0:00:06 > 0:00:08Bonjour. Welcome to Inside Versailles,
0:00:08 > 0:00:12where we've seen some pretty strange things, including what looked
0:00:12 > 0:00:15like a blood transfusion from animal to human.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17From animal to human for Liselotte.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Actually, that was very common if you wanted to give
0:00:19 > 0:00:22a blood transfusion, a very embryonic science at this point,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25because if you put another human's blood into you, you could infuse
0:00:25 > 0:00:29- with their soul. So sheep was thought to be safer.- Yeah.
0:00:29 > 0:00:30It's a new technology.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Basically, the first person to be dabbling in this is actually
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Christopher Wren, back in England. But, as you say, here at the
0:00:36 > 0:00:42court in Versailles, I think the name is Denis is the doctor and he has put, yeah, sheep blood into
0:00:42 > 0:00:46a human and hasn't killed them, so that's success.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48But I'm not sure it lasts very long as a technique,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50because I think after a couple it goes quite horribly wrong.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54But we are now here going to talk about some proper science because
0:00:54 > 0:00:58this is an era in which Louis XIV is embracing science and we are
0:00:58 > 0:01:01joined by a historian of science, Dr Rebekah Higgitt.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03Hello. So, yeah, when it comes to science,
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Louis XIV perhaps comes in at the end of, or the culmination of,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10what often gets called the scientific revolution, that's really
0:01:10 > 0:01:13been going for the last couple of centuries, a very slow revolution.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17But Louis definitely jumps on board the idea that he can be
0:01:17 > 0:01:20patron of something that can really show him off internationally.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23So, yeah, he's closely involved.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26So Louis is all about spectacle and power and we often think about him
0:01:26 > 0:01:29using culture, the arts, theatre to extend this.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32But science is an even more effective way of extending it,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35because it's almost like they're involved in this kind of space race,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37- a scientific race.- Absolutely.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39He gets the best scientists, finds out the things
0:01:39 > 0:01:43- the fastest and therefore proves his pre-eminence in Europe.- Absolutely.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46And this is a picture of him visiting the Academie de Sciences,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50which he set up just after the Royal Society in London had been
0:01:50 > 0:01:54formed, who have quite a large membership, people who pay themselves to become fellows,
0:01:54 > 0:01:59if they're the right sort of person. Whereas here we have a much more select group of people who
0:01:59 > 0:02:02are selected by Colbert, the first minister, and by Louis,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05and they are then paid pensions.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07The other thing that's intriguing to me is at the centre of this
0:02:07 > 0:02:10painting, apart from the king, we've got a churchman.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Now science, obviously, we might think
0:02:12 > 0:02:14is sort of rational and scientific.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17- And yet, here at the centre, is a man of God.- Absolutely.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20I mean, science isn't really the term that would have been used at the time.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22They're talking about philosophy, natural philosophy,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25experimental philosophy and then the disciplines like astronomy
0:02:25 > 0:02:27and mathematics and so on.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32So, it's a different kind of entity than the way we think about it now.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36So we find a number of clergymen in this image.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38We've got the secretary of the academy there,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41being presented by Colbert to Louis, but there are others, as well -
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Abbe Picard, who is among the members of the academy that
0:02:45 > 0:02:48you can see there, and he did a lot of surveying work.
0:02:48 > 0:02:49He surveyed the area around Versailles,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52he also began surveying the whole of France.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55And Picard is obviously also involved in the layout of the gardens
0:02:55 > 0:02:58and the fountains, as well. I mean, that's not quite his gig,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01but he has been brought on board to help out with that.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04The survey tells you about the lay of the terrain,
0:03:04 > 0:03:06so you can work out if it's possible to run water,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10water doesn't really run uphill, and Versailles is on a hill.
0:03:10 > 0:03:11It's ridiculous.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15So, you know, Louis wants to do it and show off the sheer cost,
0:03:15 > 0:03:19the power, the manpower in trying to get water to create the
0:03:19 > 0:03:21fountains in the gardens.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Were there any awkward problems where science actually
0:03:24 > 0:03:26hindered Louis's sort of image?
0:03:26 > 0:03:30I'm thinking of a quote where he said his mappers had removed land...
0:03:30 > 0:03:31Right, yeah.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36The astronomers La Hire and Picard used new astronomical techniques to
0:03:36 > 0:03:39map the coastlines of France more accurately than has been known,
0:03:39 > 0:03:40and, when they remapped it,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44they actually brought the coastline in considerably further to
0:03:44 > 0:03:46the east, which meant there was actually a lot less land.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49So, yes, Louis is said to have quipped that his astronomers
0:03:49 > 0:03:52have lost him more land than his generals ever did.
0:03:52 > 0:03:53And, just looking at the clock,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55I know that Marin Mersenne was a theologian
0:03:55 > 0:03:57who came up with the second pendulum,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00which gives you accurate clocks for the first time.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Is it just nice to have a clock or is it actually useful, as well?
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Incredibly useful. So, people like Galileo, Mersenne
0:04:06 > 0:04:10and also Christiaan Huygens here combined to develop
0:04:10 > 0:04:12something that is really a scientific instrument
0:04:12 > 0:04:13for the first time,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16rather than just being something that kind of backs up your sundial.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20They become absolutely essential to astronomy in particular.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Astronomy can't be particularly scientific until you can really
0:04:23 > 0:04:27time accurately the motions of the heavens when you're observing them.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31So it is crucial to the foundation of the observatory there to
0:04:31 > 0:04:36make astronomy more accurate, and all of that feeds into navigation.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39But Versailles itself really became a centre for science.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Scientific experiments really did happen there,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43including the one we saw in episode one,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46- so shall we go and talk a bit more about it over here?- OK.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48So, what's going on here?
0:04:48 > 0:04:52Cos you've got this big glass mirror that we saw in episode one,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54and that sounds pretty impressive.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Did it actually really happen like this?
0:04:57 > 0:04:58It happened at Versailles
0:04:58 > 0:05:01and certainly impressed Louis a great deal.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05So we have a huge mirror that is focusing the sun's rays to
0:05:05 > 0:05:08create a great deal of heat that will actually cause combustion.
0:05:08 > 0:05:09And also at this period,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12we find that solar eclipses particularly are something
0:05:12 > 0:05:16that the astronomy of the period had become accurate enough to be
0:05:16 > 0:05:19able to predict with quite a lot of certainty exactly when an
0:05:19 > 0:05:21eclipse would happen and exactly where.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23That had always been the question.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26So the fact that they could predict it and then Louis could appear
0:05:26 > 0:05:28to almost be in control of this spectacle
0:05:28 > 0:05:30was another good coup for him.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33- Send everyone out wearing those sunglasses.- Yeah.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37We do know that by the time eclipses... Certainly, say, the 1715 eclipse, that was seen
0:05:37 > 0:05:40widely in Britain, it was much talked about in advance.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44Edmond Halley sent out broadsheets so that people would know it was going to happen.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48So lots of people were prepared with smoked glasses or tinted lenses,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50potentially endangering their eyes quite a lot.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52But we do know that in the 17th century there were tinted
0:05:52 > 0:05:55lenses for various reasons, whether it was to protect the eyes,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59whether it was for sun or snow, so they did certainly exist.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Well, that has been absolutely fascinating.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04A gripping insight into science at the Court of the King.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Thank you so much, Rebekah, for joining us.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Fascinating insight into science.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11And thank you for joining us again on Inside Versailles.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13- Bonsoir.- Bonsoir.