioned in the text below.
b. Highlight the fields in which Scotland achieved remarkable results in the 18th and 19th centuries.

At no time in its history has Scotland produced so many men of talent and genius as in the last half of the 18th century and early 19th century. Philosophers, writers, inventors, architects, engineers and men of science and medicine all seemed to reach the height of their powers in a few decades.
Among the philosophers were David Hume, one of the most influential British philosophers, and Adam Smith, whose Wealth of Nations was a major landmark in the development of economic thought. The writers included Scotland's greatest poet, Robert Burns, and its greatest novelist, Sir Walter Scott, as well as men of letters such as novelist and historian Tobias Smollett and biographer James Boswell. Robert Adam's work excelled in the field of architecture and interior design. In the field of medicine, anatomist Charles Bell wrote his New Idea of Anatomy of the Brain (1811) which has been called 'the Magna Carta of neurology', while John Hunter was laying the foundations of scientific surgery.
Scottish industry, likewise, abounded with creative talent, including four men of engineering genius who played a major role in providing the world with steam power. First of them was James Watt, who revolutionised the steam engine. Then there was William Symington who built the engine for the world's first steamboat The Charlotte Dundas. In 1812 a third Scot designed and built a steamboat which made history: he was Henry Bell and his boat Comet, which operated on the Clyde, heralded the era of steam navigation in Europe. The fourth member of this remarkable quartet was William Murdoch, who made important improvements to the steam engine and was also the first to use coal gas for illumination.
The work of these and other gifted men had a radical impact on the Scottish economy, which until then had relied mainly on agriculture. In 1779, the country's first cotton mill was opened and by the end of the century cotton spinning had become one of the country's leading industries. The process continued rapidly during the 19th century. Gradually, Scotland lost its supremacy in cotton to Lancashire, but achieved truly spectacular advances in other fields, notably coalmining, iron and steel production and heavy engineering and shipbuilding.
Economic change was accompanied by changes in the social structure. The population itself increased from an estimated 1,100,000 at the time of the Treaty of Union to more than 1,600,000 by 1800. Art, literature, publishing and architecture flourished. Glasgow and Edinburgh, each with a population of around 80,000, became two of the most attractive cities in the United Kingdom, distinguished by elegant squares, streets and terraces, by stately civic buildings and extensive parks. Clubs, debating societies and coffee houses contributed to the cultural life of the country and Edinburgh was dubbed the 'Athens of the North'.
This period was a golden age in the field of education as well. In the late 19th century only one child in 1300 in England was receiving a secondary education; the corresponding figure for Scotland was one in 200 and no other country could approach that ratio. Moreover, the intellectual scientific and literary life of the universities flourished exceedingly. But Scotland was educating her young people beyond the capacity of the country to provide enough careers for their training and skills. As a result, thousands went off to various parts of the British Empire, then at its zenith, or to other overseas lands.