Science formed an important element of Anglo-American life throughout the eighteenth century, and not only for the colonial elite. In both private and public realms, in commercial as well as social settings, eighteenth-century science amused, educated, provided prestige, and afforded entrée to empire to an extensive range of people. By the middle of the century, and despite the many challenges endemic to colonial life, a widespread interest in natural phenomena had emerged in America. Although this scientific curiosity began as an adjunct to the metropolitan culture of Great Britain, in the decades leading up to 1800, interest in science came to be identified with an independent and indigenous American culture, and was trumpeted as a sign of a developing American nationalism.