1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910495350803321

Autore

Schwartz Joel S. <1940->

Titolo

Robert Brown and Mungo Park : Travels and Explorations in Natural History for the Royal Society / / by Joel Schwartz

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2021

ISBN

3-030-74859-6

Edizione

[1st ed. 2021.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XVII, 212 p. 39 illus., 32 illus. in color.)

Collana

Memoirs of The New York Botanical Garden, , 2662-2858 ; ; 122

Disciplina

508.092

Soggetti

Bioinformatics

Plant anatomy

Plants - Evolution

Plant ecology

Plant physiology

Plants - Reproduction

Computational and Systems Biology

Plant Anatomy and Morphology

Plant Evolution

Plant Ecology

Plant Physiology

Plant Reproduction

Naturalistes

Expedicions científiques

Llibres electrònics

Gran Bretanya

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Collecting, Observing, and Describing the Natural World -- Scientific Ferment in late Eighteenth Century Edinburgh -- Scientific Exploration During Voyages of Discovery -- ... the plants of Scotland might be equally useful -- Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa -- A good practical Botanist -- So remote a country as New Holland -- The Crew labouring under the



Same disorder -- Mungo Park's Last Journey -- A Tedious and Uncomfortable Passage -- Prodrommus, Florae Novae Hollndiae -- Banks's Librarian -- Taking leave of Sir Joseph Banks -- Pollen Grains of Clarkis pulchella -- Epilogue: The greatest of Banksian botanist-librarians -- Bibliography.

Sommario/riassunto

Explorer-naturalists Robert Brown and Mungo Park played a pivotal role in the development of natural history and exploration in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This work is a fresh examination of the lives and careers of Brown and Park and their impact on natural history and exploration. Brown and Park were part of a group of intrepid naturalists who brought back some of the flora and fauna they encountered, drawings of what they observed, and most importantly, their ideas. The educated public back home was able to gain an understanding of the diversity in nature. This eventually led to the development of new ways of regarding the natural world and the eventual development of a coherent theory of organic evolution. This book considers these naturalists, Brown, Park, and their contemporaries, from the perspective of the Scottish Enlightenment. Brown’s investigations in natural history created a fertile environment for breakthroughs in taxonomy, cytology, and eventually evolution. Brown’s pioneering work in plant taxonomy allowed biologists to look at the animal and plant kingdoms differently. Park’s adventures stimulated significant discoveries in exploration. Brown and Park’s adventures formed a bridge to such journeys as Charles Darwin’s voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, which led to a revolution in biology and full explication of the theory of evolution.