A pervasive denigration of natural history misconstrues how biodiversity inventories and taxonomy underpin scientific knowledge

The article deals with correspondence in natural history in the eighteenth century between England and North America. The corpus discussed consists of correspondence between John Bartram and Peter Collinson, and between Alexander Garden and John Ellis. The approach used in the study is qualitative and rhetorical; the main point considered is how the letters construct scientific centre and periphery in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. A central concept is the “colonial exchange”, whereby “raw materials” from the colonies — in this case plant and animal specimens, along with proposed identifications and names — are exchanged for “finished products”, in this case codified scientific knowledge contained in publications.

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“Mysteries divulged”: Philemon Holland’s Paratexts and the Translation of Pliny’s Natural History in Early Modern England

Meta Journal des traducteurs ◽

10.7202/1038686ar ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 61 ◽

pp. 70-86

Author(s):

Marie-Alice Belle

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Early Modern ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Early Modern England ◽

Ancient Science ◽

Botanical Knowledge ◽

Methodological Errors ◽

Continental Tradition ◽

Definition Of ◽

Changing Attitudes

This paper seeks to situate Philemon Holland’s 1601 translation of Pliny’s Natural History in the context of the development of early modern English science. While Holland’s Pliny has traditionally been studied in terms of the early modern reception of the Classics, the establishment of an English rhetoric of translation and the development of English prose, this paper focuses on the discursive and paratextual strategies at work in Holland’s rendering of the botanical and medical books of Pliny’s Natural History. Drawing on and broadening Genette’s definition of paratexts as liminary spaces of authorial—or translatorial—control and self-fashioning, the paper explores the complexities of Holland’s self-defined translation project as the “divulging” of Pliny’s medical and botanical knowledge to a broadened readership. Whereas the prefaces to both volumes of the Natural History rely on the rhetoric of utilitas, or usefulness, to span the spectrum of potential readers, from schoolchildren and “inferior readers” to Humanist scholars and physicians, a closer analysis of the marginal annotations in books XIX to XXVII of the Natural History shows Holland integrating the Continental tradition of learned commentary denouncing the factual, interpretive, and methodological errors in Pliny’s treatise. It is argued that the resulting tension between text and paratext, and between Holland’s prefaces and other kinds of liminary material, ultimately reflects changing attitudes towards ancient science, and the very nature of scientific knowledge in early modern England.

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Plant physiology at the institute for philosophy in Brno in Mendel’s teacher F. Diebl textbook from 1835

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis ◽

10.11118/actaun201260050277 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 60 (5) ◽

pp. 277-282 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jiří Šebánek

Keyword(s):

Plant Physiology ◽

Natural History ◽

Sexual Reproduction ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Agricultural Science ◽

Plant Biology ◽

Specific Method ◽

Root Regeneration ◽

Gregor Mendel ◽

The Difference

Gregor Mendel attended lectures of F. Diebl, professor of natural history and agricultural science at the Institute of Philosophy in Brno. Diebl published his lectures in a textbook “Abhandlungen über die allgemeine und besondere Naturgeschichte, Brünn 1835.” From the textbook the level of scientific knowledge in plant biology is obvious, with which the later founder of a new field of biology – genetics got acquainted. Diebl considered germination to be a specific method of fermentation transforming seed starch into a sugary matter which nourishes the germinating plant. In the physiology of nutrition he distinguished nutrition from the soil via roots from nutrition from the air via leaves. The former is based primarily on the humus theory of A. Thaer (1809) because not until 5 years after the publication of Diebl’s textbook J. Liebig initiated the mineral theory. Diebl’s presentation of photosynthesis was based on information available at that time about the release of oxygen by green plants under conditions of light and the uptake of CO2, but he had no knowledge about the passage of CO2 into the leaves through stomata. Remarkable is Diebl’s discovery that respiration increases during flowering. Electricity is considered to be a force significantly supporting the life processes of plants. Diebl also noticed the difference between diurnal and night evaporation of water from the leaves. In his textbook growth is connected with nutrition only, as it was the entire 19th century. Stem thickening from the cambium is described very simply. Bud and root regeneration is given the term reproduction which today is commonly used in relation to sexual reproduction. Diebl considered nyctinastic movements (bending or unbending of the leaves) and closing of the flowers at night to be “sleep”. He described fertilisation in a primitive way, because it was not until 1848 that the first exact description came out.

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Cause and effect: The epidemiological approach

10.1093/med/9780198739685.003.0005 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Raj S. Bhopal

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Causal Models ◽

Reverse Causality ◽

Cause And Effect ◽

Causal Thinking ◽

History Of ◽

Chance Error ◽

Epidemiological Approach ◽

Improve Health

Cause and effect understanding is the highest form of scientific knowledge. In epidemiology, demonstrating causality is difficult because of the long and complex natural history of many human diseases and because of ethical restraints. Epidemiologists should: hold the attitude that all judgements of cause and effect are tentative; understand that causal thinking demands a judgement; be alert for the play of chance, error, and bias; always consider reverse causality and confounding, utilize the power of causal models that broaden causal perspectives; apply guidelines for causality as an aid to thinking and not as a checklist; and look for corroboration of causality from other scientific frameworks for assessment of cause and effect. The ultimate aim of epidemiology is to use knowledge of cause and effect to break links between disease and its causes and to improve health. The application of erroneous knowledge has serious repercussions.

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A contribuição dos museus para a institucionalização e difusão da paleontologia

Anuário do Instituto de Geociências - UFRJ ◽

10.11137/2007_1_158-167 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 158-167

Author(s):

Ana Carolina Maciel Vieira ◽

Mariana Gonzalez Leandro Novaes ◽

Juliana Da Silva Matos ◽

Ana Carolina Gelmini Faria ◽

Deusana Maria da Costa Machado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

North American ◽

18Th Century ◽

Digital Age ◽

Field Trips ◽

The North ◽

Contemporary Development

Since the calls "cabinets of curiosities", the essence of natural history was consolidating itself with the birth of the museums and the development of the Museums of Natural History. This consolidation was reached through following activities: expeditions, field trips, collection classification works, catalogues of diffusion of scientific knowledge, educativ activities and expositions. The present paper intends to discuss the importance of the museal institutions for the studies of Paleontology; since the museums of Natural History had exerted a pioneering paper in the institutionalization of certain areas of knowledge, as Palaeontology, Anthropology and Experimental Physiology, in Brazil. The Paleontological studies in museums had collaborated in the specialization and modernization of the appearance of "new museum idea". As this new concept the museum is a space of diffusion of scientific knowledge, represented as an object that reflects the identity of the society without an obligator linking with physical constructions. However, the Brazilian museums have been sufficiently obsolete, with problems that involve acquisition and maintenance of collections to production of temporary or permanent exhibitions. When the Brazilian institutions of natural history are analyzed they are not organized on the new museum conception and the digital age as the North American and European ones. Despite the difficulties found by the Museums since its birth as Institution in the 18th century, the contemporary development of Museology and Palaeontology as Science had contributed for the consolidation and institutionalization of both, helping the diffusion of scientific knowledge.

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Measuring souls: Psychometry, female instruments, and subjective science, 1840–1910

History of Science ◽

10.1177/0073275319847065 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 58 (1) ◽

pp. 76-100

Author(s):

Cameron B Strang

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Scientific Discourse ◽

Reliable Data ◽

Measuring Instrument ◽

Immortal Soul ◽

Anthropological Research ◽

History Of ◽

Spiritual Connectedness ◽

At Home

This essay focuses on the history of psychometry, the science of soul measuring. For its founder, Dr Joseph Rodes Buchanan, the soul was simultaneously an object for anthropological research and a measuring instrument capable of revealing human character, interpreting natural history, and demonstrating the reality of an immortal soul. Psychometry taught that human souls, especially those of women, were capable of acting as instruments because they could feel the mysterious energies that people and objects radiated. Although orthodox male scientists rejected the visions of sensitive women as the antithesis of reliable data, psychometric researchers believed that the feelings of women were both the instruments and information that made their science possible. Psychometry promised to revolutionize science by insisting that sympathy and subjectivity, not detachment and objectivity, ought to undergird research. Yet as male experimenters worked to prove psychometry’s effectiveness, they almost invariably cast themselves as detached observers accurately recording the data provided by their female instruments. Thus, despite pushing for scientific reform, the methods and discourse of male psychometric experimenters eroded their field’s core arguments about connectedness and subjectivity and, instead, reinforced the notion that detachment and objectivity were essential to legitimate science. Challenges to objectivity could prove just how thoroughly it dominated scientific discourse and practice. Still, some psychometers, particularly women who practiced at home, were untroubled by the fact that their research was predicated on subjective feelings, and psychometry remained a viable pursuit among spiritualists even as it faded from the realm of science. Psychometry emerged and, ultimately, fractured amid tensions between widespread enthusiasm for sciences that emphasized spiritual connectedness and the mounting pressure to legitimize scientific knowledge through the language and practices of objectivity.

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Towards writing the encyclopaedia of life: an introduction to DNA barcoding

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2005.1730 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 360 (1462) ◽

pp. 1805-1811 ◽

Cited By ~ 331

Author(s):

Vincent Savolainen ◽

Robyn S Cowan ◽

Alfried P Vogler ◽

George K Roderick ◽

Richard Lane

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Dna Barcoding ◽

Species Identification ◽

Life Stage ◽

Diagnostic Technique ◽

Scientific Conference ◽

Natural History Museums ◽

History Museum ◽

History Museums ◽

Biodiversity Inventories

An international consortium of major natural history museums, herbaria and other organizations has launched an ambitious project, the ‘Barcode of Life Initiative’, to promote a process enabling the rapid and inexpensive identification of the estimated 10 million species on Earth. DNA barcoding is a diagnostic technique in which short DNA sequence(s) can be used for species identification. The first international scientific conference on Barcoding of Life was held at the Natural History Museum in London in February 2005, and here we review the scientific challenges discussed during this conference and in previous publications. Although still controversial, the scientific benefits of DNA barcoding include: (i) enabling species identification, including any life stage or fragment, (ii) facilitating species discoveries based on cluster analyses of gene sequences (e.g. cox1 = CO1 , in animals), (iii) promoting development of handheld DNA sequencing technology that can be applied in the field for biodiversity inventories and (iv) providing insight into the diversity of life.

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Coal as a collection object and a source of knowledge

Vestnik of Geosciences ◽

10.19110/geov.2021.3.6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 35-43

Author(s):

L. А. Kravtsova ◽

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Research Activity ◽

Federal Research ◽

Rock Formations ◽

History Play ◽

Scientific Collections ◽

Academy Of Sciences ◽

Informational Resource ◽

Current Stage

At the current stage, museum collections on natural history play an important role in the fundamental and applied research activity and are an essential part of popularizing Earth sciences. This article focuses on natural-scientific collections of the Institute of Coal (which is a structural unit of the Federal Research Center for Coal and Petrochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), documenting interdisciplinary scientific knowledge about coal. Through methods of petrochemical, petrographic and geological research, as well as museological approach systematizing natural samples, the systematic, thematic and educational collections have been formed. They include coals of the Kuzbass and other coal basins, rock formations and paleonthological objects. Being a specific form of preservation of certain natural history processes of regional and global significance, a systematized collection is a tangible and informational resource of scientific explorations. Realization of its scientific-informational potential promotes popularization of the scientific knowledge and search for answers to solve environmental problems.

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Conservation, Natural History and Science: the Challenge too Great, the Time too Short

Pacific Conservation Biology ◽

10.1071/pc080005 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 5

Author(s):

Harry F. Recher

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Conservation Management ◽

Management Decision ◽

Management Decisions ◽

Good Science ◽

History Of ◽

Sound Management ◽

Recurrent Theme

Good conservation is sound management based on good science and a thorough understanding of the natural history of the organisms and systems being managed. Even doing nothing, as some advocate for wilderness, is a management decision and one which should have its foundations in science and natural history. This idea that conservation management should have a strong scientific and natural history basis is a recurrent theme of Duffy and Kraus (2008) in their analysis of conservation management in Hawaii. It is a theme that I cannot disagree with, nor can I disagree with Duffy and Kraus when they argue that natural history knowledge is not appreciated and that there is a failure to include scientific knowledge in management decisions. I don?t have to live and work in Hawaii to reach this view; not much is different in Australia.

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O museu universitário como mediador entre a ciência e a sociedade: o exemplo da secção de arqueologia no Museu de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade do Porto (MHNC-UP)

Arqueologia em Portugal 2020 - Estado da Questão - Textos ◽

10.21747/978-989-8970-25-1/arqa31 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 411-420

Author(s):

Rita Gaspar

Keyword(s):

Natural History ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Science Museum ◽

Teaching Activities ◽

Historia Natural ◽

The University

University museums have an increased responsibility, as mediators between the production of scientific knowledge and its transfer to different audiences. Although they were initially more focused on supporting teaching activities, currently they have the broader mission of transferring knowledge produced in university to the community where they operate. Will be presented some examples of approaches developed in the Archaeology and Ethnography section of the Natural History and Science Museum of the University of Porto throughout the institution’s history.

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