Natural history - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Natural_history

Natural history
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving
organisms including animals, fungi and plants in their
environment; leaning more towards observational than
experimental methods of study. A person who studies
natural history is called a naturalist or natural
historian.

Natural history encompasses scientific research but is not

limited to it.[1] It involves the systematic study of any
category of natural objects or organisms.[2] So while it
dates from studies in the ancient Greco-Roman world and
the mediaeval Arabic world, through to European
Renaissance naturalists working in near isolation, today's
natural history is a cross discipline umbrella of many
specialty sciences; e.g., geobiology has a strong multi-
disciplinary nature.

Contents
Definitions
Before 1900
Since 1900
History
Ancient times Tables of natural history, from Ephraim
Medieval Chambers's 1728 Cyclopaedia
Birth of scientific biology
Museums
Societies
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Definitions

Before 1900
The meaning of the English term "natural history" (a calque of the Latin historia naturalis) has narrowed
progressively with time; while, by contrast, the meaning of the related term "nature" has widened (see also History
below).

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In antiquity, "natural history" covered essentially anything connected with nature, or which used materials drawn
from nature, such as Pliny the Elder's encyclopedia of this title, published circa 77 to 79 AD, which covers
astronomy, geography, humans and their technology, medicine, and superstition, as well as animals and plants.

Medieval European academics considered knowledge to have two main divisions: the humanities (primarily what is
now known as classics) and divinity, with science studied largely through texts rather than observation or
experiment. The study of nature revived in the Renaissance, and quickly became a third branch of academic
knowledge, itself divided into descriptive natural history and natural philosophy, the analytical study of nature. In
modern terms, natural philosophy roughly corresponded to modern physics and chemistry, while natural history
included the biological and geological sciences. The two were strongly associated. During the heyday of the
gentleman scientists, many people contributed to both fields, and early papers in both were commonly read at
professional science society meetings such as the Royal Society and the French Academy of Sciences – both founded
during the seventeenth century.

Natural history had been encouraged by practical motives, such as Linnaeus' aspiration to improve the economic
condition of Sweden.[3] Similarly, the Industrial Revolution prompted the development of geology to help find
useful mineral deposits.[4]

Since 1900
Modern definitions of natural history come from a variety of fields and sources, and many of the modern definitions
emphasize a particular aspect of the field, creating a plurality of definitions with a number of common themes
among them. For example, while natural history is most often defined as a type of observation and a subject of
study, it can also be defined as a body of knowledge, and as a craft or a practice, in which the emphasis is placed
more on the observer than on the observed.[5]

Definitions from biologists often focus on the scientific study of

individual organisms in their environment, as seen in this definition by
Marston Bates: "Natural history is the study of animals and Plants – of
organisms. ... I like to think, then, of natural history as the study of life
at the level of the individual – of what plants and animals do, how they
react to each other and their environment, how they are organized into
larger groupings like populations and communities"[6] and this more
recent definition by D.S. Wilcove and T. Eisner: "The close observation
A natural history collection in a
of organisms—their origins, their evolution, their behavior, and their
French public secondary school
relationships with other species".[7]

This focus on organisms in their environment is also echoed by H.W.

Greene and J.B. Losos: "Natural history focuses on where organisms are and what they do in their environment,
including interactions with other organisms. It encompasses changes in internal states insofar as they pertain to
what organisms do".[8]

Some definitions go further, focusing on direct observation of organisms in their environment, both past and
present, such as this one by G.A. Bartholomew: "A student of natural history, or a naturalist, studies the world by
observing plants and animals directly. Because organisms are functionally inseparable from the environment in
which they live and because their structure and function cannot be adequately interpreted without knowing some of
their evolutionary history, the study of natural history embraces the study of fossils as well as physiographic and
other aspects of the physical environment".[9]

A common thread in many definitions of natural history is the inclusion of a descriptive component, as seen in a

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recent definition by H.W. Greene: "Descriptive ecology and ethology".[10] Several authors have argued for a more
expansive view of natural history, including S. Herman, who defines the field as "the scientific study of plants and
animals in their natural environments. It is concerned with levels of organization from the individual organism to
the ecosystem, and stresses identification, life history, distribution, abundance, and inter-relationships.

It often and appropriately includes an esthetic component",[11] and T. Fleischner, who defines the field even more
broadly, as "A practice of intentional, focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided
by honesty and accuracy".[12] These definitions explicitly include the arts in the field of natural history, and are
aligned with the broad definition outlined by B. Lopez, who defines the field as the "Patient interrogation of a
landscape" while referring to the natural history knowledge of the Eskimo (Inuit).[13]

A slightly different framework for natural history, covering a similar range of themes, is also implied in the scope of
work encompassed by many leading natural history museums, which often include elements of anthropology,
geology, paleontology and astronomy along with botany and zoology,[14][15] or include both cultural and natural
components of the world.[16]

The plurality of definitions for this field has been recognized as both a weakness and a strength, and a range of
definitions have recently been offered by practitioners in a recent collection of views on natural history.[17]

History

Ancient times
Natural history begins with Aristotle and other ancient philosophers who
analyzed the diversity of the natural world. Natural history was understood by
Pliny the Elder to cover anything that could be found in the world, including
living things, geology, astronomy, technology, art and humanity.[18]

De Materia Medica was written between 50 and 70 AD by Pedanius Dioscorides,

a Roman physician of Greek origin. It was widely read for more than 1,500 years
until supplanted in the Renaissance, making it one of the longest-lasting of all
natural history books.

From the ancient Greeks until the work of Carl Linnaeus and other 18th century
naturalists, a major concept of natural history was the scala naturae or Great Blackberry from the 6th
Chain of Being, an arrangement of minerals, vegetables, more primitive forms of century Vienna Dioscurides
animals, and more complex life forms on a linear scale of supposedly increasing manuscript
perfection, culminating in our species.[19]

Medieval
Natural history was basically static through the Middle Ages in Europe – although in the Arabic and Oriental world
it proceeded at a much brisker pace. From the thirteenth century, the work of Aristotle was adapted rather rigidly
into Christian philosophy, particularly by Thomas Aquinas, forming the basis for natural theology. During the
Renaissance, scholars (herbalists and humanists, particularly) returned to direct observation of plants and animals
for natural history, and many began to accumulate large collections of exotic specimens and unusual monsters.
Leonhart Fuchs was one of the three founding fathers of botany, along with Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock.
Other important contributors to the field were Valerius Cordus, Konrad Gesner (Historiae animalium), Frederik
Ruysch, and Gaspard Bauhin.[20] The rapid increase in the number of known organisms prompted many attempts

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at classifying and organizing species into taxonomic groups, culminating in the system of the Swedish naturalist
Carl Linnaeus.[20]

Birth of scientific biology

A significant contribution to English natural history was made by parson-
naturalists such as Gilbert White, William Kirby, John George Wood, and John
Ray, who wrote about plants, animals, and other aspects of nature. Many of
these men wrote about nature to make the natural theology argument for the
existence or goodness of God.[21]

In modern Europe, professional disciplines such as botany, geology, mycology,

palaeontology, physiology and zoology were formed. Natural history, formerly
the main subject taught by college science professors, was increasingly scorned
by scientists of a more specialized manner and relegated to an "amateur"
activity, rather than a part of science proper. In Victorian Scotland it was
believed that the study of natural history contributed to good mental health.[22]
Particularly in Britain and the United States, this grew into specialist hobbies
Georges Buffon is best
such as the study of birds, butterflies, seashells (malacology/conchology), beetles
remembered for his Histoire
and wildflowers; meanwhile, scientists tried to define a unified discipline of
naturelle, a 44 volume
biology (though with only partial success, at least until the modern evolutionary encyclopedia describing
synthesis). Still, the traditions of natural history continue to play a part in the quadrupeds, birds, minerals
study of biology, especially ecology (the study of natural systems involving living and some science and
organisms and the inorganic components of the Earth's biosphere that support technology. Reptiles and
them), ethology (the scientific study of animal behavior), and evolutionary fish were covered in
supplements by Bernard
biology (the study of the relationships between life-forms over very long periods
Germain de Lacépède.
of time), and re-emerges today as integrative organismal biology.

Amateur collectors and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role

in building the world's large natural history collections, such as the Natural History Museum, London, and the
National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.

Three of the greatest English naturalists of the nineteenth century, Henry Walter Bates, Charles Darwin, and Alfred
Russel Wallace—who all knew each other—each made natural history travels that took years, collected thousands of
specimens, many of them new to science, and by their writings both advanced knowledge of "remote" parts of the
world—the Amazon basin, the Galápagos Islands, and the Malay archipelago, among others—and in so doing helped
to transform biology from a descriptive to a theory based science.

The understanding of "Nature" as "an organism and not as a mechanism" can be traced to the writings of Alexander
von Humboldt (Prussia, 1769–1859). Humboldt's copious writings and research were seminal influences for
Charles Darwin, Simón Bolívar, Henry David Thoreau, Ernst Haeckel, and John Muir.[23]

Museums
Natural history museums, which evolved from cabinets of curiosities, played an important role in the emergence of
professional biological disciplines and research programs. Particularly back 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.

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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 animals (including
birds (ornithology), insects (entomology) and mammals (mammalogy)),
fungi (mycology), plants (botany) and other organisms. They may also
have geological and microscopical sections.

Examples of these societies in Britain include the Natural History

Society of Northumbria founded in 1829, London Natural History The monument of Jan Czekanowski,
Society (1858), Birmingham Natural History Society (1859), British a president of Polish Copernicus
Entomological and Natural History Society founded in 1872, Glasgow Society of Naturalists (1923–1924),
in Szczecin, Poland
Natural History Society, Manchester Microscopical and Natural History
Society established in 1880, Whitby Naturalists' Club founded in
1913,[24] Scarborough Field Naturalists' Society and the Sorby Natural History Society, Sheffield, founded in
1918.[25] 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: Indian natural history)

Societies in other countries include the American Society of Naturalists and Polish Copernicus Society of
Naturalists.

See also
Evolutionary history of life Nature timeline
History of evolutionary thought Nature writing
Naturalism (philosophy) Russian naturalists
Nature documentary Terra: The Nature of Our World (video podcast)
Nature study Timeline of natural history

References
1. With natural history articles more often published today in science magazines than in academic journals.
(Natural History WordNet Search, princeton.edu (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu
/perl/webwn?s=natural+history).
2. Brown, Lesley (1993), The New shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles (https://archive.org
/details/newshorteroxford00lesl), Oxford [Eng.]: Clarendon, ISBN 0-19-861271-0
3. Koerner, Lisbet (1999). Linnaeus: Nature and Nation (https://archive.org/details/linnaeusnaturena00koer_0).
Harvard: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-09745-2.
4. Barry Barnes and Steven Shapin, "Natural order: historical studies of scientific culture", Sage, 1979.
5. Thomas Lowe Fleischner, The Way of Natural History, Trinity University Press, 2011.
6. Marston Bates, The nature of natural history, Scribners, 1954.
7. D. S Wilcove and T. Eisner, "The impending extinction of natural history," Chronicle of Higher Education 15
(2000): B24
8. H. W. Greene and J. B. Losos, "Systematics, Natural-History, and Conservation – Field Biologists Must Fight a
Public-Image Problem," Bioscience 38 (1988): 458–462
9. G. A. Bartholomew, "The Role of Natural History in Contemporary Biology", Bioscience 36 (1986): 324–329
10. H.W. Greene, "Organisms in nature as a central focus for biology", Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20
(2005):23–27

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11. S. G Herman, "Wildlife biology and natural history: time for a reunion", The Journal of wildlife management 66,
no. 4 (2002): 933–946
12. T. L. Fleischner, "Natural history and the spiral of offering", Wild Earth 11, no. 3/4 (2002): 10–13
13. Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams, Vintage, 1986.
14. American Museum of Natural History, Mission Statement (http://www.amnh.org/about/) Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20110604145807/http://www.amnh.org/about/) 2011-06-04 at the Wayback
Machine
15. Field Museum, Mission Statement (http://fieldmuseum.org/about/mission) Archived (https://web.archive.org
/web/20120103185243/http://fieldmuseum.org/about/mission) 2012-01-03 at the Wayback Machine
16. The Natural History Museum, Mission Statement (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/index.html)
17. An Accepted Way of Viewing Art (http://declinetorebirth.org/conversations/an-accepted-way-of-viewing-art)
18. Pliny the Elder (2004). Natural History: A Selection. Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-044413-1.
19. Arthur O. Lovejoy (1964) [1936], The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea
(https://books.google.com/books?id=5u3HZjTpkTgC), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,
ISBN 0-674-36153-9
20. "Natural History Timeline (http://www.historyofscience.com/G2I/timeline/index.php?category=Natural+History)".
HistoryofScience.com.
21. Patrick Armstrong (2000). The English Parson-naturalist: A Companionship Between Science and Religion
(https://books.google.com/books?id=hB0hEc4CN3wC). Gracewing Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85244-516-7.
Retrieved 31 March 2013.
22. Finnegan, Diarmid A. (2008), " 'An aid to mental health': natural history, alienists and therapeutics in Victorian
Scotland", Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 39 (3): 326–337,
doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2008.06.006 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.shpsc.2008.06.006), PMID 18761284
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18761284)
23. Andrea Wulf (2015),The Invention of Nature, Knopf
24. "Whitby Naturalists' Club" (http://www.whitbynaturalists.co.uk). whitbynaturalists.co.uk. Retrieved January 23,
2018.
25. Mabbett, Andy (20 November 2010). "Older Organisations" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130523040849/http:
//www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/club/older). West Midland Bird Club. Archived from the original
(http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/club/older) on 23 May 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2015.

Further reading
Allen, David Elliston (1994), The Naturalist in Britain: a social history, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
p. 270, ISBN 0-691-03632-2
Liu, Huajie (2012), Living as a Naturalist, Beijing: Peking University Press, p. 363, ISBN 978-7-301-19788-2
Peter Anstey (2011), Two Forms of Natural History (http://blogs.otago.ac.nz/emxphi/2011/01/two-forms-of-
natural-history/), (http://blogs.otago.ac.nz/emxphi/)Early Modern Experimental Philosophy
(http://blogs.otago.ac.nz/emxphi/).
Atran, Scott (1990), Cognitive Foundations of Natural History: Towards an Anthropology of Science,
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 376, ISBN 978-0-521-43871-1
Farber, Paul Lawrence (2000), Finding Order in Nature: The Naturalist Tradition from Linnaeus to E. O. Wilson.
Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.
Kohler, Robert E. (2002), Landscapes and Labscapes: Exploring the Lab-Field Border in Biology. University of
Chicago Press: Chicago.
Mayr, Ernst. (1982), The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Rainger, Ronald; Keith R. Benson; and Jane Maienschein (eds) (1988), The American Development of Biology.
University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia.

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External links
A History of the Ecological Sciences by Frank N. Egerton (http://esapubs.org/bulletin/current
/history_links_list.htm)

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