Natural history
Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now usually viewed as several distinct
scientific disciplines. Most definitions include the study of living things ; other definitions extend the topic to include
paleontology,
ecology or
biochemistry, as well as parts of
geology,
astronomy, and
physics and even
meteorology. A person interested in natural history is known as a naturalist.
Encyclopedia
Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now usually viewed as several distinct
scientific disciplines. Most definitions include the study of living things ; other definitions extend the topic to include
paleontology,
ecology or
biochemistry, as well as parts of
geology,
astronomy, and
physics and even
meteorology. A person interested in natural history is known as a
naturalist.
History of natural history
The roots of natural history go back to
Aristotle and other ancient philosophers who analyzed the diversity of the natural world. From the ancient Greeks until the work of
Carolus Linnaeus and other 18th century naturalists, the central concept tying together the various domains of natural history was the
scala naturae or
Great Chain of Being, which arranged minerals, vegetables, animals, and higher beings on a linear scale of increasing "perfection." Natural history was basically static through the Middle Ages, when the work of Aristotle was adapted into Christian philosophy, particularly by
Thomas Aquinas, forming the basis for natural theology. In the
Renaissance, scholars returned to direct observation of plants and animals for natural history, and many began to accumulate large collections of exotic specimens and unusual monsters. The rapid increase in the number of known organisms prompted many attempts at classifying and organizing species into taxonomic groups, culminating in the system of Linnaeus.
In the
18th century and well into the
19th century,
natural history as a term was frequently used to refer to all descriptive aspects of the study of
nature, as opposed to political or ecclesiastical history; it was the counterpart to the analytical study of nature,
natural philosophy. As such, the subject area would include aspects of physics,
astronomy,
archeology, etc.; this broad usage is still used for some institutions including museums and societies. Beginning in Europe, professional disciplines such as physiology,
botany,
zoology,
geology, and later cytology and embryology, formed.
Natural history, formerly the main subject taught by college science professors, was increasingly relegated to an amateur activity, rather than a part of science proper. Particularly in Britain and America, this grew into specialist hobbies such as the study of birds, butterflies and wildflowers; meanwhile, scientists tried to define a unifed discipline of
biology . Still, the traditions of natural history continued to play a part in late 19th- and 20th-century biology, especially
ecology, ethology, and evolutionary biology.
Amateur collectors and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role in building the large natural history collections of the 19th and early-20th centuries, particularly the
Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of Natural History.
Natural history museums
The term "natural history" forms the descriptive part of institution names, such as the
Natural History Museum in
London, the
Humboldt Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, the Grigore Antipa Museum of Natural History in Bucharest, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C., the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in
Pittsburgh, the
Field Museum of Natural History in
Chicago, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in
Seattle, the
Peabody Museum of Natural History in
New Haven, and the
American Museum of Natural History in
New York City, which also publishes a magazine called
Natural History.
Natural history museums, which evolved from
cabinets of curiosities, played an important role in the emergence of professional biological disciplines and research programs. Particularly in the 19th century, scientists began to use their natural history collections as teaching tools for advanced students and the basis for their own morphological research.
For more museums, see
Natural history societies
The term "natural history" alone, or sometimes together with archaeology, forms the name of many national, regional and local natural history societies that maintain records for
birds , mammals,
insects and
plants . They may also have
microscopical and
geological sections.
Examples of these societies in Britain include the British Entomological and Natural History Society founded in 1872,
Birmingham Natural History Society,
Glasgow Natural History Society,
London Natural History Society,
Manchester Microscopical and Natural History Society established in 1880 and the Sorby Natural History Society,
Sheffield, founded in 1918. The growth of natural history societies was also spurred due to the growth of British colonies in tropical regions with numerous new species to be discovered. Many civil servants took an interest in their new surroundings, sending specimens back to museums in Britain.
See also
References
- Kohler, Robert E. Landscapes and Labscapes: Exploring the Lab-Field Border in Biology. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 2002.
- Mayr, Ernst. The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1982.
- Rainger, Ronald; Keith R. Benson; and Jane Maienschein, editors. The American Development of Biology. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 1988.
External links
