Diary Alfred Russel Wallace Centenary Bournemouth University 7-8 June 2013 See Item 11 CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS c/o The Natural History Museum Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK www.shnh.org.uk [email protected]Registered Charity No. 210355 Newsletter No. 104 November 2012 Contents First and Foremost 1 Society News & Announcements 3 Society Events News 6 Forthcoming Society Events 7 Other Events 8 A Good Read 9 News & Information 10 Notes & Queries 12 New & Recent Publications 19 New Members 22
Transcript
DiaryAlfred Russel Wallace
Centenary Bournemouth University
7-8 June 2013 See Item 11
CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESSc/o The Natural History Museum
Above: Mary Spencer Jones and DouglasRussell, with Miranda Lowe, at the TerraNova meeting in Cambridge, UK.
Right: Members enjoying dinner afterthe Terra Nova Meeting
Left: Clemency Fisher,Christine Jackson andMaureen Lambournepaying a visit toNewington Butts(near Elephant andCastle, London) on14th March 2012, the200th anniversary ofthe birth of JohnGilbert.
Right: Pat Morris,recipient of the SHNHFounders’ Medal
Edward Lear Meeting: Gina Douglas, Robert McCrackenPeck, Dianne Edwards & Charles Nelson
Dr Cadee
John Edmondsonand JasperMontana
1. Message fromthe President
It is customary forany new presidentto introduce him/herself. First, Ineed to apologisethat some of us,on the new SHNHCouncil, have hada very hard timerecently (with
bereavements and a very serious roadtraffic accident to deal with and we maynot have been as responsive as peoplecould wish. But things are slowlyrecovering, and we promise to do thebest we can in future (like all goodvolunteers). Next, I must sincerely thank my
predecessor, Geoff Moore, for thesterling example he has set me. I fear hewill prove a hard act to follow. But ourSociety itself seems in good stead,holding fascinating meetings (thanks toGina Douglas) and providing a highlyreadable, as well as scholarly, journal -The Archives of Natural History - thanksto past editor Charles Nelson. We wishthe new editor, Peter Davis, similarsuccess in future. The role of theSociety’s Newsletter, is just as important,in informing members of what is afoot,thanks to Elaine Shaughnessy’s hardwork.I am a geologist by training, and
only a historian by inclination. Mybiggest hope is that we can extend theinternational reach of our Society, and,as Geoff has demanded, I too hope thatwe can all introduce new members tothe fascinating histories we cover, rightacross the natural sciences. We do,however, face continual problems in aworld which, despite its being so well
informed, becomes instead moreignorant by the minute. We first need to ensure that our own
archives, currently stored at the NaturalHistory Museum, are secure. We alsoneed to keep a constant watch, as ourPublic and University Libraries disposeof more and more printed materials. Inmy own University’s case, this is simplybecause, according to its library website,“old and superseded texts can bemisleading, or worthless, and unsoughtmaterial can obstruct the search forrelevant items”. However wrote thatneeds to meet a few more historians,whose task is surely to know whatmaterial to seek, and not to be misled!I am currently trying to get to the
bottom of the secret sales at WorcesterPublic Library, of which I first read inPrivate Eye, the satirical magazine whichhas a regular column of “Library News”,but which is always depressing. Thesesales allowed the once wonderful libraryof the Worcestershire Natural HistorySociety, founded in 1833 (and whichwas highly influential in encouragingother County-wide Natural HistorySocieties to form Museums and Librarieselsewhere) to be sold at auction, amongtheir ‘old and useless stock’, last year.All this raised over a quarter of a millionpounds, towards funding its newPrivately Financed Initiative library inWorcester. It also raised hardly aneyebrow, as no one was aware of thesesales, until it was too late. Such librarydisasters are a cause I would like to takeup, so if any members learn of similardisasters being under consideration, orhaving happened, please give us earlywarning.
Hugh TorrensSHNH President
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First and Foremost
2. From the Editor
As this newsletter is printed, many of ourmembers will be enjoying the Catesbytercentennial meeting in the US. It is awonderful programme taking place inthree locations. We very much lookforward to reading the meeting reportand seeing the photographs. It has alsobeen a busy year for many of ourmembers in celebrating Edward Lear’s200th anniversary and a number of usspent a delightful time recently at theLinnean Society and the Royal Societylistening to fascinating talks by Bob Peckand Clem Fisher. Looking forward, 2013is the anniversary of Alfred RusselWallace and Gina Douglas is delighted toreport that a joint meeting on Wallacehas been arranged, together with theLinnean Society and the University ofBournemouth for June 2013.Our (belated) congratulations to
Diarmid Finnegan who won the FrankWatson Book Prize in Scottish History forhis book Natural History Societies and CivicCulture in Victorian Scotland. Establishedin 1993 and administered by theCanadian Scottish Studies Foundation,the biennial prize recognises the highestscholarship in Scottish history.I do thank all members who have
forwarded entries for the bibliographicsection and in particular my thanks toDavid Allen who has kindly forwardedmany items as well as informativebibliographic notes for inclusion.
Dr Jack Gibson, one of our HonoraryMembers and long-time ScottishRepresentative has now retired. As oneof our longest-serving members (joiningthe Society in the 1950s), he has servedthe Society in many capacities in thepast, including two stints as Vice-President. I had the great personalpleasure of liaising with Jack for manyyears, when I was the InternationalRepresentatives Coordinator and we hadmany happy conversations, not only onSHNH matters but also on his enjoymentof the P.G. Woodhouse novels. We allsend Jack our warmest wishes and thanksfor his invaluable contributions to theSociety.
ElaineElaine Shaughnessy
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Above: The Largest white-billwoodpecker, Plate 16, Vol. 1 inMark Catesby, The Natural History ofCarolina, Florida and the BahamaIslands.
Left: The Hawksbill turtle, Plate 39,Vol. 2 in Mark Catesby, The NaturalHistory of Carolina, Florida and theBahama Islands.
3. Founders’ Medal
SHNH President HughTorrens was delightedto award the SHNHFounders’ Medal to DrPat Morris at theSociety’s AGM. PatMorris is a retireduniversity lecturer,specialising in zoo-logy, ecology, wildlife conservation andmammal ecology research (especiallyhedgehogs and dormice). He wasChairman of the Mammal Society andis a regular contributor to radio and TVwildlife programmes. A CouncilMember of the National Trust andformer Chairman of its NatureConservation Advisory Panel, he is alsoa semi-professional photographer.
Pat is the author/joint author of sixpopular natural history books andeditor/author/contributor to severalwildlife encyclopaedias and more than200 magazine articles, scientific papers,and booklets. He self-publishes books onthe history of taxidermy (8 titles since2000) and has lectured on the history oftaxidermy worldwide. He is an HonoraryLife Member of the Guild of Taxidermistsand has been a member of the SHNH formore than 10 years. He travels widely,focusing on wildlife and environmentalobjectives and ferreting about inmuseum storerooms for old taxidermy.
4. William T. StearnStudent Essay Prize
Congratulations to Andrea Kennedy(University of Cambridge MPhil student2011-12) for winning the William T.Stearn Student Essay Prize for 2012. Thisannual award is given by SHNH for thebest original unpublished essay in the
field of history of natural history.Andrea’s winning entry was ‘The beautyof Victorian beasts: illustration in Rev. J.G. Wood’s Homes without Hands’, whichwas one of her MPhil essays.
5. Those we have lost
Members of the SHNH will be saddenedto know that the summer months haveseen the loss of two of the Society’slong-standing members.Bernadette Callery died after a long andarduous fight against ovarian cancer on27 July 2012. After training in LibraryScience at the University of Chicago shefirst worked as Assistant Librarian atthe Hunt Institute for BotanicalDocumentation, becoming theirLibrarian in 1977 and then moving in1987 to the New York Botanical GardenLibrary as Research Librarian. Shereturned to Pittsburgh in 1994 asLibrarian at the Carnegie Museum ofNatural History. In each of theseinstitutions she was closely involvedwith major exhibitions and significantadvances in bibliographic resources,including online catalogues. In 1997Bernadette was awarded the CBHLCharles L. Long Award of ExtraordinaryMerit. She was awarded her PhD. in2002. Throughout her career sheremained a strong supporter of SHNH,contributing to conferences in England. Eric Groves, another long-standingmember of SHNH and one of therecipients of the Thackray Medal (withTom Vallance and David Moore) in2002, died in mid June 2012. DavidMoore has written an obituary for Ericwhich will appear in the in the nextissue of Archives 40.1. One of Eric’spapers on Archibald Menzies at KingGeorge Sound is currently in press andwill also appear in the next issue ofArchives.
Gina Douglas
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Society News & Announcements
6. History & Mystery
History & Mystery is a delightfulcollection of notes and queries frompast SHNH Newsletters. The book is £15(post paid) for the UK and £18 for therest of the world (ROW). Orderingonline is easy: go to the SHNH website(www.shnh.org.uk) and click on theDONATE by PayPal button; Proceedsfrom the sale of this volume will helpreplenish the Alwynne Wheeler Bursaryto support young scholars in attendingSHNH conferences and meetings.
History & mystery: Sequels & solutions 3 S3.1 Edwin Hollis and Anne EdithHollis History & mystery p.15A short paper about Edwin Hollis, byStuart Houston and Charles Nelson, hasbeen published in Records ofBuckinghamshire: Edwin Hollis FZS(1863-1941): some notes on his earlylife and activities as a naturalist. RecsBucks. 52: 245-247 (2012).Edwin Hollis was born in Paddington,
London, into a family that had a longhistory in the butchery business, andbetween 1881-1901 he worked as a porkbutcher. After a brief visit to Canada in1901-2, during which he collectedspecimens of mammals for the BritishMuseum (Natural History), Hollisresumed his trade in London but heseems to have sold his business at theend of 1904. For a few years, Edwin andAnnie Hollis lived in Exeter where hetook much more interest in naturalhistory, until March 1908 when thecouple moved to Aylesbury after hisappointment as Curator of theBuckinghamshire ArchaeologicalSociety’s new museum.Research on Edwin Hollis raised
another mystery: his wife Anne (orAnnie) Edith (née Thorne; born 1870).Various reports indicate she was a artist;
for example on 13 January 1906 at theRoyal Albert Memorial Museum inExeter, Hollis gave a talk about theirvisit to Canada, and “had on the table avery nice collection of water-coloursketches of most of the animals dealtwith, drawn by his wife, which addedmuch to the interest and lucidity of hispaper.” At the Annual Conference ofMuseum Curators in York in early July1910, Mrs A. Hollis of Aylesburymounted a special exhibition of “fishpainted in natural colours”.I have been unable to trace any
original works by Anne Hollis not anyother reference to her as a zoologicalartist.
E. Charles Nelson
S3.2 Redriffe, Rotherith or RotherhitheSince in the Newsletter (2) 23:7,reprinted in History and Mystery p.24,Alwyne Wheeler commented DanielSolander wrote Rotherhithe“Rotherith” and suggests it reflects thelocal pronunciation, it may be ofinterest that a century before SamuelPepys wrote it Redriffe (Everybody’s Pepys12 January 1666 etc.). Which came first,Redriffe or Rotherhithe?
W. R. P. Bourne
S3.3 Early names, lists and figuresof birdsWhile I noticed W. B. Yapp’s commentson my note about Henry VIII’sconsumption of birds at the time(Newsletter (2) 13:7-8, 1982), I did notwant to enter into an argument withhim. Now that it has been perpetuatedin History and Mystery pp. 47-8 it seemstime for comment. My note did not seem the place to
discuss nomenclature, which is anendless topic liable to depend on thecontext, but in view of Yapp’s commenton my identification of “pewnne” as“pigeon” it may be pointed out that the
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sixteenth century was not the “earlyMiddle Ages” and as I said the list Iquoted included both 240 pewnnes and24 peacocks, so the former seemunlikely to be peahens on this occasionand pigeons seemed to fit best. If onehad discussed all such cases at lengththe contribution would have becomevery lengthy.Similarly there is a need for caution
with figures according to the context.The earliest records often occur in aculinary context, which provides littlescope for quantification. Some of thefirst figures seem to have been used in apublic relations context, notably thegarbled list of wildlife allegedlyconsumed at the installation of GeorgeNeville as Archbishop of York in 1465quoted by Pennant from Leland’sCollectanea in his British Zoology in 1776and numerous subsequent authors. Thislooks like a public relations exercise byan ill-informed clerk. The quantitiesquoted in Tudor invoices ( Archives ofNatural History 10:331-333, 26:349-368,33:135-139) seem much more reliable,since wise men did not try to deceiveKings Henry VIII and his nephew James V.It is debatable if swans first arrived
in France in 1360. People seldom seemto have distinguished between thelarger ducks in the Middle Ages, so itseems reasonable to assume“shovellers” were usually spoonbillsthen. Similarly there were no cocksexcept woodcock that could have beenobtained so widely in such numbers.And finally since Yapp was impolite
about the father of historicalornithology, J. H. Gurney Jr., it may bepointed out that he was even moreinaccurate in his identification of oldfigures, for example a swallow as amagpie and a probable lapwing as ablack stork (British Birds 96: 333).
W. R. P. Bourne
7. Archives News
The following papers and short notes,listed alphabetically by author, have beenformally accepted and will be issued inArchives of natural history 40.1, dependingon the availability of space, in print andonline in April 2013.The Patron’s Review by Joanna HENLEY:The role of the moving image in naturalhistory: moving people through images.L. J. BAACK: A naturalist of the NorthernEnlightenment: Peter Forsskål after 250years.K. BARTHELMESS † and I. SVANBERG: Awatercolour of a stranded sperm whalefrom the late seventeenth century.H. FUNK: Kaempferol: a case study ofwhat eponyms in chemical nomen-clature can tell us.D. J. GALLOWAY: Olof Swartz’scontributions to lichenology, 1781–1811.E. W. GROVES †: Archibald Menzies’svisit to King George Sound, WesternAustralia, September–October 1791.K. LAMBKIN: Conrad Kelsall’s‘Butterflying’ on the Little MulgraveRiver, north Queensland, in 1903.G. MANGANELLI and A. BENOCCI : 250years of Atti dell’Accademia dei Fisiocritici inSiena: its contribution to natural history.P. G. MOORE: Seaside natural history anddivinity: a science-inclined Scottishcleric’s avoidance of evolution(1860–1868).P. G. MOORE: The Lochbuie MarineInstitute, Isle of Mull, Scotland.P. G. MOORE: A medical student’szoology practical notebook from 1898.P. G. MOORE: Sea spiders misrepresented(1887) as crustacean parasites ofcetaceans.
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Sea spider,Pycnogonum litorale
from D'ArcyThompson (1909:
fig. 262)
E. C. NELSON: Archibald Menzies’s visitto Isla del Coco, January 1795.E. C. NELSON: The Catesby brothersand the early eighteenth-centurynatural history of Gibraltar.A. RAMAN: Historical references to gallsinduced by Dixothrips onerosus(Thysanoptera) on the leaves ofTerminalia chebula (Combretaceae) inIndia.A. RICKIENE: Flora Litvanica inchoata(1781–1782) by J. E. Gilibert:preliminary census of copies inEuropean libraries.ObituaryD. T. MOORE: Eric William Groves1923-2012.
Peter DavisEditor
Society Events News
8. John Gilbert (1812-1845)
14th March 2012 was the 200th
anniversary of the birth of John Gilbert.In honour of the occasion, ClemencyFisher, Christine Jackson and MaureenLambourne paid a visit to NewingtonButts (near Elephant and Castle,London) where he was born in 1812. The explorer-naturalist John Gilbert
was Gould’s principal collector inAustralia. He collected more than 8% ofall Australia’s birds and mammals for thefirst time and many thousands of thesespecimens survive in museums all overthe world. He was killed on theLeichhardt Expedition, notable as thefirst European expedition to crossAustralia, on 28th June 1845. Gilbert’sfield notebooks and diaries have survivedwith detailed accounts of his life andtravels in Australia. These notes were usedextensively by Gould in the text for TheBirds of Australia, Mammals of Australiaand others of Gould’s publications.
Clemency Fisher
9. The Natural History of the Terra Nova expedition
SHNH Spring Meeting and AGMScott Polar Research Institute
CambridgeSaturday 19 May 2012
SHNH members were welcomed to theScott Polar Research Institute of theUniversity of Cambridge and giveninteresting background information onthe role of the Institute and its historyby Bryan Lintott, speaking on behalf ofthe Librarian, Mrs Heather Lane. The programme continued with
Professor David Walton giving thosepresent “a centennial overview ofAntarctic research and expeditions”which served to put the then currentTerra Nova celebrations in perspective.He was followed by Dr HowardFalcon-Lang: on “The fossil forests ofAntarctica: historical discoveries andnew research” with assistance fromHugh Torrens, to show us, through a“virtual presentation” that in the pastAntarctica had experienced times withluxuriant plant growth and a diversefauna, including dinosaur remains,testifying to a warmer climatic regime.The next presentation, by DouglasRussell was on the sexual behaviour ofthe Adélie Penguin as observed, butnever published, by Dr George MurrayLevick (1876-1956), one of the TerraNova scientists. Douglas discussed someof the aberrant behaviour recorded byMurray and also explained the reasonsfor this and why Murray’s findings hadbeen suppressed.After lunch and the SHNH AGM, the
scientific meeting resumed with apresentation by Mary Spencer Jones onDenis Gascoigne Lillie (1884-1963) andthe Terra Nova bryozoans and othermarine collections he made while onboard the Terra Nova on its regularsupply trips to and from New Zealand.
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Society Events News
The meeting concluded with BobHeadland of SPRI talking on the varietyof information published in the‘Miscellaneous Data’ from the Terra Novaexpedition, illustrated by a wealth ofhistoric photographs. Participants had an opportunity to
view the museum collections, as well asto see the temporary exhibition ofsketchbooks and paintings by DavinaScott, made during and after her recentvisit to Antarctica. As is usual, a numberof members stayed for a convivialdinner after the meeting.
Gina DouglasMeetings Secretary
10. Joint MeetingThe Remarkable Nature of
Edward LearLinnean Society of London
27 September 2012
A record number of 160 SHNHmembers, Linnean Society Fellows andguests packed into the Meeting roomand Reading Room of the LinneanSociety of London for a talk by RobertMcCracken Peck, Curator of Art andArtifacts and Senior Fellow of theAcademy of Natural Sciences of DrexelUniversity, Philadelphia, on EdwardLear’s natural history drawings.
In a fascinating and wonderfullyillustrated presentation, Bob Peckoutlined his recent involvement withthe exhibition of Edward Lear materialheld by the Houghton Library atHarvard University, and gave us a briefoverview of Edward Lear’s life, fromyoung artist to drawing instructor forQueen Victoria, before focusing on hisdevelopment as a natural history artist.The accompanying presentationshowed us both well-known andhitherto unfamiliar works by Lear, frombeautiful birds, especially Lear’smagnificent publication on parrots, to
Mrs Gould’s pet rodent. Bob Peck alsohighlighted the significant role playedby Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby, in Lear’swork both as an illustrator and in hismore light-hearted work for children.The presentation ended with a glimpseof some of the outstanding work bypresent day bird artists, showing bothimaginative treatments such as Learmight have undertaken and darkermessages on wild nature.
SHNH is planning a joint meeting withthe Linnean Society of London andBournemouth University to be held atthe University. Outline plans are tohave one day focussing on the historyof natural history in relation to Wallace,such as his life-history and letters, hiscollections and collecting methods andhis role in evolutionary biology andbiogeography. A second day will focuson more recent biosciences related toWallace’s achievements, addressingdevelopments in evolutionary biologyand biogeography. It is hoped that therewill also be an opportunity to visitWallace’s grave at Broadstone cemetery,in association with a wildlife walk.
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Forthcoming Society Events
Mrs. Gould’s Pet” (Short-tailed Field Vole).Edward Lear. Courtesy Houghton Library,Harvard University
Other Events
12. Portraits of a Garden: BrooklynBotanic Garden FlorilegiumHunt Institute for Botanical
DocumentationPittsburgh, PA 15213-389021 Sept-16 Dec 2012.
This exhibition showcases 48 Americanbotanical artists who are revitalizing thecenturies-old tradition of the florilegiumby creating a lasting archive of watercolorsand drawings of the plants growing at theBrooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG). Thisselection of original artwork, on loanfrom the BBG’s permanent collection, isdisplayed with a sampling of historicalprinted volumes representative of theflorilegium tradition from the HuntInstitute’s Library collection. For furtherinformation visit: http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/HIBD/Exhibitions/Exhibitions.shtml
13. William Turner’s Natural Historyof Plants Symposium
St James Church, Morpeth,Northumberland
24 Nov 2012, 10:00-12:30
Although Turner is celebrated as ‘thefather of English botany’, it is not alwayseasy for a modern reader to understandthe way in which he writes about plants.These sessions aim to explain how andwhy he used the 1st-century writerDioscorides, and to demonstrate how heexploited the descriptive tactics forwriting about plants available in the16th century. The meeting closes with abrief review of Turner’s records ofNorthumbrian plants.For further details and booking contact:Marie Addyman, Academic [email protected]/williamturnergarden
14. Thomas Bewick, Engraver andNaturalist
Linnean Society of London,Burlington House, Piccadilly,
London W1J 0BF3 Dec 2012, 8:00 to 20:00
Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) was notonly a superb artist and innovator inwood engraving, but his work forQuadrupeds (1790) and especially for hisHistory of British Birds (1797-1804),shows that he was also an excellentnaturalist, a meticulous observer ofbirds and animals in their habitats.Using images from his work, JennyUglow illustrates Bewick’s growingexpertise, and also places him in thefascinating network of correspondenceand exchange between amateurnaturalists in the late eighteenthcentury, gentlemanly, scholarly andartisan. This meeting is free and open toall; registration is not necessary. Tea willbe served in the Library from 5.30pmand the lecture will be followed by awine reception.
15. 2013 INHIGEO ConferenceManchester, UK22-28 July 2013
The UK’s History of Geology committee(HOGG), working with UK INHIGEOmembers, is pleased to invite allinterested participants to attend the2013 INHIGEO conference, being heldas part of the 24th internationalCongress of History of Science,Technology and Medicine (iCHSTM).The conference theme is Knowledge atWork. For more information visitwww.ichstm2013.com.
16. Sugar and BeyondProvidence, RI, USA25-26 October 2013
The John Carter Brown Library,
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Other Events
Providence, RI, USA seeks proposals fora conference entitled “Sugar andBeyond,” to be held in conjunctionwith the Library’s Fall 2013 exhibitionon sugar in the early modern period,especially its bibliographical and visuallegacies. To be considered, please send apaper proposal of 500 words and CV [email protected]. Thedeadline for submitting proposals isDecember 15, 2012. For moreinformation visit http://blogs.brown.edu/sugarandbeyond/ or email MargotNishimura, Deputy Director andLibrarian ([email protected]).
17. 2nd International Conference onAlfred Russel Wallace - hispredecessors and successors.
Naturalists, explorers and fieldscientists in South-east Asia
and AustralasiaKuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
7-8 November 2013
A 2-day international conference hostedby the Institute of Biodiversity andEnvironmental Conservation, UniversitiMalaysia Sarawak, honouring Wallace,and other field naturalists before andafter him, who have been associatedwith Southeast Asia and Australasia.For more information visit:http://www.unimas.my/Wallace2013/
A Good Read
18. Robert McCracken Peck talksabout Bartram’s Travels
The story of the near extinction of theFranklinia alatamaha is well known, butno less interesting for its frequenttelling. Examples of the flowering treewere first seen by the Americanbotanists John and William Bartram ina low lying area near Fort Barrington inpresent day Georgia in 1765. The
explorers collected seeds and livingspecimens of the rarity, which they tookback to their botanical garden inPhiladelphia. Although a handful ofother naturalists also collectedexamples of the plant, the Bartrams areusually the ones credited with savingthe species from extinction. Shortlyafter their serendipitous discovery, thetree disappeared from the wild. All ofthe Franklinias alive today are said tohave descended from specimenspropagated by the Bartrams. As a child, I was fascinated by the
Franklinia that grew in my family’s 150year old garden in Philadelphia. It wasa tree that I admired, not only for itsbeauty, but also as a tangible symbol ofscientific exploration, and an inspiringexample of the good that can comefrom human intervention on behalf ofvulnerable species. My father, alandscape architect and lover of history,and my horticulturally inclined motherfirst told me the story behind the treewhen I was 10 years old. In doing so,they also introduced me to Bartram’sclassic narrative Travels Through Northand South Carolina, East and WestFlorida, the Cherokee Country, etc. (1791).The book was a bit heavy going for a 10year old, but as it was filled withexciting stories of alligator attack, plant
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Title page ofAlexander Wilson’scopy of Bartram’sTravels. CourtesyAcademy Library &Archives, TheAcademy ofNatural Sciences ofDrexel UniversityANSP Call No.F213.B276.
A Good Read
collecting, and encounters withIndians, I found parts of it seductivelyappealing. Over time, I came to enjoyand admire what the Scottish writerThomas Carlisle called Bartram’s“wonderful, floundering eloquence”.Many years later (1977-1978),
inspired by that seminal book, I retracedmany parts of William Bartram’s 2,400mile foot journey through thesoutheastern United States, and helpedto plan a network of hiking trails androad markers that now commemoratehis eighteenth century travels. Asdirector of the Bartram TrailConference, I came to appreciate theenormous contributions thisenterprising botanist made tohorticulture and to shaping the natureof British and American gardens. I alsolearned of his important role as an earlyornithologist. Not only did he describemore than 200 species of birds inTravels, he also mentored the Scottishpoet-turned-ornithologist AlexanderWilson as he created his landmark,eight volume book on American birds,American Ornithology (1808-1814). Itwas Wilson who, in turn, inspired JohnJames Audubon to create his ownmasterwork, The Birds of America(1827-1839), in which that artfulornithologist included a plate of a pairof Bachman’s Warblers perched in ablooming Franklinia. (Audubon namedthe birds for his friend the Rev. JohnBachman, whose two daughters marriedAudubon’s two sons. The plant wasdrawn not by Audubon, but by MariaMartin, Bachman’s sister-in-law, andlater, his second wife.)Bartram’s Travels, Wilson’s American
Ornithology, and Audubon’s Birds ofAmerica are among the three mostimportant books in the history ofAmerican natural history. In my mind,they will always be linked by the story
of the flowering tree that still blooms inthe garden I knew as a child, and whereI continue to live today. This year, asmy own twin sons turn 10, it is time forme to introduce them to the Frankliniaand the books that record its history. Itis an inspiring story that remainsforever green.Robert McCracken Peck is Curator of Artand Artifacts and Senior Fellow at theAcademy of Natural Sciences of DrexelUniversity in Philadelphia.
News & Information
19. Alfred Russel Wallace goes online
The great naturalist Alfred RusselWallace now has an online presence tomatch that of Charles Darwin. WallaceOnline gathers together in one place forthe first time all of the naturalist’swritings and illustrations. There are28,000 pages of searchable documentsand 22,000 images at:http://wallace-online.org/. The projectis directed by John van Wyhe, assistedby Kees Rookmaaker, at the NationalUniversity of Singapore, in collab-oration with the Wallace Page byCharles H. Smith:http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/index1.htm.
20. Wallace 100
The Natural History Museum isplanning a big celebration of AlfredRussel Wallace’s life and scientific legacycalled Wallace100. For details visithttp://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/wallace/index.html Comedian Bill Bailey is backing a
campaign to raise funds for amagnificent life-size bronze statue ofWallace to be unveiled at the NaturalHistory Museum, London, on 7November 2013 to commemorate the
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News & Information
100th anniversary of Wallace’s death. Billis a long-time admirer of the scientistand Patron of the A. R. WallaceMemorial Fund. For more informationplease contact Dr George Beccaloni,Chairman of the Wallace MemorialFund (Email: [email protected][email protected], telephone(at the Natural History Museum,London): 020 7942 5361).
George Beccaloni
21. John Innes Centre archive project
Following a grant from the WellcomeTrust, the John Innes Centre hasestablished a project to produce on-linecatalogues of some of its major archivecollections. The JIC archives date backto before the foundation of the originalJohn Innes Horticultural Institution atMerton in 1910. The archives of twokey figures in the development ofgenetics science, William Bateson(1861-1926) and Cyril Darlington(1903-1981), both Directors of the JIHI,are the focus of the Project. A blog hasbeen set up to provide informationabout the Project and to highlightletters and papers of significantinterest. The blog address is:http://archives.jic.ac.uk/.
Simon ColemanProject Archivist
John Innes CentreNorwich
22. Hunt Institute receives nationalfilm preservation foundation grant
The Hunt Institute for BotanicalDocumentation, Pittsburgh, PA hasbeen awarded preservation projectfunding from the National FilmPreservation Foundation (NFPF) topreserve Walter Henricks Hodge’s filmof Peru in the 1940s. The award will beused to clean, conserve and make botha film copy for preservation and adigital copy for access.Walter Henricks Hodge began his
botanical career in 1934 as a graduateteaching assistant at MassachusettsState College. He later became amember of faculty at the University ofMassachusetts, the UniversidadNacional de Colombia and HarvardUniversity and served in governmentaland scientific organizations. Hodgetraveled extensively, including periodsin the West Indies, Peru, Colombia andJapan, which provided him with ampleopportunities to indulge his interest inphotography. His photographic workillustrates practical and economic usesof plants throughout the world andrecords not only a large variety of plantspecies but also informal portraits ofbotanists he encountered in his travels.From 1943-1945 he was a botanist forthe US Office of Economic Warfare’sCinchona Mission in Lima, Peru, andthe film to be preserved is a result of thisassignment. The purpose of theCinchona Mission was to find reliablealternate sources of cinchona bark forthe wartime production of quinine. Thematerial will interest botanists,anthropologists and historians.
23. WCS and NYBG Show theirHistory Through Postcards
More than 400 historical postcards arenow published on the WildlifeConservation Society and New YorkBotanical Garden website. Entitled the“Bronx Park Postcard Collection,” theseries tells the story of the Bronx Park,which includes the Bronx Zoo and TheNew York Botanical Garden. Inspired bythe late-nineteenth-century urban parkmovement, Bronx Park was formallycreated by the City of New York in thelate 1880s. In 1891, the City allotted250 acres of the currently 718-acre parkto The New York Botanical Garden. Anadditional 250 acres were allotted to theWildlife Conservation Society (thenNew York Zoological Society) in 1897for the Bronx Zoo. For moreinformation visit:http://ielc.libguides.com/bronxparkpostcards.
Stephen Sinon The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
The New York Botanical Garden Bronx, NY 10458-5126
Notes & Queries
24. Request for Information:Subscribers to John Lawson’s
A New Voyage to Carolina (London1709), The History of Carolina (1714,1718) and the associated anthology
A New Collection of Voyages andTravels (London 1708-1710)
In 1708 a group of leading book printersin London began sales of amulti-volume anthology entitled A NewCollection of Voyages and Travels(presumably edited by John Stevens).The second volume in this Collectionwas John Lawson’s A New Voyage toCarolina. Based on the author’s eightyears’ residence in North Carolina, theNew Voyage remains one of the mostimportant contributions on the naturaland human history of the region priorto Mark Catesby’s Natural History ofCarolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands(1731- 1743).These were among the earliest books
to be published and sold in series as“numbers” or fascicles, a strategyintended to promote public sales(Simpson and Simpson, Archives ofnatural history 35 (2):223-42. 2008). Inaddition to fascicle sales, the NewCollection and Lawson’s New Voyagewere apparently offered by subscriptionas well. A copy of Lawson in the BritishLibrary includes an “ADVERTISEMENT”,dated May 1709, that was inserted at theconclusion of the first fascicle,immediately following page 60 of theNew Voyage:“Those Gentlemen that subscribe to
take Sets, shall have their Namesprinted at the end of each Volumewhich will be twelve Months.”
It is not clear whether the lists wereactually bound at the end of each book,of each year, or of the entire collection.The names of these subscribers, if any,would be of considerable interest inrelation to the New Voyage andparticularly to Lawson’s plans for a“Compleat History” of North Carolina.(Simpson et al., Archives of natural history37 (2):333-345. 2010). The support ofpatrons might have proven critical tothe success of Lawson’s ambitious effort,as it did some years later when Catesby
12
Notes & Queries
labored to produce his Natural History.Lawson’s untimely death in September1711 brought the project to an abruptend, and his animal specimens andnotes, sent to James Petiver in London,were mostly lost or destroyed.
Advertisements and inserts such assubscriber name lists were oftendiscarded when individual fascicleswere bound into the final volumes.Nevertheless, a copy of this promisedlist of subscribers may be extant andbound somewhere within one of themany copies of Lawson’s New Voyage orthe New Collection of Voyages and Travels.Lawson’s work was also reissued entirelyunchanged except for different titles asA New Account of Carolina (1711) and asThe History of Carolina (1714, 1718).Information related to the subscriberslist from any library or privatecollection that has such documentationwill be most appreciated.Marcus B. Simpson, Jr., P. O. Box 1427,Hendersonville, NC 28793-1427 [email protected].
25. Hugh Miller (1802-1856):ephemera and museum visit
reports sought
Michael Taylor and Lyall Anderson arewriting an account of the dispersal,curation, and display of the collectionsof Hugh Miller. Miller was, of course,author of The Old Red Sandstone andmuch else, besides his work as animportant newspaper editor, helping tofound the Free Church of Scotland,banging the drum for self-help and hardwork, and generally being one of thegreat Scots of his time. Thanks to the British Geological
Survey’s library and curatorial staff, wehave been able to obtain copies of (a)the leaflet for the second phase of thepublic appeal, c. 1858, to buy hiscollection for what is now National
Museums Scotland (http://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/edingeologist/z_40_04.html), and (b) the little guide byJames G. Goodchild (1844-1906) to thegeological displays in the BirthplaceCottage at Cromarty, for the 1902centenary of Miller’s birth. However, we have so far been unable
to locate 1. Any other copies of the above,especially if annotated
2. Any other circulars for the collection appeal
3. Circulars for the appeal to build Hugh Miller’s Monument at Cromarty, c. 1858-9
4. Circulars, etc., for the 1902 centenary celebrations at Cromarty
5. Any other guide leaflets, etc., for Hugh Miller’s Cottage/Museum etc. at Cromarty, before the 1950s redisplay by Charles Waterston and his booklet Hugh Miller: the Cromarty Stonemason (1961) We are also keen to learn of
published or unpublished accounts ofvisits to the Miller displays in themuseum at Edinburgh and to thebirthplace cottage in Cromarty up toabout 1950, including securely datedphotographs. We already have a fewgeneral tourist reports from DavidAlston’s local history My little town ofCromarty (2006).
Hugh Miller (1802-1856): thecatalogue of his fossil collection
Michael Taylor) and Lyall Andersonwrite: we have observed that one of thespecimen numbering systems applied toMiller’s fossil collection was startedwhile the collection was still in familyhands – though we are not certainwhether this was before his death. Wehave never been able to locate a primaryregister or list for this system, and donot even know whether such a list even
13
existed. Does anyone have an orphanlist rich in Scottish fossils, andespecially in, for instance, Old RedSandstone fishes from Cromarty, whichmight be a candidate? The system in question is
stratigraphically based, using parallelnumber series distinguished by thecolour of the paper dots used as labels;thus for instance ‘red’ 451 and 567 areOld Red Sandstone fossils, but ‘green’234 a Carboniferous specimen.However, the catalogue need notexplicitly indicate the colour coding.
Hugh Miller (1802-1856):the loss of his papers
Michael Taylor and Lyall Anderson havebeen considering the fate of HughMiller’s manuscripts as part of a widerstudy of his collections. Absurdly fewMSS survive, given his literary output;some are in the National Library ofScotland, and his letter-book for theyears to 1840 survives in New CollegeLibrary (University of Edinburgh). Seemingly, the bulk of Miller’s papers
went to Australia with, or sent to, hisdaughter Harriet (1839-1883; herself asignificant early Australian writer) andher husband the Rev. John Davidson(1834-1881) on his ‘call’ to becomeminister at Chalmers Church, Adelaide;he later became a founding professor atthe University of Adelaide. Theyapparently intended a biography,presumably to replace the badly flawedLife and Letters of Hugh Miller (1871)written by Peter Bayne under thesupervision of Harriet’s mother Lydia.Those papers included, for instance, anextensive correspondence with RobertDick of Thurso, the geologist andnaturalist, as Smiles complained in his1878 biography of Dick. In the event,the Davidsons died early, Harriet in1883, and their three daughters came
back to the UK, while their only sonworked up country as a surveyor.
Those papers were soon noted asmissing, in W. K. Leask’s Hugh Miller(1896) and again in 1902 in Thecentenary of Hugh Miller being an accountof the celebration held at Cromarty on22nd August, 1902 (Glasgow UniversityPress) and press reports of the event. A few papers turned up in the hands
of an Adelaide dealer and were mostlysold in 1960 to the National Library ofScotland (but most NLS Miller MSS arein fact on deposit from the NationalTrust for Scotland’s Hugh Miller’sCottage and Museum at Cromarty). Avery few more are in the University ofAdelaide library. But the bulk of Miller’spapers remain missing. We would beinterested to know of any evidence as tothese Australian papers’ fate, or indeedany references in contemporarypublications or MSS to Miller’smanuscripts other than those notedabove.
The references, in Peter Dance’s recentnote on Lovell’s Edible mollusks (Archivesof natural history 39 (1): 165-166), tobound-in book lists advertising L. Reeveand Co.’s publications, inspired me tocheck my shelves. It seems to have beenReeve and Co.’s practice to issue theselists at irregular intervals, continuing tobind-in the same list until well afterbooks mentioned as “Forthcoming” hadactually appeared. For example, the listin my first (1883) edition of Townsend’sFlora of Hampshire lists six“Forthcoming” titles: one of these isFlora of Hampshire itself, another isBentham and Hooker’s Generaplantarum Vol. III, Part II also publishedin 1883, and a third is Baillon’s Natural
14
history of plants, a multi-volume work ofwhich the sixth and last part hadappeared in 1880. Perhaps Reeve andCo. anticipated a further volume, asthey clearly did of Oliver’s Flora oftropical Africa, of which Vol. III had beenpublished in 1877; in fact the next part(actually Vol. V) appeared, edited byThistleton-Dyer, only in 1899. There areother examples. Like those of otherpublishers, Reeve and Co.’s advert-isements combined optimism withfrugal use of undated lists.On at least one occasion, though,
their list was dated. I have a copy ofBentham’s Handbook of the British flora,dated 1866 and called “NEW EDITION”on the title page. Reeve’s 16-pagebound-in book list is headed“LONDON, July 1st, 1873.” This appearsto be the 1873 re-issue of the thirdedition that had not been seen byCharles Nelson and co-authors in 2003when writing their check-list ofBentham’s Handbook (Archives of naturalhistory 30 (2): 250-254). Do readersknow of other dated lists by thesepublishers?
In the SHNH Newsletterno. 99 October 2010, Iraised the matter of aportrait of “JohnGerard” (see its frontcover) which wasamong the possessionsof our late memberMichael Walpole. Iquestioned the accuracy of theidentification, despite the inscription“JOHN GERARD ÆTATIS SUÆ 31” andwondered if the coat-of-arms depictedcould not be identified.On a very wet February afternoon
earlier this year, when my wife and Iwere in London, we sought shelter(with dozens of others!) in the NationalPortrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square. I wasquite taken aback to come face to facewith the Gallery’s own version of thisportrait hanging in a small exhibitionentitled “Imagined lives. Portraits ofunknown people”.The identity of the sitter, a year older
in the NPG version, is partly resolvedbecause the arms are those of the VanNierop family, and the NPG’s portrait isattributed to Isaac Claesz vanSwanenburg (1537-1614). The NPGcommissioned such well-knownauthors as John Banville, TracyChevalier, Alexander McCall Smith,Terry Pratchett and Joanna Trollope towrite character sketches and imaginedbiographies for the unidentified peoplein the 14 exhibited portraits, andcollected these into a book entitledImagined lives: portraits of unknownpeople. It was Joanna Trollope whoimagined Van Nierop’s life (she namedhim Edmund Newton) and who wrote“From a letter from CatherineHartshorn, A.D. 1587, February 2nd”.There is more on www.npg.org.uk,including a podcast of the fictionalletter, and in the book (ISBN978-1855144279 and 978-1855144552).
E. Charles Nelson
28. Charles Darwin and BaronAucapitaine’s study of land snail
survival in sea water
During the development of his ideas onnatural selection, Darwin experimentedto determine if land snails wouldsurvive prolonged exposure to seawater. Although his experiments werelimited, the positive results suggestedthat snails were likely to disperse onfloating debris between oceanic islandsand continents. This was crucial for
15
Darwin, because he was trying todemonstrate that species had divergedfrom common ancestors and dispersedthroughout the world as opposed tobeing the products of multiple creationevents at multiple locations that did notrequire dispersal1.In the first edition of The origin of
species (1859), Darwin included a shortparagraph summarizing his findings.When the fourth edition came out in1866, Darwin had added the following:“Baron Aucapitaine has recently triedsimilar experiments: he placed 100land-shells, belonging to ten species, ina box pierced with holes, and immersedit for a fortnight in the sea. Out of thehundred shells, twenty-sevenrecovered.” Darwin included someadditional details of Aucapitaine’sstudy, but did not give his source ofAucapitaine’s data. Generations ofwriters have quoted Darwin’s paragraphas a support for the potential dispersalof land snails via rafting over theoceans2. But no one seems to havebothered to determine if and whereAucapitaine had published his resultsand how Darwin had obtained them.Because I too have an interest in snaildispersal, I recently took up thechallenge in hopes of finding out moreabout Aucapitaine’s study.No sooner had I done an internet
search than I found out that the subjectof my interest was Baron HenriAucapitaine (1832-1867), a Frenchmilitary officer stationed in NorthAfrica3. Despite his relatively shortcareer and military duties, Aucapitainemanaged to produce severalpublications on mollusks and the nativecultures of North Africa.Finding Aucapitaine’s publication
on snail survival took a bit longer. Afternumerous fruitless searches, I finally hitupon the right combination of
keywords that located, not the actualpaper, but two notices of it published in1864. The first was only athree-sentence summary in theAmerican Journal of Conchology (1: 183)of a paper by Aucapitaine that had beenpublished earlier that year in Revue etmagasin de zoologie, a journal luckilyavailable at the Biodiversity HeritageLibrary4. Skimming over the Revuepaper, I noticed that it was stated to bea republication of a paper that hadcome out also in 1864 in the Memoirs ofthe Academy of Sciences of Turin. In fact,the second notice, in the Journal deconchyliologie (12: 302-304), was atwo-page summary of Aucapitaine’sTurin paper5. I ended my searches at thispoint, because the Revue paper gave allthe details of Aucapitaine’s study.Which of these three publications, the
Revue paper, the Turin original or thesummary of the latter in the Journal, didDarwin use and how had he learnedabout and obtained it? I could not find inthe Darwin Correspondence Project6 anycorrespondence between Darwin andAucapitaine, or Aucapitaine’s namementioned in any letter. Someone mayhave sent one of the three papers toDarwin without mentioning Aucapitaine.
Aydin ÖrstanSection of Mollusks
Carnegie Museum of Natural HistoryPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
1Örstan, A. & Dillon, R. T. 2009.Charles Darwin the malacologist.Mollusc World 20: 4-6.2For example: H.W. Kew (1893), Thedispersal of shells; W.C. Allee & K.P.Schmidt (1951), Ecological AnimalGeography.3http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Aucapitaine.4Aucapitaine, H. 1864. Expériences sur
16
la persistance de la vie dans quelquesmollusques terrestres soumis à l’actiondes eaux marines. Revue et magasin dezoologie, ser. 2, 16: 130-135. Available athttp://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/2744.5Both the American Journal ofConchology and the Journal deconchyliologie are also available at theBiodiversity Heritage Library.6http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk.
29. Centenary of the announcementof “Piltdown Man”: A French
connection involving Pierre Teilhardde Chardin?
“Piltdown Man” was announced as asupposedly new hominid species(Eoanthropus dawsoni) 100 years ago,at Burlington House in Londonon December 18, 1912. The artificialcombination of a human cranium andan ape jaw was not recognised as a hoaxuntil 1955. The exact circumstanceswhereby the perpetrator(s) deludedprofessional scientists at the BritishMuseum (Natural History) andelsewhere are not clear. However, inrecent years I have done archivalresearch at the Natural History Museumin London, and in archives in France(Thackeray, J.F. 2012, February issue ofAntiquity), to investigate the extent towhich Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (aFrench palaeontologist, Jesuit priest andphilosopher) was involved in a“Piltdown joke”. In January 1913 in aJesuit publication, Teilhard referred topalaeontology as a field which deservedto be the subject of jokes and whichdeserved to be suspect. Other evidencepoints to the possibility that Teilhardknew that Piltdown was not a genuinefossil. It is possible that the Piltdownjoke was aimed at Smith Woodward,then Keeper at the British Museum(Natural History). Teilhard writes in
1913 that the famous Frenchpalaeontologist, Marcellin Boule, willnot be “taken in, especially if the findsare English”. Teilhard says thatmammoth bones at Piltdown must havebeen “introduced”. In 1913 Teilhardurges his French colleague Felix Pelletierto “wait for the criticisms that willfollow”, but English palaeontologists(including Smith Woodward and SirArthur Keith) were “taken in”. Teilhardapparently wrote a letter aboutPiltdown, and deposited the letter in abank, with instructions that the lettershould be opened only after his death,but the letter has not been found(Thackeray, 2012). A search forTeilhard’s letter about Piltdown isunderway.
Prof Francis ThackerayDirector
Institute for Human EvolutionUniversity of the Witwatersrand
PO WITSJohannesburg 2050
SOUTH AFRICA
30. A Cautionary Tale
From the mid 1960s, I worked on the,once wonderful, collections andarchives of the Bath Royal Literary andScientific Institution [BRLSI] opened1824 (Newsletter of the GeologicalCurators Group, Vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 88-124,April 1975). I noted “there are othertreasures [here] such as the JenynsLibrary, which needs rescue, as well asthese geological collections”.Working there in 1974, I’d come
across letters from Charles Darwin toLeonard Jenyns, the Bath naturalistwho’d became his lifelong friend. Thesewere long-lost! There had been manyattempts to find them for earlierenquirers, at least after these archiveshad come under Bath City Councilcontrol in 1958 (see Geological Curator 9,
17
no. 4. pp. 246-50, 2010). They hadpreviously been claimed as ‘lost’, or,sometimes, ‘to never received in Bath’. This was despite Jenyns (later
Blomefield - 1800-1893 - see ODNB)’sstatement in 1887 (Chapters of My Life,Bath - copy in Linn. Soc. library, p. 46)that his 1869 donations had includedall his “correspondence [with Darwin],and his letters to me - all preserved -bound up, along with those of otherNaturalists, in four volumes, now in the‘Jenyns Library’ at the BRLSI”. This wasconfirmed by Jerom Murch, whoreported how some of his books werebound up with MS letters from thedonor’s intimate friend, Mr. Darwin(1893, Biographical Sketches of BathCelebrities, London and Bath, p. 383). I found all these letters as soon as I
was allowed into the Newbridge Roadstore, where all BRLSI’s ‘surplus’ librarybooks were put after acquisition by, andincorporation into, Bath City Libraries(which then proceeded to dispose of toomany...). Previous seekers had beenlooking for loose letters, despite Jenyns’and Murch’s clear warnings. As soon asI was let in, I found four boundvolumes, masquerading as printedbooks, with the spine titles; “Lettersfrom Scientific Men”. Two were quarto,and two octavo, with Jenyns’ indices(quarto on 5 MS pages and octavo on 9).I have copies of these, if readers requirefurther information. There were otherJenyns lists of:1. “Correspondence relating to his 1862‘Memoir of Professor Henslow’”,2. “Correspondence in connection withhis 1846 ‘Observations in NaturalHistory’ and its publication” and 3. “Correspondence in connection withpublication of his 1868 ‘Naturalist’sAlmanac’”. On a further visit, August1988, I found loose on the floor of thisstore, another on which Jenyns had
listed all those “works containingAutograph Letters from their Authors”,This recorded books by JohnRichardson, J. Curtis, Edward Forbes,Richard Owen, J. F. Stephens, W. Yarrell,Fred. Walker, Macquart, Denny, J. E,Gray, Edward Charlesworth, De SelysLongchamps, Charles Daubeny, Dalyell,G. C. Babington, Willard, Dr. Martin,Charles Darwin (with in his first editionof the Origin of Species) “Two [more]letters, one at the commencement, theother at the end of the book”, and SirJohn Herschel.“On my way back to Keele that
evening I called in on some friendsinterested in Darwin and the History ofScience [Joan & Victor Eyles at GreatRissington]. When I mentioned theDarwin letters, they seized the phone tocontact (despite it being nearlymidnight) an American friend, then inCambridge working on Darwin [JohnColton Greene (born 1917, author of TheDeath of Adam, 1959]. He was equallyexcited and asked me if I could meet himin Bath during the next week to showhim these letters. As soon as I got backhome, I started wondering how on earthI could afford a second visit to Bath insuch a short time. A little reflectionshowed that I could not! The onlyalternative was to “hitch hike” (AlvisRegister Bulletin, no. 117, p. 2, 1965).The lessons from this are to “live
adventurously”. When I then reachedStroud, I was picked up by IanMacdonald (d. 1987) the ex-Alvis racingdriver whom I had been searching forfor ages, but who had gone to Japan tohelp me fail to find him earlier. Thesecond is to question librarians whenthey claim not to have items one issearching for, and to be persistent,especially if they have unique MSmasquerading in ‘mere books’!
Hugh Torrens
18
New & Recent Publications New &Recent Publications
Alagona, P. S. (ed) (2011) Fifty years ofwildlife in America (special forum).Environmental History 16: 391-455.Avila Pires, Fernando Dias de (2011)Mudanças nas práticas de coleta e estudodos mamíferos a partir do século XVIII[The changes and methods of collectingand studying mammals after the XVIIIthCentury]. Filosofia e História da Biologia 6(2): 211-226.Baas, Pieter & Staay, Adriaan, van der(eds) (2011) Gardens and Society. ClusiusFoundation & National Herbarium ofthe Netherlands. 52pp. ISBN: 978-9071236747. [Clusius Lectures 2011.]Beekman, E. M. (trans & ed) (2011) TheAmbonense Herbal: Georgius EverhardusRumphius. 6 vols. Yale UP & NationalTropical Botanical Garden. ISBN:978-0300153767 (complete set). £65,US$85 per vol. or US$450 complete set.[First English edition of the classic byRumphius (1627-1702) of over 2,000native plants of Ambon Island and itsarchipelagos, with over 800 illustrated.Winner of the 2012 CBHL annualLiterature Award in the technical category.]Bechtel, S. (2012) Mr Hornaday’s war: howa peculiar Victorian zookeeper waged a lonelycrusade for wildlife that changed theworld. Beacon Press. 272 pp. ISBN978-0807006351 (hb) US$ 26.95.[Biography of William T. Hornaday,founder of the US National Zoo and firstdirector of the New York Zoological Park.]Bell, C. J. (ed.) (2012) The HerpetologicalLegacy of Linnaeus. A Celebration ofthe Linnean Tercentenary. The Inter-national Society for the History andBibliography of Herpetology 145pp. ISSN1653-3798 (pb) US$20. [Proceedings of asymposium held on July 14, 2007 inconjunction with the 2007 joint Meetingof Ichthyologists and Herpetologists July11-16 2007, St Louis, Missouri, USA.]
Bellon, R. (2011) Inspiration in theharness of daily labour: Darwin, botany,and the triumph of evolution. Isis 102:393-420.Birkhead, Tim R. & Gallivan, Peter T.(2012) Alfred Newton’s contribution toornithology: a conservative quest forfacts rather than grand theories. Ibis 154:887-905.Bottjer, David J. (2012) Robert Havell, Jr.and creating The Birds of America. Imprint37 (1): 25-39. [The journal Imprint ispublished by the American HistoricalPrint Collector’s Society.]Brataas, A. & Kohlstedt, S. G. (2011)Shared and distinctive missions: theUniversity of Minnesota and its naturalhistory museum. Museum History J. 4 (1):47-72. Bryant, J. A. Irvine, L. M. & Ruffle, E.(2012) Insights into the life and work ofthe Rev. John Lightfoot (1735-1788),with particular reference to his algalherbarium and its conservation. TheLinnean 28 (1): 26-43.Cain, Joe (2010) Julian Huxley, generalbiology and the London Zoo, 1935-42.Notes & Records Royal Soc. London 64:359-378.Cook, W. J. (2012) The correspondenceof Thomas Dale (1700-1750): botany inthe transatlantic republic of letters.Studies Hist. & Phil. Biol. & Biomed.Sciences 43: 232-243. [Work and career ofSamuel Dale’s nephew, member of JohnMartyn’s Botanical Society, whoswitched medical practise in London toSouth Carolina in 1730.]Damkaer, D. M. & Matzke-Karasz, R.(2012) Sebastian Fischer (1806-1871),Bavarian physician-naturalist in Egyptand Russia. Journal of crustacean biology32(2): 327-333.De Bont, R. (2010) Organisms in theirmilieu: Alfred Giard, his pupils and earlyethology, 1870-1930. Isis 101: 1-29.De Bont, R. (2011) Poetry and precision:
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New & Recent Publications
Johannes Thienemann, the birdobservatory on Rossitten and civicornithology, 1900-1930. J. Hist. Biology44: 171-203.Dollinger, P. (ed.) (2012) Gärten für Tiere,Erlebnisse für Menschen - 125 JahreVerband Deutscher Zoodirektoren. J. P.Bachem. 216 pp; ill. ISBN978-3761625552 (hb). €39.95.[Coffee-table volume on the history ofthe world’s oldest zoo association andtheir member zoos.]Ellis, Elizabeth (2010) Rare and Curious:the secret history of Governor Macquarie’scollectors’ chest. Miegunyah Press & StateLibrary of New South Wales. 275pp. illus.maps. ISBN: 978-052285379 (hb) A$80,[Colonial Australia’s governor and hiscabinets of insects and birds.]Endersby, J. (2012) A life more ordinary:the dull but interesting times of JosephDalton Hooker, J. Hist. Biology 44: 611-31.Finnegan, D. A. (2009) Natural HistorySocieties and Civic Culture in VictorianScotland. Pickering and Chatto. 272pp.ISBN: 978-1851966585 (hb) £60, US$99.[Winner of the Frank Watson Book Prizefor Scottish History 2011.]Gladwin, T. (2011) Joseph (1770-1837)and Edward Sabine (1788-1883),naturalists of Tewin. Trans. Hertfordshire.Nat. Hist. Soc. 43: 130-7.Goss, Andrew (2011) The Floracrats:state-sponsored science and the failure of theEnlightenment in Indonesia. Univ. ofWisconsin Press. xvi + 256 pp. illus.ISBN: 978-0299248642 (pb) US$27.Gouyon, J-B. (2011) From Kearton toAttenborough: fashioning thetelenaturist’s identity. History of Science49: 25-60.Gouyon, J-B. (2011) The BBC NaturalHistory Unit: instituting natural historyfilm making in Britain. History of Science49: 425-451.Güttler, N. R. (2011) Scaling the periodeye: Oscar Drude and the cartographical
practise of plant-geography, 1870s-1910s. Science in Context 24: 1-41. Hancock, E. G. et al. (2011) Pinneddown: the role of pins in the evolution ofeighteenth-century museum insectcollections, Museum History J. 4: 29-46.Hasty, W. (2012) Piracy and theproduction of knowledge in the travelsof William Dampier, c. 1679-1688. J. Hist.Geography 37: 40-54.Hawkesworth, D. L. (2012) A belatedletter to Linnaeus – from a mycologist.The Linnean 28 (1):12-16. [Quasi-contemporary criticism of the minisculecoverage of fungi in the Species Plantarumand of the inclusion of lichens in itsaccount of the algae.]Houston, S. & and Nelson, E. C. (2012)Edwin Hollis FZS (1863-1941): somenotes on his early life and activities as anaturalist. Records of Buckinghamshire 52:245-247.Huigan, S., de Jong, J. L. & Kolfin, E.(eds) (2010) The Dutch Trading Companiesas Knowledge Networks. Brill – Inter-sections, vol. 14. ISBN: 978-9004186590(hb) €101, US$140. [Includes contri-butions on Maria Merian, Rumphius,exchange of knowledge at The Cape, andthe contributions of the VOC to SwedishNatural History.]Hodacs, H. (2011) Linnaeus outdoors:the transformative role of studyingnature ‘on the move’ and outside. Brit. J.Hist. Science 44: 183-209. [Study ofjourneys by three naturalists in18th-century Sweden.]Kemp, C. (2012) Floating gold: a natural(and unnatural) history of ambergris.Chicago UP. 187 pp; ill. ISBN:978-0226430362 (hb) £14.50, US$22.50.Kunz, Werner (2012) Do Species Exist?Principles of Taxonomic Classification.Wiley-Blackwell. 245 pp. ISBN:978-3527332076 (hb) £65, US$99.95.Lamaitre, R. (2012) Patsy AnnMcLaughlin; May 27, 1932-April 4, 2011.
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Journal of Crustacean Biology 32: 991-1002.Mabberley, D. J. & Pío Aladrén, M. P. desan (2012) La carta de colores de Haenke dela Expedición Malaspina: un enigma -Haenke’s Malaspina colour-chart: anenigma. Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC.36pp. + facsimile colour chart. ISBN:978-8497441278.MacKenzie, J. M. (2010) Museum andEmpire: natural history, human cultures andcolonial identities.Manchester UP. xv + 286pp. illus. ISBN: 978-0719083679 (pb) £18.Mannouris, C. (2011) Darwin’s ‘belovedbarnacles’: tough lessons in variation.Hist & Phil. Life Sciences 33: 51-70. McClellan, A. (2012) P. T. Barnum, Jumbothe elephant, and the Barnum Museum ofNatural History at Tuft’s University. J.History of Collections 24: 45-62.Miracle, M. E. G. (2011) On whoseauthority? Temminck’s debates onzoological classification and nomenclature:1820-1850. J. Hist. Biology 44: 445-81.Müller-Wille, S. & Charmantier, I. (2012)Natural history and information overload:the case of Linnaeus. Studies Hist. & Phil.Biol. & Biomed. Sciences 43: 4-15. Neville, Richard (2012) Mr JW Lewin:Painter and Naturalist. Univ. of NewSouth Wales Press. 272 pp. ISBN:978-1742233277 $36. [Lewin’s Birds ofNew South Wales (1813), with 170 exquisiteplates was the earliest illustrated bookpublished in Australia. Very rare copiesnow sell for A$500,000. The Londonentomologist Dru Drury principallysponsored his 1798 voyage there.]Olsen, Penny (2010) Upside Down World:early European impressions of Australia’scurious animals. National Library ofAustralia. 258pp. illus. ISBN:078-0642277060 (pb) A$39.95.Pearn, J. (2012) Linnaeus and his“official” animals. The Linnean 28(1):44-49.Peck, Robert McCracken (2012).Natural history: The wilder side of
Edward Lear. Nature 485: 36-38.Pigott, Louis, J. (2010) The Bird Man ofBrisbane: Silvester Diggles and hisornithology of Australia. Boolarong Press.214pp. ISBN: 978-1921155626. A$50. Rashleigh, P. et al.(2011) Collecting theNew, Rare and Curious: letters selectedfrom the correspondence of the Cornishmineralogists Philip Rashleigh, JohnHawkins and William Gregor, 1785-1822.Devon & Cornwall Record Society.246pp. ISBN: 978-0901853523. Ratcliffe, M. J. (2010) L’effet Trembleyour la naissance de la zoologie marine.La Baconnière Arts. 55pp. illus. ISBN:978-2915306491. €19.Porter, D. M. (2012) Why did Wallacewrite to Darwin? The Linnean 28 (1): 17-25.Rebert, Paula (2011) A Civilian Surveyoron the United States-Mexico Boundary:The Case of Arthur Schott. Proceedings ofthe American Philosophical Society 155 (4):433-462.[About the role of civilian mapmakers onthe United States-Mexico boundarysurvey of 1849-1857. Arthur Schott, acivilian surveyor, artist, and naturalist,was one of the most important membersof the U.S. Boundary Commission.]Robeyns, G. (2012) Special wishes formembers of Antwerp Zoo: 65 years ofhistory in pictures (1850-1914). DerZoologische Garten N. F. 81: 14-79. [Earlyhistory of Antwerp Zoo through theperspective of illustrated annualgreeting cards.]Ruijter, Michiel den (2011) “Parks asExhibitions”, in Pieter Bass & Adriaanvan der Staay (eds) Gardens and Society,pp. 31-47. Sanders, Dawn (2011) “Educationalvoices in botanic garden history fromLuca Ghini to Lilian Clarke”, in PieterBass & Adriaan van der Staay (eds)Gardens and Society, pp. 21-29. Serrano, E. (2012) The Spectacle de laNature in eighteenth-century Spain:
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from French households to Spanishworkshops. Annals of Science 69:257-282. [The Abbé Pluche’s 8-volumebestseller of 1732-50 was distinctive inits four Spanish editions in stressing theJesuit contribution to science and theflora and fauna of the Americas.]Stauffer, Fred W., Stauffer, Johann &Dorr, Laurence J. (2012) Bonpland andHumboldt specimens, field notes, andherbaria; new insights from a study ofthe monocotyledons collected inVenezuela. Candollea 67 (1): 75-130. Stevens, S. (2012) Daniel Boulter and his18th Century Museum. The Journal of theFriends Historical Society 62 (3): 92-210. The Australian Heritage Council (2012)Australia’s Fossil Heritage: A Catalogueof Important Australian Fossil Sites.CSIRO Publishing 188 pp. ISBN: 978-0643101777 (pb) £53.50, US$62.95.Vetter, J. (ed) (2011) Lay participation inthe history of scientific observation. Sciencein Context 24: special issue. Includes:•Brenna, B. (143-166) Clergymenabiding in the fields: the making of thenaturalist observer in eighteenth-century Norwegian natural history.
•Hochadel, O. (183-214) Watchingexotic animals next door: ‘scientific’observations at the zoo (ca. 1870-1910).
•Cain, V. (215-238) The art of authority:exhibits, exhibit-makers, and thecontest for scientific status in the
American Museum of Natural History,1920-1940.
•Beckman, J. (239-258) Collectingstandards: teaching botanical skills inSweden, 1850-1950).
Vig, K. (2011) On whose shoulders westand – the pioneering entomologicaldiscoveries of Károly Sajó. Zookeys 157:159–179.Williams, K. (2012) Thomas HenryHuxley: Darwin’s spin-doctor, opport-unistic and ruthless self-publicist?Wellcome History 49 (1): 2-4.Williams, R. B. (2012) Biographicalnotes on the Hull taxidermist-dealerRobert Dunn, his son Joseph and otherpossible family members: newspapergleanings. The Naturalist (YorkshireNaturalists’ Union) 137: 140-144.Wooton, R. (2011) The Hudsontransparencies: a set of remarkable visualaids by a distinguished Victorianmicroscopist, Rep. & Trans. DevonshireAssoc. Adv. Science 143. [Exeter Universityholds 58 large illustrations of Rotifers,designed by a pioneer specialist on those,C. T. Hudson (1828-1903), a Bristolheadmaster, to accompany his lectures.They are now figured and catalogued forthe first time.]Wooton, Roger S. (2012) Walking withGosse: Natural History, Creation andReligious Conflicts Clio Publishing. 215ppISBN: 978-0955698392 (pb) £11.95.
Lawrence J. BaackNatalina BonasseraElsie CalvetGareth EvansAnita HollierStephen HoskinsTony HowardSamuel Kessler Patrick LawtonAnnette Lord
David LowtherScott M MartinJohn MillarBarry Russell Mary Spencer JonesEric PressleyFernando E VegaTimothy WalshHibiki Yanagisawa
SHNH new members 2012 (as of October 2012)
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Asia: Dr L. C. (Kees) Rookmaaker, Australasia: Ms Kathryn Medlock, CentralEurope: Prof. Mag.Christa. Riedl-Dorn, Ireland: Dr Patrick Wyse-Jackson,Gibraltar: Dr Jason Easter, Italy: Dr Carlo Violani, Japan: Professor Takeshi
Watabe, North America: Ms Leslie Overstreet, South Africa: Prof Francis Thackeray, Spain: Dr Margarita Hernández Laille
J. J. Audubon, The Birds of America, perched in a Franklinia alatamaha Plate 185, Bachman's Warbler. Courtesy Academy Library & Archives,
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
