Abstract
This paper addresses the problem of measurement in nineteenth-century electrical science. By using the conceptual tools provided by a social constructivist sociology of scientific knowledge, it is possible to display the reciprocal relationship between different actors' conceptions of electrical science and their perceptions of the meaning and significance of electrical measurements. In particular, the debate between Michael Faraday and William Sturgeon concerning the volta-electrometer, provides an insight into the contingency of instruments as the only legitimate surrogates for electrical action. Faraday's experiments and Sturgeon's response to them make explicit the amount of interpretative work required to make the use of such surrogates self-evident.
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