Reading the Shape of Nature: Comparative Zoology at the Agassiz Museum

by Mary P. Winsor

Overview

Reading the Shape of Nature vividly recounts the turbulent early history of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard and the contrasting careers of its founder Louis Agassiz and his son Alexander. Through the story of this institution and the individuals who formed it, Mary P. Winsor explores the conflicting forces that shaped systematics in the second half of the nineteenth century. Debates over the philosophical foundations of classification, details of taxonomic research, the young institution's financial struggles, and the personalities of the men most deeply involved are all brought to life.

In 1859, Louis Agassiz established the Museum of Comparative Zoology to house research on the ideal types that he believed were embodied in all living forms. Agassiz's vision arose from his insistence that the order inherent in the diversity of life reflected divine creation, not organic evolution. But the mortar of the new museum had scarcely dried when Darwin's Origin was published. By Louis Agassiz's death in 1873, even his former students, including his son Alexander, had defected to the evolutionist camp. Alexander, a self-made millionaire, succeeded his father as director and introduced a significantly different agenda for the museum.

To trace Louis and Alexander's arguments and the style of science they established at the museum, Winsor uses many fascinating examples that even zoologists may find unfamiliar. The locus of all this activity, the museum building itself, tells its own story through a wonderful series of archival photographs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226902159
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	11/15/1991
Series:	Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series
Edition description:	1
Pages:	342
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Mary P. Winsor is associate professor at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Victoria College, University of Toronto. She is the author of Starfish, Jellyfish, and the Order of Life: Issues in Nineteenth-Century Science.

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. "In the Prime of His Admirable Manhood"
2. "I Have Been Disappointed in My Collaborators"
3. "Our Work Must Be Done with Much More Precision"
4. "An Object Worthy of a Life's Devotion"
5. "The Many Plans Started by My Father"
6. "Shall We Say 'Ignorabimus,' or Chase a Phantom?"
7. "The Slender Thread Is Practically Severed"
8. "Results Unattainable by Museum Study Alone"
9. "Collections Never of Use to Anyone"
10. "Dependent on the Personal Feelings of the Authors"
11. "I Made Up My Mind That Very Day to Be Director"
Concluding Remarks
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Recounts the early history of the museum of comparative zoology at Harvard, focusing on the rift between the founder and his son and heir over Darwin's theories, which were published just after the museum was founded. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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