CATCHING NATURE IN THE ACT: REAUMUR AND THE PRACTICE OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Book ID/图书代码： 13560014B74779

English Summary/英文概要： Natural history in the eighteenth century was many things to many people—diversion, obsession, medically or economically useful knowledge, spectacle, evidence for God’s providence and wisdom, or even the foundation of all natural knowledge. Because natural history was pursued by such a variety of people around the globe, with practitioners sharing neither methods nor training, it has been characterized as a science of straightforward description, devoted to amassing observations as the raw material for classification and thus fundamentally distinct from experimental physical science. In Catching Nature in the Act, Mary Terrall revises this picture, revealing how eighteenth-century natural historians incorporated various experimental techniques and strategies into their practice.

At the center of Terrall’s study is René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683–1757)—the definitive authority on natural history in the middle decades of the eighteenth century—and his many correspondents, assistants, and collaborators. Through a close examination of Réaumur’s publications, papers, and letters, Terrall reconstructs the working relationships among these naturalists and shows how observing, collecting, and experimenting fit into their daily lives. Essential reading for historians of science and early modern Europe, Catching Nature in the Act defines and excavates a dynamic field of francophone natural history that has been inadequately mined and understood to date.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 十八世紀的自然史充滿不同的事件及人物——分岐、對科學的執著、醫學上或經濟上的實用知識產生、上帝旨意與智慧的證據，甚至包含所有自然知識的基礎。形形色色的人們追求自然史，當時沒有實踐者分享他們的方法與訓練，因此自然史被認為是直述的科學，獻身於收集觀察資料，來作為分類學的第一手資料，這也將自然史與實驗性的自然科學區分開來。

《記錄自然》中，瑪莉．泰瑞爾梳理了自然史與實驗自然科學的分隔過程，揭開十八世紀的自然歷史學家如何混合不同的實驗手法與策略完成他們的實踐。

泰瑞爾的研究重點為瑞尼•瑞歐莫(Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur，1683-1757)——十八世紀中葉自然史的權威——和他的特派員、助理及合作夥伴。透過仔細研究瑞歐莫的出版作品、論文及書信，泰瑞爾重構了這些自然學家的工作關係，展現他們如何將觀察、收集和實驗融入他們的日常生活。這本書是關於科學及早期現代歐洲歷史家的重要著作，《記錄自然》定義且挖掘至今仍未被充分了解的自然史領域。(Ramona)

Awards/获奖情况：Eminently readable. . . . Mary Terrall strikes a fine balance between description and explanation, enriching compelling analyses with fascinating anecdotes. (Times Literary Supplement)

“In this beautifully crafted study of francophone natural history in the Enlightenment, Terrall draws back the curtain on the intertwined lives and practices of the naturalists, much as they drew the curtain on the intimate lives of the insects, birds, and other animals they observed so obsessively. She ingeniously exploits every scrap of evidence to show us how science was conducted in field and foyer, with magnifying glass and sketchbook, in domestic circles and in endless exchanges of letters and specimens. The book is packed with examples of the exquisitely detailed observations at which the naturalists excelled, both in word and image. But Terrall also illuminates the grander themes of Enlightenment science, provocatively blurring the boundaries between observation and experiment, home and academy, natural philosophy and natural history.” (Lorraine Daston, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science)

“Catching Nature in the Act offers a fascinating and compelling account of what it meant to practice natural history in the eighteenth century. Réaumur was one of the most disciplined and tireless advocates of the spirit of observation in the age of the French Enlightenment, and this vividly rendered study brings to life the world of this important mathematician turned naturalist, whose contributions help to explain why the eighteenth century was the age in which natural history became a science for society.” (Paula Findlen, Stanford University)

“In this wonderful book, Terrall captures the skill, invention, and obsessive passion of the eighteenth-century naturalists, uncovering their world with the same attention that they used in exploring the unexpected corners of nature. The result is a new picture of the boundaries of knowledge in the Enlightenment and a fresh appreciation of the challenges of close observation in science.” (James A . Secord, University of Cambridge)

“In this insightful study of the French naturalist René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur and his circle, Terrall restores natural history to its proper place in the history of early eighteenth-century science. For Réaumur and his collaborators, natural history was not opposed to physics; rather, both were inspired by the same problem-solving spirit. Terrall offers an exemplary reconstruction of the techniques that naturalists devised to carefully observe insects, polyps, chickens, and other forms of animal life, and shows us how those observations, in turn, helped address big questions about generation, instinct, and the nature of life.” (Brian W. Ogilvie, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

About the Author/作者介绍： 瑪莉．泰瑞爾MARY TERRALL 加州大學洛杉磯分校歷史教授，著有《曾將世界變平坦的人：皮埃爾•莫佩爾蒂與啟蒙時代的科學》(The Man Who Flattened the Earth: Maupertuis and the Sciences in the Enlightenment)，現居加州阿爾特蒂納。

Mary Terrall is professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of The Man Who Flattened the Earth: Maupertuis and the Sciences in the Enlightenment, also published by the University of Chicago Press. She lives in Altadena, CA.

Format:HARDCOVER

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

原文第一章内容：暂无

手稿：暂无

大纲：暂无