DOCSLIB.ORG

The Royal Society's Local Heroes Programme

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

The Royal Society’s Local Heroes Programme A collection of case studies 1 2 Introduction The Local Heroes programme was established to celebrate the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary in 2010. The programme enabled smaller museums, galleries, libraries and science centres across the UK to develop activities and events featuring their community’s local scientific heroes, thinking creatively about the way they were celebrated. The Society initially funded 50 The original Local Heroes programme and organisations, however by the end Extending the Reach led to the realisation of 2010 partner institutions had that the Society now had a wealth of expanded to 149, with over 1,500 experiences and excellent partnerships, individual events. In addition, the which has led to the development of the Society partnered with institutions Sharing the Experience workshops. These in major UK cities on more extensive workshops took place across the UK programmes of events, featuring in autumn 2011, and enabled museums both historical and contemporary that may not have a traditional science local heroes. focus to develop scientific activities, particularly for schools. Following the success of the 350th anniversary programme, the Royal This booklet contains case studies Society established a further grants from some of the original Local Heroes scheme for the original participants institutions, as well as tips on how to of the Local Heroes programme. The explore the science within the collections Extending the Reach grants enabled of your own institution and develop recipients to develop further schools exciting science-related activities. education activities. 1 How doth the busy banking bee? Bromley Museum is a local authority museum, located in the south east corner of the London Borough of Bromley, although the museum works to increase awareness of its collections and programme throughout the Borough. The museum has three full-time staff and six volunteers with an annual average footfall of 24,860. The activity Schools The museum holds the Avebury The museum currently works with Collection of ethnographical and 30 local primary schools. Traditionally archaeological artefacts, which was the focus has been on history, but the exhibited for the first time in 2010. project has given staff the confidence to introduce science into their programme. A neighbour and friend of Charles Based on the life and work of local Darwin, John Lubbock, First Lord electricity pioneer, Joseph Swan, Avebury was famous for keeping a pet the museum developed its first ever wasp and introducing Bank Holidays. scientific workshop. Schoolchildren Lubbock also had a keen interest in built a doll’s house based on Swan’s science, botany and insects and the home and learnt how to light it using museum aimed to share his belief that electricity and circuit boards. everyone has the capacity to advance their knowledge. The museum also developed a Darwin and Discovery box, reflecting life in The museum also introduced a bee Victorian Britain, and containing tools hive and ran a series of workshops for investigating insects. These give a on bees, honey and beeswax as real hands-on experience, just as Darwin well as a programme of talks on and Lubbock would have wanted. the contemporary relevance of Lubbock‘s work. 2 What can you do? • Think about unusual spaces for activities and getting new audiences. Bromley Museum exhibited some of their collection in a local park, accompanied by a talk for passers by. • The Joseph Swan workshop was the first time the museum tried a scientific workshop for schools – don’t be intimidated by trying new subjects, it may be easier than you think! • Create hands on experiments. Bromley Museum Lubbock created the wormery The Priory, Church Hill, Orpington, which can be a great way to Greater London, BR6 0HH teach a variety of scientific Tel 01689 873 826 topics. bromley.gov.uk/info/200070/museums_ and_galleries/357/bromley_museum Above: John Lubbock FRS, Lord Avebury © The Royal Sciety. 3 Mary Somerville – Reach for the Stars Burntisland Heritage Trust is a voluntary organisation supported by the Friends of the Heritage. Burntisland is a small seaside town in Fife with a population of around 5,500. The Trust holds an annual summer exhibition which attracts 1,400 – 1,800 visitors. The activity Schools An exhibition celebrated the The Trust worked in partnership with achievements of Mary Somerville (1780- the Museum of Communication and 1872), who lived in Burntisland as a child. the University of Edinburgh to develop It was through her childhood hobbies of workshops with Burntisland Primary music, painting and studying the natural School. The University’s Department world that Somerville developed her of Engineering recreated some of interests in science and astronomy. Born Mary Somerville’s experiments and in a time when the education of women the Museum of Communication held a was discouraged, Somerville became workshop on astronomy and telescopes. a well respected figure within the The school also received a visit from scientific community. The exhibition and the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh’s associated talks and school workshops miniature planetarium, Star Lab. These aimed to promote Somerville as an workshops were developed as part of inspiring figure for local children. They the Curriculum for Excellence, a new also aimed to encourage the idea that initiative by the Scottish Government. the interaction of different subjects can result in new learning and interests. 4 What next? The Trust will continue working What can you do? closely with the local primary school • Explore how aspects of the in delivering workshops as part of the lives of historical figures annual exhibition. They will also continue such as Mary Somerville can to establish and maintain links with other be inspirational to modern organisations that can help deliver future audiences and promote women events and activities. in science. • Think about new ways to communicate with your existing or target audiences. The Trust developed a special newsletter aimed at children, which proved very successful. Burntisland Heritage Trust burntisland.net/heritage-trust.htm Above: Workshops taking place at Burntisland Primary School. Photo courtesy of Burntisland Heritage Trust. 5 Local Heroes Opened in late 2008, Caithness Horizons is an independent museum based in Thurso. The county of Caithness is largely made up of small rural communities, with limited public transport. Despite Thurso’s population of 7,000, the museum has an annual footfall of 70,000. The museum has six full-time and four part-time members of staff and 18 volunteers. The activity Family and school age activities The museum launched a permanent In May 2011, Caithness Horizons ran exhibition on botanist and geologist, Keep It Under Your Hat, a colourful arts Robert Dick (1811 – 1866), which was project devised by local artist Joanne B accompanied by a series of walks Kaar. The project, aimed at school-aged and a conference. Robert Dick was a children, was designed for the Museums Thurso-based baker, who while entirely Galleries Scotland’s Festival of Museums self taught, collected an extensive week. The museum also runs a series of Herbarium, which was described as educational workshops based around “unique in its completeness”. Dick also the life of Robert Dick. challenged the accepted theories on local fossils. 6 What next? The exhibition has enabled the museum What can you do? to begin a successful fundraising • Work with experts to campaign to conserve the individual complement your collections, Herbarium specimens. Caithness for example Caithness Horizons Horizons created a temporary exhibition gained expertise on the to celebrate the bi-centenary of Robert relevance and conservation Dick’s work in Autumn 2011, interpreting of the Herbarium. his story from an artist‘s perspective. • Consider if your research or The museum has also developed links collections can be used as a with other science organisations to help basis for a fundraising initiative. develop the scientific content of further Local pride in an individual exhibitions and activities. or locally relevant topic may encourage local businesses to get involved in your work. Caithness Horizons Old Town Hall, Thurso, Caithness, KW14 8AJ Tel 01847 896 508 caithnesshorizons.wordpress.com Above: A participant in a Keep It Under Your Hat workshop. Photo courtesy of Caithness Horizons. 7 Trilobites, Time and Space Congleton Museum is an independent charitable Trust, situated in the historic rural market town in Cheshire. The museum is entirely run by volunteers with two paid staff. The activity Schools The museum hosted an exhibition Three workshops, Rocks and Fossils, and programme of talks on the life of Time and Earth and Planets were John Whitehurst. Whitehurst was an developed and offered to local schools, 18th century clockmaker, geologist who then selected the most relevant and hydraulic engineer, who found topic and year group. Following inspiration from his childhood walks in discussion with teachers, each the Peak District. These activities were workshop was adapted accordingly. accompanied by a schools programme. All workshops included an introduction to John Whitehurst and an explanation of why he was so important. The initial project was delivered to 10 local primary schools (392 children) in 2010 and was extended to the neighbouring town of Biddulph in 2011. All of the sessions involved pair/group interactive activities, ensuring that visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles were utilised. 8 What next? The workshops were used by schools What can you do? as an introduction to the science and • Use your local heritage as a mathematics topics they were covering basis for scientific workshops. and many plan to repeat the workshop Whitehurst‘s wide interests have in the next academic year. The sessions a direct relevance to the area, will continue to form part of the which helps put the subject into museum’s education programme. a local context. The exhibition attracted many new • Develop workshops that fulfil visitors to the museum and prompted different requirements, rather many to undertake their own research than establishing new ones.
Recommended publications
  • Archival Afterlives: Life, Death, and Knowledge-Making in Early Modern British Scienti C and Medical Archives

    Archival Afterlives: Life, Death, and Knowledge-Making in Early Modern British Scienti C and Medical Archives

    Archival Afterlives: Life, Death, and Knowledge-Making in Early Modern British Scienti!"c and Medical Archives Kohn Centre The Royal Society 2 June 2015 Conference Description: Early modern naturalists collected, generated, and shared massive amounts of paper. Inspired by calls for the wholesale reform of natural philosophy and schooled in humanist note-taking practices, they generated correspondence, reading notes (in margins, on scraps, in notebooks), experimental and observational reports, and drafts (rough, partial, fair) of treatises intended for circulation in manuscript or further replication in print. If naturalists claimed all knowledge as their province, natural philosophy was a paper empire. In our own day, naturalists’ materials, ensconced in archives, libraries, and (occasionally) private hands, are now the foundation of a history of science that has taken a material turn towards paper, ink, pen, and !"ling systems as technologies of communication, information management, and knowledge production. Recently, the creation of such papers, and their originators’ organization of them and intentions for them have received much attention. The lives archives lived after their creators’ deaths have been explored less often. The posthumous fortunes of archives are crucial both to their survival as historical sources today and to their use as scienti!"c sources in the past. How did (often) disorderly collections of paper come to be “the archives of the Scienti!"c Revolution”? The proposed conference considers the histories of these papers from the early modern past to the digital present, including collections of material initially assembled by Samuel Hartlib, John Ray, Francis Willughby, Isaac Newton, Hans Sloane, Martin Lister, Edward Lhwyd, Robert Hooke, and Théodore de Mayerne.
  • The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian's Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge

    The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian's Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge

    Biology Faculty Publications Biology 2016 The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian's Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge Kay Etheridge Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/biofac Part of the Biology Commons, and the Illustration Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Recommended Citation Etheridge, K. "The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian’s Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge." Global Scientific Practice in the Age of Revolutions, 1750 – 1850. P. Manning and D. Rood, eds. (Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press. 2016). 54-70. This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/biofac/54 This open access book chapter is brought to you by The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The Cupola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian's Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge Abstract Chapter Summary: A 2009 exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum on the confluence of science and the visual arts included a plate from a nineteenth-century encyclopedia owned by Charles Darwin showing a tarantula poised over a dead bird (figure 3.1).1 The genesis of this startling scene was a work by Maria Sibylla Merian (German, 1647–1717), and the history of this image says much about how knowledge of the New World was obtained, and how it was transmitted to the studies and private libraries of Europe, and from there into popular works like Darwin’s encyclopedia.
  • Catalogue 294 Recent Acquisitions CATALOGUE 294 Catalogue 294

    Catalogue 294 Recent Acquisitions CATALOGUE 294 Catalogue 294

    ANTIQUARIAAT JUNK ANTIQUARIAAT Antiquariaat Junk Catalogue 294 1 Recent Acquisitions CATALOGUE CATALOGUE 294 Catalogue 294 Old & Rare Books Recent Acquisitions 2016 121 Levaillant Catalogue 294 Recent Acquisitions Antiquariaat Junk B.V. Allard Schierenberg and Jeanne van Bruggen Van Eeghenstraat 129, NL-1071 GA Amsterdam The Netherlands Telephone: +31-20-6763185 Telefax: +31-20-6751466 [email protected] www.antiquariaatjunk.com Natural History Booksellers since 1899 Please visit our website: www.antiquariaatjunk.com with thousands of colour pictures of fine Natural History books. You will also find more pictures of the items displayed in this catalogue. Items 14 & 26 sold Frontcover illustration: 88 Gessner Backcover illustration: 121 Levaillant GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SALE as filed with the registry of the District Court of Amsterdam on No- vember 20th, 1981 under number 263 / 1981 are applicable in extenso to all our offers, sales, and deliveries. THE PRICES in this catalogue are net and quoted in Euro. As a result of the EU single Market legisla- tion we are required to charge our EU customers 6% V.A.T., unless they possess a V.A.T. registration number. Postage additional, please do not send payment before receipt of the invoice. All books are sold as complete and in good condition, unless otherwise described. EXCHANGE RATES Without obligation: 1 Euro= 1.15 USD; 0.8 GBP; 124 JPY VISITORS ARE WELCOME between office hours: Monday - Friday 9.00 - 17.30 OUR V.A.T. NUMBER NL 0093.49479B01 134 Meyer 5 [1] AEMILIANUS, J. Naturalis de Ruminantibus historia Ioannis Aemy- liani... Venetiis, apaud Franciscum Zilettum, 1584.
  • Sir Hans Sloane's Voyage to Jamaica, 1687-1689

    Sir Hans Sloane's Voyage to Jamaica, 1687-1689

    Sir Hans Sloane's Voyage to Jamaica, 1687-1689 Editor's Introduction I Voyages of discovery were an important part of the search for a new order in the natural world. Tony Rice charts Sir Hans Sloane's seventeenth-century expedition to Jamaica, a voyage that produced one of the world's most significant natural history collections. Sloane amassed a hoard of thousands of natural history books, objects and artworks in his quest for a rationalist approach to the study of nature. Lovers of milk chocolate would probably not immediately see a connection between the object of their passion and the establishment of the British Museum. The curious link is a young ltish-born Protestant physician setting out on a long and distinguished medical career in late 17th-century London. In 1687 Hans Sloane was 27 years old, already had a well-established practice and was firmly ensconced in the medical and scientific society of the capital. Sloane's world was a turbulent one, politically, religiously and especially philosophically. There was still a widespread belief amongst savants that the "conect" approach to the natural world was a totally detached and Portra� of Sir Hans Sloane. hypothetical one, resulting in interpretations of natural phenomena, including plants and animals, that frequently owed more to imagination than to fact. Consequently, most published accounts of natural history were still full of fictitious nonsense often based on fanciful travellers' tales brought back by uncritical observers from exotic parts of the world. But what was to become the world's most respected scientific society, the Royal Society "for promoting natural knowledge," had been founded in 1660, the year of Sloane's birth.
  • Divers Things: Collecting the World Under Water

    Divers Things: Collecting the World Under Water

    Hist. Sci., xlix (2011) DIVERS THINGS: COLLECTING THE WORLD UNDER WATER James Delbourgo Rutgers University I do not pretend to have been to the bottom of the sea. Robert Boyle, 1670 matter out of place Consider the following object as shown in an early eighteenth-century engraving (Figure 1). It is a piece of wood — not a highly worked thing, not ingeniously wrought, though it is an artefact of human labour rather than a natural body. Or is it? In the engraving, the piece of wood disappears: it is visible towards the bottom of the image, a sober pointed stump, but it is quickly subsumed by a second, enveloping entity that swirls about it in an embroidering corkscrew. What elements are here intertwin- ing? The legend beneath the engraving identifies the artefact thus: “Navis, prope Hispaniolam ann Dom 1659. Naufragium passae, asser, a clavo ferreo transfixus, corallio aspero candicante I. B. Obsitus, & a fundo maris anno 1687 expiscatus.” It describes a stake or spar from a ship wrecked off Hispaniola in 1659, which is transfixed by both an iron bolt and rough whitish coral, fished out of the depths in 1687. This collector’s item is neither the cliché of exemplarily beautiful coral nor straightforwardly a historical relic, but an intertwining of the two: the “transfixing” of a remnant of maritime technology by an aquatic agent. It exhibits the very proc- ess of encrustation. The spar is juxtaposed with the image of a jellyfish, and more proximately, engravings of Spanish silver coins, also encrusted with coral: “Nummus argenteus Hispanicus … incrustatus”, one of the labels reads.1 Still another illustra- tion, in a separate engraving, bears the legend “Frustum ligni e mari atlantico erutum cui adhaerescunt conchae anatiferae margine muricata” — a piece of “drift wood beset with bernecle [sic] shells”.
  • The Information Order of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica

    The Information Order of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica

    SIMON SCHAFFER The Information Order of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica THE HANS RAUSING LECTURE 2008 UPPSALA UNIVERSITY SALVIA SMÅSKRIFTER 1 2 THE HANS RAUSING LECTURE 2008 The Information Order of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica SIMON SCHAFFER Professor of History of Science, University of Cambridge UPPSALA UNIVERSITY 3 SALVIA SMÅSKRIFTER, NO. 11 © Författaren Tryck Wikströms, Uppsala 2008 ISBN 978-91-506-2040-5 4 Contents The Information Order of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica 7 What I may seem to the World 7 Information Orders and Credit Economies 12 Tides and Currents: A Tonkin Resolution 23 Comets and Pendulums: Information Obscured by Clouds 36 In Heaven as it is on Earth 49 Author’s biographical sketch 59 5 6 The Information Order of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica Simon Schaffer What I may seem to the world “I know not what I may seem to the world, but as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” 1 It is one of the most celebrated of Isaac Newton’s obiter dicta. Like many such, its provenance is a bit hazy. The literary reference is surely to a passage from John Milton’s great redemptive poem Paradise Regained (1671) where, in dialogue with Satan, Christ praises divine illumination above pagan learning.2 But the statement’s immediate relation with Newton is more ambiguous. The earliest version is to be found in an Oxford conversation of April 1730, three years after Newton’s death, between the gossipy man of letters Joseph Spence and the Jacobite, freemason and court tutor Andrew Ramsay.
  • “Jogging Along with and Without James Logan: Early Plant Science in Philadelphia”

    “Jogging Along with and Without James Logan: Early Plant Science in Philadelphia”

    1 Friday, 19 September 2014, 1:30–3:00 p.m.: Panel II: “Leaves” “Jogging Along With and Without James Logan: Early Plant Science in Philadelphia” Joel T. Fry, Bartram's Garden Presented at the ― James Logan and the Networks of Atlantic Culture and Politics, 1699-1751 conference Philadelphia, PA, 18-20 September 2014 Please do not cite, quote, or circulate without written permission from the author These days, John Bartram (1699-1777) and James Logan (1674-1751) are routinely recognized as significant figures in early American science, and particularly botanic science, even if exactly what they accomplished is not so well known. Logan has been described by Brooke Hindle as “undoubtedly the most distinguished scientist in the area” and “It was in botany that James Logan made his greatest contribution to science.” 1 Raymond Stearns echoed, “Logan’s greatest contribution to science was in botany.”2 John Bartram has been repeatedly crowned as the “greatest natural botanist in the world” by Linnaeus no less, since the early 19th century, although tracing the source for that quote and claim can prove difficult.3 Certainly Logan was a great thinker and scholar, along with his significant political and social career in early Pennsylvania. Was Logan a significant botanist—maybe not? John Bartram too may not have been “the greatest natural botanist in the world,” but he was very definitely a unique genius in his own right, and almost certainly by 1750 Bartram was the best informed scientist in the Anglo-American world on the plants of eastern North America. There was a short period of active scientific collaboration in botany between Bartram and Logan, which lasted at most through the years 1736 to 1738.
  • Revelations of a Wild Continent

    Revelations of a Wild Continent

    account of North American flora and fauna ever pub- lished. It comprised more than 200 hand- coloured etchings based on hundreds of preparatory draw- ings and notes, with descriptions of each The Curious in English and French. Mister Catesby: A Royal Society secretary “Truly Ingenious” TRUST COMMEMORATIVE BACON/CATESBY SYLVIA Cromwell Mortimer Naturalist Explores hailed them as “the New Worlds most magnificent EDITED BY E. CHARLES NELSON AND DAVID J. work I know since the ELLIOTT Art of printing has Univ. Georgia Press: been discovered”. 2015. Now, the splendid anthology The Curious Mister Catesby shows that this praise was not exaggerated. Mark- ing the tercentenary of Catesby’s first visit to America in 1712–19, this comprehensive, lavishly illustrated work illuminates the many ways in which Catesby changed how the nat- ural world was perceived and portrayed, sug- gesting for the first time a dynamic ecological relationship between flora and fauna. Edited by botanist Charles Nelson and David Elli- ott, executive director of the Catesby Com- memorative Trust, it contains reproductions of paintings, engravings, photographs and maps, as well as essays by 25 scholars in fields from art history to the study of molluscs. Although no likeness of Catesby exists and little is known about him, his evident dedica- tion to documenting nature’s marvels marks him as an ambitious and innovative plants- man, an inquisitive natural scientist and an Mark Catesby’s depiction of Catalpa bignonioides and the orchard oriole (Icterus spurius). artist of talent and energy. His friend Emanuel Mendez da Costa, an English botanist, drew HISTORY OF SCIENCE him as “tall, meagre … and of a silent dispo- sition; but when he contracted a friendship was communicative, and affable”.
  • Section Nomenclature

    Section Nomenclature

    Huitième Congrès International de Botanique - Paris, Juillet 1954 / Eighth International Botanical Congress - Paris, July 1954 Source: Taxon, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan., 1953), p. 14 Published by: International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1217699 . Accessed: 18/09/2011 12:27 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Taxon. http://www.jstor.org Huitieme Congres International de Botanique - Paris, Juillet 1954 Eighth International Botanical Congress - Paris, July 1954 Section de Nomenclature Section Nomenclature Les propositions concerant le Code Inter- Proposals regarding the International Code national de la Nomenclature Botanique (1952) of Botanical Nomenclature (1952) must be doivent etre soumises au Rapporteur-Gene- submitted to the Rapporteur-GeneralDr J. ral Dr J. Lanjouw avant le ler Decembre Lanjouw before 1 December 1953. All pro- 1953. On pourra publier toutes les propo- posals can be published in Taxon. Botanists sitions dans Taxon. Les botanistes qui ont preparing proposals are earnestly requested en vue quelque proposition, sont instamment to give them the form of the example which pries d'y donner la formule qui sera publiee will be published in Taxon vol.
  • Newton on the Beach: the Information Order of Principia Mathematica

    Newton on the Beach: the Information Order of Principia Mathematica

    Hist. Sci., xlvii (2009) NEWTON ON THE BEACH: THE INFORMATION ORDER OF PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA Simon Schaffer Cambridge University WHAT I MAY SEEM TO THE WORLD I know not what I may seem to the world, but as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.1 It is one of the most celebrated of Isaac Newton’s obiter dicta. Like many such, its provenance is hazy. The literary reference may well be to a passage from John Milton’s great redemptive poem Paradise regained (1671) where, in dialogue with Satan, Christ praises divine illumination above pagan learning: “who reads / Inces- santly, and to his reading brings not / A spirit and judgment equal or superior, / … Uncertain and unsettled still remains, / Deep verst in books, and shallow in himself, / Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys / And trifles for choice matters, worth a spunge, / As children gath’ring pebbles on the shore”.2 But the remark’s immediate relation with Newton is more ambiguous. The earliest version is found in a conversation of April 1730, three years after Newton’s death, between the gossipy man of letters Joseph Spence and the Jacobite, freemason and court tutor Andrew Ramsay. While chatting about Newton’s debt to ancient theology and his strange attitudes towards the doctrine of the Trinity, Ramsay quoted Newton’s phrase, adding it was “as great as all” of Principia mathematica.3 Never one to let a nice epigram slip, Ramsay then incorporated the expression in his 1732 Plan of education for a young prince, composed to help tutor the heirs of a noble French clan.
  • Natsca News Issue 17-3.Pdf

    Natsca News Issue 17-3.Pdf

    http://www.natsca.org NatSCA News Title: The Natural History Museum, London’s Entomology Collections: The Origin or What has been Author(s): Paul A. Brown Source: P. A. Brown (2009). The Natural History Museum, London’s Entomology Collections: The Origin or What has been. NatSCA News, Issue 17, 29 ‐ 33. URL: http://www.natsca.org/article/142 NatSCA supports open access publication as part of its mission is to promote and support natural science collections. NatSCA uses the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ for all works we publish. Under CCAL authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in NatSCA publications, so long as the original authors and source are cited. NatSCA News Issue 17 The Natural History Museum, London’s Entomology Collections: The Origin or What has been. Paul A. Brown, Natural History Museum, London, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD Email: [email protected] Picture a snowy London town on Christmas Eve and we are at the NHM at South Kensington. We, the audi- ence have just had a visitation from a spectre of a long dead Entomology curator (maybe the ghost of W. N. P. Barbellion, the disappointed diarist who worked on Lice at the NHM 1912 - 1917) who tells us that we are to be visited by three apparitions who will represent the past, present and future of the National Entomo- logical Collections. I am the first, the ghost of Museum past and the morale of my tale, for your improve- ment and edification, is what has been and what not to do! The National Collection started as part of a cabinet of curiosities by Sir Hans Sloane who lived from 1660 to 1753, who was a physician with a great curiosity for natural science.
  • Ecosystems Under Sail: Specimen Transport in the Eighteenth-Century

    Ecosystems Under Sail: Specimen Transport in the Eighteenth-Century

    (FRV\VWHPVXQGHU6DLO6SHFLPHQ7UDQVSRUWLQWKH(LJKWHHQWK&HQWXU\ )UHQFKDQG%ULWLVK$WODQWLFV &KULVWRSKHU03DUVRQV.DWKOHHQ60XUSK\ Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Volume 10, Number 3, Fall 2012, pp. 503-529 (Article) 3XEOLVKHGE\8QLYHUVLW\RI3HQQV\OYDQLD3UHVV DOI: 10.1353/eam.2012.0022 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/eam/summary/v010/10.3.parsons.html Access provided by University Of Pennsylvania (8 Mar 2016 21:00 GMT) Ecosystems under Sail Specimen Transport in the Eighteenth-Century French and British Atlantics CHRISTOPHER M. PARSONS McNeil Center for Early American Studies and KATHLEEN S. MURPHY California Polytechnic State University abstract The ocean was frequently as hostile an environment for plants and animals as it was for humankind in the eighteenth century. Existing methods of preserving the plants, fish, birds, and land animals that provided the raw materials for European science increasingly proved insufficient for the often long voyages that brought them from colonial and indigenous collectors; specimens arrived dead when they were needed alive, rotten and damaged when they were needed whole, and they fre- quently suffered as they encountered negligent and uninterested sailors, and rats and other shipboard pests that showed too much interest. This paper examines strategies of specimen transport adopted by French and British naturalists in the Atlantic world during the first half of the eigh- teenth century, arguing for the importance of maritime spaces that have often been overlooked in histories of the expanding reach of European science. Atlantic networks of specimen transport were simultaneously dis- tinctly national and endlessly entangled. Efforts to discipline maritime social environments diverged along distinctly national lines, influenced by larger patterns of scientific sociability in both Britain and France.