NORMAN – A rare manuscript written by a leading astronomer in Rome at the height of Galileo’s astronomical discoveries recently was acquired by the University of Oklahoma’s History of Science Collections.

The newly acquired manuscript, Tractatus de sphaera, by Oratio Grassi, records Grassi’s lectures in mathematics and astronomy. The Grassi manuscript is one of three works by Grassi to enhance OU’s Galileo collection this year. In two just-acquired printed books, Grassi discussed three comets that appeared in the sky in 1618.

“The Grassi manuscript is an important addition to the OU History of Science Collections, which is already recognized as among the small number of great collections in science in the world,” said OU President David L. Boren.

The Grassi manuscript is one of only a few astronomical manuscripts from the leading Jesuit university preceding the publication and subsequent condemnation of Galileo’s Dialogo (1632). OU holds Galileo’s own copy of the Dialogo, containing his handwritten comments in the margins.

“By any measure, this Grassi manuscript is a significant acquisition for the University of Oklahoma and an important addition to the prestigious Galileo works held by our History of Science Collections,” said Rick Luce, dean of University Libraries. “The penmanship is beautiful,” said Luce, noting that some of the pages have detailed illustrations, all hand-drawn.

The Grassi manuscript discusses Galileo’s discoveries, including imperfections on the surface of the Sun and Moon and the satellites of Jupiter.

These discoveries were first published by Galileo in Sidereus nuncius, printed in Venice in 1610. The OU copy of Sidereus nuncius displays Galileo’s signature on the title page.

“The OU Galileo collection is remarkable,” Luce said. “While many major libraries hold one or two first editions of Galileo, OU holds the entire set of 12 first editions. Neither the Library of Congress nor the British Library can say the same. Moreover, four of OU’s first editions, including the Sidereus nuncius and the Dialogo, contain Galileo’s handwriting. The Grassi manuscript and the two other printed books by Grassi acquired this year are unique additions to an already world-class Galileo collection.”

The acquisition was made possible because of a recent $500,000 endowment from the OU Athletics Department to support exhibits and acquire rare works for the History of Science Collections.

“We are grateful to the Athletics Department for funding the endowment that made it possible for this manuscript to find its way to OU for its permanent home,” Luce said.

Key works from the OU Galileo collection, including the newly acquired Grassi manuscript, are now on display in the lobby of the History of Science Collections on the fifth floor of Bizzell Memorial Library (directions, hours). For accommodations on the basis of disability call 405/325-2741.

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Regiomontanus, Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest (1496), frontispiece.

A magnificent full-page woodcut depicts Ptolemy and Regiomontanus seated beneath an armillary sphere. (Click any image to view a larger version.)

The Almagest of Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaios, one of the greatest astronomers of all time, lived in Alexandria, Egypt, in the middle of the second century A.D. In the Mathematical Syntaxis, Ptolemy synthesized and extended the accomplishments of ancient Greek and Babylonian mathematical astronomy. Written in Greek, Ptolemy’s book was titled Almagest (“The Greatest”) by its Arabic translators.

Regiomontanus, Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest (1496), title page.

The title page announces that the Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest was prepared by “Joannes de Monte regio,” the Renaissance astronomer Regiomontanus.

The Epitome of the Almagest (1496)

An epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest, based upon a Greek manuscript belonging to Cardinal Johannes Bessarion, appeared in 1496. This remarkable book was the first printed edition in any form of Ptolemy’s Almagest, and its only printing in the 15th century. Begun in 1460 by the great Renaissance astronomer Georg Peurbach, at Bessarion’s request, the Epitome was completed by Peurbach’s student Regiomontanus not long after Peurbach’s death in 1461. Regiomontanus hoped to publish the Epitome with his own press in Nuremberg, but his premature death delayed its appearance for 20 years.

Far from merely introducing Ptolemaic astronomy like earlier textbooks, the Epitome was a major contribution to Renaissance astronomy. As a detailed commentary organized on the same plan as the Almagest, it contained new techniques, methods, observations and critical reflections. For example, at the end of Book V, Section 22, Regiomontanus called attention to the astonishing fact that Ptolemy’s lunar theory required the Moon occasionally to appear four times its usual size. This impossible wonder arrested the attention of Copernicus.

In the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Doris Hellman and Noel Swerdlow conclude:

the Epitome served as the fundamental treatise on Ptolemaic astronomy until the time of Kepler and Galileo, and remains the best exposition . . . next to the Almagest itself. Although it runs to about half the length of the Almagest, the Epitome is nevertheless a model of clarity and includes everything essential to a working understanding of mathematical astronomy — and even manages to clarify sections in which Ptolemy omits steps or is somewhat obscure. It has not been superseded even by the excellent modern commentaries on the Almagest, and the mathematical astronomy of the sixteenth century is in places unintelligible without it. The Epitome is the true discovery of ancient mathematical astronomy in the Renaissance because it gave astronomers an understanding of Ptolemy that they had not previously been able to achieve. Copernicus used it constantly, sometimes in preference to the Almagest; and its influence can be seen throughout the De revolutionibus.

Regiomontanus, Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest (1496).

In the 21st century, the Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest is one of three landmark books that appear on any short list of extremely rare and essential works in the history of early modern astronomy.

Three Treasures: For the history of astronomy, the 16th century began in 1496 with the Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest (top), reached its mid-point with Copernicus’ De revolutionibus (middle, 1543), and ended with Kepler’s Mysterium cosmographicum (below, 1596), published exactly 100 years after the Epitome.

Some Editions of Ptolemaic Astronomy held in the Collections

Gerard of Cremona, Theorica planetarum, in Sacrobosco, Sphaera (1478).

Gerard of Cremona’s Theorica planetarum offered a simple introduction to Ptolemaic planetary calculations, and became the major astronomy textbook of the middle ages.

Georg Peurbach, Novae theoricae planetarum (Venice, 1534).

In the 15th century, Peurbach’s Theorica novae planetarum replaced Gerard of Cremona’s Theorica planetarum as the standard introduction to Ptolemaic planetary astronomy. Peurbach’s student Regiomontanus published the first edition of Peurbach’s Theorica novae planetarum in 1472.

Regiomontanus, Kalendarium (Venice, 1476), Table of eclipses.
View entire Kalendarium.

The Kalendarium of Regiomontanus was the earliest printed work to include a date on the first page – an ancestor of the title page. Published in 1476 by Erhard Ratdolt, it predicted the positions of the Sun and Moon for 40 years. Columbus took an earlier German edition on his fourth voyage, and used its prediction of the 1504 lunar eclipse (shown here) to frighten his Jamaican hosts. Regiomontanus wrote a number of other important astronomical works, including a study of trigonometry dedicated to his friend and patron Cardinal Johannes Bessarion, Archbishop of Nicaea.

Nicolas Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543), cosmic section.
View entire De revolutionibus here.

Without the Epitome of 1496, Renaissance astronomy and the Copernican Revolution would have been inconceivable. Copernicus overthrew the Earth-centered Ptolemaic system, placing the Sun at rest in the center of the universe, and setting the Earth in motion around the Sun as a planet.

Ptolemy, Almagest, 1549.

This 1549 edition featured both Greek and Latin texts of Book I, with commentary by Erasmus Reinhold, who strengthened Ptolemy’s arguments against the motion of the Earth (although elsewhere he adopted Copernicus’ mathematical models).

The range of interests displayed by Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) is staggering, even in a century renowned for universal scholarship. Despite failed attempts to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, he was a master of a dozen European and Oriental languages. His forty-odd works include studies of the tower of Babel, ancient Egypt, China, mathematics, music, cosmology, optics, magnetism, and medicine. Both highly praised and an object of ridicule, these works served many seventeenth-century scholars as a ready-reference library on virtually any scientific topic.

A Jesuit at the Collegio Romano, Kircher became curator of the university’s museum which housed natural history objects sent to Rome from missionaries around the world. The lavish illustrations of Kircher’s works made each volume a virtual museum, an iconographic encyclopedia of creation designed to aid the reader’s contemplation and devotion as well as understanding.

Two richly-embellished global sections in the Mundus subterraneus depicted the interlaced systems of air, fire, and water within the Earth. Here’s one of the two:

Executed in an exuberant Baroque style, the dramatic sections manifest Kircher’s global vision in a uniquely memorable way. Yet the sections were not printed at the front of the two folio volumes, nor were they displayed in an unusually prominent position; rather, they are found in the midst of a miscellany of regional marvels known through a combination of classical reports, travel accounts, and Kircher’s own observations during field expeditions to nearby sites in southern Italy. Numerous small-scale sketches throughout Mundus subterraneus illustrate particular surface features and geographical configurations of interest, such as the appearance of hot springs and cold springs in close proximity, or the accounts of the Andes received from missionaries in South America.

Kircher’s global sections are composites of these regional marvels. Both the regional sketches and the global sections suggest the kinds of underground structures one might suppose in order to explain the surface phenomena observed in particular places around the world.

In the Phlegraen Fields (below), Monte Nuovo had formed overnight in 1538, giving vivid demonstration of the power of subterranean fire.

Kircher emphasized investigations on a regional scale, suggesting that every aspect of the geocosm depicted in the sections was manifest in this single specific region of the Earth:

“Having a very earnest desire, a long time, to understand the Miracles of Subterraneous Nature…. I found such a Theater of Nature, displaying herself under wonderful variety of things, as I had with so many desires wished for. [Seeing] what ever thing occurs, in the whole body of the Earth that is wonderfull, rare, unusual, and worthy of Admiration, I found contracted here, as it were, in an Epitomie, by a certain industry of wise and sagacious Nature.”

Kircher included sketches of active volcanos such as Etna, Vesuvius, and Stromboli described on the basis of first-hand observations. During a sea-voyage to Naples in 1638, Kircher witnessed smoke plumes, tidal waves, and the tragic loss of the city of San Eufémia. From the simultaneity of volcanic eruptions, Kircher inferred a network of subterranean communications. A personal account of this experience appears in the “Praefatio” of Mundus subterraneus. Thus, the first double-folio illustration in Mundus subterraneus is not one of the global sections, which are the most dramatic and memorable illustrations, but a huge depiction of Vesuvius included in the same preface:

With Vesuvius still smoldering, Kircher hired a local guide to ascend with him to the top for the sake of first-hand investigation, and dared to have himself lowered into the crater in a harness to take temperature measurements. It is no wonder that Kircher used Vesuvius as his Typus Montis.

Kircher supposed that chambers within the cavernous Earth called geophylacia were created when the dry land was raised above the sea on the third day of creation. Three types of geophylacia imprison air, water, or fire within the Earth; he called these air-houses, water-houses, and fire-houses respectively aerophylacia, hydrophylacia, and pyrophylacia, which are often found in various relations. Another kind of storehouse contains seminal principles responsible for the growth of minerals and earths in passages beneath the ground.

The second global section (below) depicts the subterranean circulation of fire through various fire-houses or pyrophylacia. The Earth is shown as a furnace of activity, pulsing with subterranean drama beneath the surface world of human habitation. Volcanic plumes embroil the borders with a vivid demonstration of the powerful effects of fire. Thick, turbulent smoke overflows the crust of the Earth, which is shown with a greatly exaggerated vertical scale. Fire is “the life of the Macrocosm, as spiritous blood is of the Microcosm.” The largest pyrophylacium at the center of the Earth (A) is hell, in Kircher’s geocentric cosmos the farthest point from heaven and the prison-house of sinners. Purgatory might be a lesser one nearer the surface (B). In the sulfurous environs of the Phlegraen Fields, monks living in a monastery reportedly heard beneath their feet the groans of sufferers in Purgatory. Were pyrophylacia not providentially circumscribed by water, the entire sublunar realm would burn.

The fire-ducts (C) give rise to hot springs and minerals. Volcanos provide air to the geocosmic circulation and, like alchemical spiracles or chimney furnaces, offer an outlet for fumes rising from the fires. The mountains like bones of the Earth provide a secure skeletal structure. Kircher even suggested that the geographical orientation of mountain chains was ordered, in that they tend to run north-south and east-west.

According to Kircher, hydrophylacia lie at the cavernous roots of mountains such as the Alps (below) and the Andes (shown earlier) where they provide the source of springs and rivers.

Many rivers flow in subterranean channels for all or some portion of their course to the sea.

Ocean whirlpools, such as the marvelous Norwegian maelstrom, mark the submarine entrances of passages which siphon water from the sea back to the mountainous hydrophylacia.

Polar views depict the two greatest whirlpools through which water descends into the Earth (note the mountain chains depicted as running east-west in the northern continents). All of these features are represented in the first composite global section shown above, depicting the circulation of water.

Myriad subterranean channels keep the water in constant circulation through the Earth, nourishing the growth of minerals and communicating with surface seas and lakes. Water descends to hydrophylacia near the fiery core, providing needed fuel to sustain the subterranean fires. By means of the pumping of the tides which acts like bellows, water in the channels ascends to reservoirs in high mountains. From these it emerges as rivers and springs and returns to the ocean once again.

Fiery exhalations create the winds that keep the seas in motion. Thus

“Water, Fire; Fire, Water; mutually, as it were, cherish one another; and by a certain unanimous consent, conspire to the Conservation of the Geocosm, or Terrestrial World.”

Prompted by his first-hand observation of volcanic phenomena, interpreted in correlation with travel accounts and literary reports, Kircher’s Theory of the Earth (for so it was regarded by many later writers) was a natural expression of his Jesuit instincts for the integration of new observations within the framework of ancient texts. Kircher’s work shows that Theories of the Earth were not uniformly Cartesian in their cosmology nor simply an outgrowth of the mechanical philosophy. Kircher’s Theory of the Earth was nurtured by his geocentrism because Kircher viewed the Earth as a noble object of study: in defense of Jesuit tradition, the best complement to his enthusiastic tour of the Tychonic heavens in Itinerarivm Exstaticvm was an equally rewarding and more extended sojourn through the subterranean world.

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• This essay is excerpted and adapted from: Kerry V. Magruder, “Theories of the Earth from Descartes to Cuvier: Natural Order and Historical Contingency in a Contested Textual Tradition” (University of Oklahoma dissertation, 2000), pp. 527-538.
• These are just a few of the images in Mundus subterraneus; we’ve just scratched the surface. See Kircher’s complete Mundus Subterraneus (1665) in the Online Galleries.

• Charles Darwin, Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, 1881; F1357

The last work Darwin published is one of his least-known, but his study of mold and earthworms drew upon his broad interests. Far from being small and insignificant creatures, Darwin argued, earthworms turn over the soil in vast quantities, creating a suitable habitat for the growth of plants. Drawing upon some of his early geological work in the production of soils, this work represents a founding exemplar of quantitative ecology.

Like Darwin’s other books, it also contains interesting visual representations — for example, a tower of earthworm casts and diagrams showing the importance of mold in forming soil.

Read more about this book at Wikipedia.

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

Charles Darwin regarded natural selection as a “universal law of nature.” Its comprehensive scope led him to investigate the natural world with a breadth of vision that encompassed both plants and animals. Darwin’s last several books were detailed botanical studies, as the immense variety and complexity of the plant world offered Darwin ideal opportunities to extend his theory of natural selection.

• Insectivorous Plants, 1875; F1218

In a pioneering study of insectivorous plants, Darwin explored the adaptations by which plants are nourished in impoverished soils. He pointed out that the Sundew secretes a digestive fluid similar to an animal’s.

• The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants, 1875; F836

Darwin’s study of the movement of climbing plants, first published in the Linnean Society journal in 1865, appeared in book form in 1875. Darwin experimented with a variety of factors affecting plant growth and the movement of roots, vines and flowers. He demon-strated the importance of light sensitivity, which enabled a plant to move by elongating the stem on the side farthest from the light.

• The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom, 1876; F1249
• The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species, 1877; F1277

Darwin published two books on plant fertilization and the different forms of flowers that appear on the same species. These studies suggested that cross-fertilization produces more vigorous offspring than self-fertilization.

• The Power of Movement in Plants, 1880; F1325

In 1880 Darwin continued his investigation of plant movements. As was his custom, he employed a wide variety of visual diagrams throughout the book. In the image below left, Darwin plotted the motion of a single leaflet — one of nearly a hundred such depictions in this work. In the chart below center, one line shows a change in temperature and the other shows the angular movement of a leaflet. In the illustration below right, the Cassia plant extends its leaves during the day and folds them up at night.

Come see these works and others in the current exhibit, Darwin@theLibrary!

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

• Charles Darwin, Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), F1142.

In 1872, to illustrate continuities between humans and animals, Charles Darwin explored the expression of the emotions. Dogs have an amazing ability to convey emotions.

Cats, also, can be affectionate or savage.

Darwin described a chimpanzee as disappointed and sulky.

Darwin showed that the intricate muscles of the face enable humans and animals to express an astonishing variety of emotions.

For example, the following heliotype (an early form of photography) from a psychiatric hospital in France showed how the expression of emotion could be imitated by applying electrodes to the facial muscles.

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

• Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, and Selection in relation to Sex, 2 vols. (1871), vol. 1, F937.1.; and vol. 2, F937.2.

In 1871 Charles Darwin published a two-volume work which followed up on the brief aside in the Origin that his theory might throw light upon the origin of humans. In the Descent of Man he explored embryological resemblances between humans and other animals.

Darwin also offered sexual selection as an additional form of natural selection to account for pronounced differences between the male and female (sexual dimorphism).

Darwin admitted that the beautiful feather of the peacock gave him a headache. But with sexual selection, one might account for fancy tail feathers, after all, that seemed to be more for show than for function.

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

• Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, 2 vols. (1868), vol. 1, F878.1 and vol. 2, F878.2.

In a two-volume work, Darwin investigated the degree of variation evident in domesticated animals. For example, the Rock pigeon was the parent form of all domesticated pigeons. It had given rise to the pouter pigeon, carrier pigeon, fantail pigeon, African owl pigeon and the short-faced tumbler pigeon.

Rock pigeon

English pouter pigeon

English fantail pigeon

Domestic breeding illustrated Darwin’s argument that the variation present in nature provides ample material upon which natural selection might work.

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

• Darwin, On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects (1862), F800.

After publishing the Origin of Species (1859), Darwin spent the remainder of his life exploring the ramifications of his theory of evolution by descent with modification. Darwin’s next work explored the immense degree of variation present in nature, using orchids as the prime example.

A beautiful gilt inlaid depiction of an orchid adorns the cover.

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

After refining his ideas about species change in the special case of barnacles, in 1859 Charles Darwin published a general account of his theory of descent with modification by means of natural selection. Contemporaries referred to the origin of species as that “mystery of mysteries.” Darwin appreciated the complex relations of any species with its environment, and clarified how it is that some varieties have greater success than others in leaving offspring. Varying conditions of life cause organisms with particular variations to survive — this is natural selection.

• Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), F373.

Three copies of Darwin, Origin of Species (1959), first edition,
in the Darwin@the Library exhibit.

If you have an old copy of the Origin of Species, turn to page 20 and count down to the 11th line. If “speceies” is misspelled, then you have a first edition.

In the first chapter, Darwin demonstrated the vast extent of variation among domesticated species. As a result of human selection in breeding, dogs and pigeons and other animals have undergone remarkable changes.

In chapter 2, Darwin explored the extent of variation of animals under natural conditions, apart from human selection. To explain the concepts of “the struggle for existence” and “natural selection,” in chapters 3 and 4 Darwin elucidated the complex relations between closely related species and their habitats in order to explore how natural conditions might exercise a similar effect as human selection. Darwin argued that the process of species change remained wrapped in obscurity because of the complexity of these relations. Therefore Darwin patiently accumulated accounts of animal relations, elucidating far-reaching connections, with careful attention to detail. One of Darwin’s favorite stories is mentioned on p. 74, where he wrote that

“The number of humble-bees in any district depends in a great degree on the number of field mice, which destroy their combs and nests….”

As it was elsewhere elaborated: The humble bee pollinates the most desirable variety of clover, but because the bee builds its nests on the ground, a certain species of field mouse destroys the humble bee’s nests. The clover is used to make the best quality hay, which is used to feed the best horses of the British cavalry. The British cavalry enforces British power in the colonies. Because cats eat mice, and old ladies keep cats, the continuance of the British empire therefore obviously depends upon a bountiful supply of old ladies!

Darwin’s theory of evolution was expressed most clearly in a foldout diagram which illustrates a pattern of “branching divergence,” as species change by descent with modification from common ancestors. Darwin marshaled evidence from geology and geography showing that species appear, both geographically and in the fossil record, in patterns consistent with their descent by modification from common ancestors.

At the end of the Origin, Darwin closed with some meditative words: “There is grandeur in this view of life….”

Curiously, the very last word of the book is the only place in the entire work where the word evolution appears in any form.

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

After Darwin’s emergence as a popular writer and a leading geologist, he turned to some thoughts that had been nagging him about species change. Darwin would devote the next decade to theorizing about the evolution of species.

• Darwin, Monograph on the Sub-Class Cirripedia: The Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes (1851), F339.1.
• Darwin, Monograph on the Sub-Class Cirripedia: The Balanidae (or Sessile Cirripedes); The Verrucidae, etc. (1854), F339.2.

Darwin began with an eight-year investigation of barnacles. In 1851 and 1854 Darwin published two monographs on barnacles containing page after page of depictions of both living and fossil forms. It may seem strange that after launching his career as a global voyager, Darwin then retreated into his study to spend eight years preoccupied with barnacles! Yet scrupulous study of barnacle variation provided him with an ideal laboratory to forge his ideas about species change.

Barnacles were simply a way of life in these long years for Darwin and his growing family. When Darwin’s young son visited a friend and saw no evidence of dissections in the house, he asked, “Where does your Daddy do his barnacles?”

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

On the heels of the Beagle voyage, the magnificent Zoology of the Beagle drew attention to Charles Darwin as a promising young scientist, while at the same time the travel narrative made him well-known to the public. But Darwin established his reputation as one of the scientific elite with three substantial books on geology.

Coral Reefs, 1842; F271
First came his study of coral reefs in 1842. During the Beagle voyage, Darwin visited many coral reefs. He compiled reliable observations of additional sites through personal correspondence and the published literature.

Coral reefs typically surround a volcanic island in a protective ring, creating a lagoon of quiet water within the reef. Darwin explained coral reefs as the cumulative result of small and gradual changes. He would follow the same methodology in his thinking about the history of life on Earth. At the time, Darwin’s explanation of the gradual origin of coral reefs was hailed as a major advance in geology, and it is still accepted today.

Volcanic Islands, 1844; F272
Next came Darwin’s study of volcanic islands in 1844. He gave pride of place to his description of Ascension Island. He observed volcanic bombs, including one the size of a man’s head.

And he described the Galapagos Archipelago, where his observations later proved fertile for his theory of evolution.

Geological Observations on South America, 1846; F273
In 1846 Darwin published his geology of South America, the result of extensive fieldwork he undertook during the Beagle’s explorations there. Because of the many excursions ashore, Darwin actually spent more time on land than aboard ship during the Beagle’s voyage. To explain the geological features of South America, Darwin again argued for the significance of small and gradual changes. Had Darwin never written another word, he would still be remembered as a leading 
19th-century geologist.

• Darwin, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (1842), F271.
• Darwin, Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands (1844), F272.
• Darwin, Geological Observations on South America (1846), F273.

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

Which of Darwin’s books was the most popular during his own lifetime?

Charles Darwin’s second book was a travel narrative, a lively account of the Beagle voyage originally published in 1839 as the third volume of the Journal of Researches. The Journal was a 4-volume report of the voyage edited by Robert Fitzroy, captain of H.M.S. Beagle.

Darwin’s journal became known in subsequent editions simply as the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. Darwin’s Voyage was an immediate best-seller. More people read this book in the 19th century than any of Darwin’s other works.

Darwin recounted adventures at sea: sailing around Cape Horn, passing by snow-topped mountains and volcanic islands.

And adventures on land: crossing icy bridges in the Andes and traversing treacherous mountain passages. He relayed visions of strange, far-away places and the exotic people who lived there.

Darwin’s travel narrative was widely admired, both in Britain and on the continent, as a description of the scientist as an explorer encountering the exotic and sublime.

The Voyage makes compelling reading, recounting stories about many of the specimens described in the Zoology. For example, the Voyage explains that Darwin caught the vampire bat beautifully colored in the Zoology as it alighted on the back of his horse near Coquimbo, in Chile.

The 1890 edition of the Voyage depicted the Galapagos tortoise, which somehow escaped being described in the Zoology.

It’s no wonder the Voyage of the Beagle has remained in print to this day.

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Examine the Voyage of the Beagle in high resolution at the Online Galleries:

• Darwin, Journal of Researches (1839), F11.
• For an illustrated edition, see: Darwin, Journal of Researches (Voyage of the Beagle, 1890 edition), F64.

More info about Darwin’s first book, the Zoology.

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

In the Zoology, Charles Darwin described the specimens he collected and sent back to England during the Beagle voyage. The Zoology is the rarest of all Darwin’s works, issued in 19 separate parts from 1838 to 1843, with half of its 180 lithographs colored by hand. The OU copy is bound in three volumes; no page or plate is missing.

Although Darwin edited and superintended the work, he was a young man and not well known to the British scientific scene, so he enlisted five elite and well-respected naturalists to collaborate with him.

In Part 1, Richard Owen assisted in describing South American fossil mammals. Detailed engravings include a fold-out actual-size depiction of the skull of the prehistoric Toxodon mammal.

George Waterhouse assisted with living mammal specimens in Part 2. South American foxes, wild cats and aquatic mammals are portrayed alongside various species of field mice and larger rodents.

Part 3 is devoted to birds. For these specimens, Darwin obtained the help of John Gould, the great English ornithologist and artist. This volume is one of Gould’s most famous works of art. Each lithograph was printed in black and white and then painstakingly hand-colored by John Gould and his wife, Elizabeth. The illustrations capture the immense variation found among species of mockingbirds and finches, and provide glimpses of species’ natural habitats based upon Darwin’s notes.

Part 4 is devoted to fish and Part 5 covers reptiles. Lizards from the Galapagos Islands are depicted, along with South American frogs and toads. Surprisingly, there is no description of a Galapagos tortoise.

Had Darwin never written another word, he would still be famous as the supervising author of the Zoology, a magnificent work of color natural history illustration. The Zoology brought Darwin to the attention of scientists everywhere as one of Britain’s up-and-coming young naturalists.

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More info: a previous post about the Zoology.

Examine the Zoology in high resolution at the Online Galleries:

• Darwin, Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, vol. 1 (F8.1), vol. 2 (F8.2), vol. 3 (F8.3) (1838-43).

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf)

The Collections hold manuscripts written before Gutenberg inaugurated the age of printing ca. 1454, but the oldest printed book in the Collections dates from 1467. Works printed up through 1500 in Europe are known as incunabula, which means “from the cradle” of printing (the singular form is incunabulum or incunable). The Collections’ incunabula are listed chronologically below.

1. Hrabanus Maurus, Opus de Universo (Strassburg, 1467). View catalog record.
2. Pietro de Crescenzi, Opus Ruralium Commodorum (Augsburg, 1471). View catalog record.
3. Isidore of Seville, Opvscvlvm de Temporibvs (Rome, 1473). View catalog record. View entire work in the Online Galleries.
4. Aristotle, De animalibus (Venice, 1476). View catalog record. View entire work in the Online Galleries.
5. Johannes Mueller (Regiomontanus), Calendarium (Venice, 1476). View catalog record. View entire work in the Online Galleries.
6. Thomas Aquinas, Expositio Super Libros Posteriorum Aristotelis (Venice, 1477). View catalog record.
7. Joannes de Sacrobosco, Iohannis de Sacrobusto anglici uiri clarissimi Spera Mundi Feliciter Incipit [Gerardi Cremonensis uiri clarissimi Theorica planetaru[m] feliciter incipit…] (Venice:  Franz Renner, 1478). View catalog record. View entire work in the Online Galleries.
8. Bartholomaeus Anglicus, Liber de Proprietatibus Rerum (Lyon, 1480). View catalog record.
9. John Duns Scotus, Scriptum super tertio, Opus Oxoniense, Book 3 (1481). View catalog record.
10. Euclid, Preclarissimus Liber Elementorum… Perspicacissimi in Artem Geometrie (Venice: Ratdolt, 1482). View catalog record.
11. Hyginus, Poeticon Astronomicon (Venice, 1482). View catalog record.
12. Berenger of Landore, Lumen Anime (Strasbourg, 1482). View catalog record.
13. Alfonso X, Tabulae Astronomicae (Venice, 1483). View catalog record.
14. Isidore of Seville, [Liber Primus [-Vicesimus] Etymologiarum de Summo Bono] (Venice, 1483). View catalog record.
15. Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), Naturalis Hystoriae; Liber Trigesimus Sepiimus & ultimus Finit. Regnante Illustris.  (Venice, 1483). View catalog record.
16. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, De Architectura Liber Primus [-Decimus], ed. Joannes Sulpitius Verulanus (Rome, between 1483 and 1490). View catalog record.
17. Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietatibus Rerum (Argentine, 1485). View catalog record.
18. Petrus Comestor, Scholastica Historia… Sacre Scripture Seriem Brevem Nimis et Exposita Exponenti (Argentine, 1485). View catalog record.
19. Hyginus, Poeticon Astronomicon (Venice, 1485). View catalog record.
20. Walter Burley, Expositio in artem veterem Porphyrii et Aristotelis (Venice:  Bernardus Stagninus de Tridino, 1485). View catalog record.
21. Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), Naturalis Historiae (Venice, 1487). View catalog record.
22. Peter Lombard, Sentences, with commentary by Henricus Gorkum (1487). View catalog record.
23. Abu Ma’shar, Flores Astrologiae (Augsberg, 1488). View catalog record.
24. Albertus Magnus, Incipit Liber Phisicorum Sive Auditus Phisici (Venice, 1488). View catalog record.
25. Albertus Magnus, Liber Methaurorum (Venice, 1488; Phisicorum Siue Auditus Phisici). Bound with 4 other works by Albertus Magnus. View catalog record.
26. Joannes de Sacrobosco, Iohannis de Sacro Busto Sphaericum Opusculum.  Iohannis de Monte Regio Disputationes contra Cremonensia deliramenta.  Georgii Purbachii Theoricae novae planetarum (Venice:  Johannes Lucilius Santritter and Hieronymus de Sanctis, 1488). View catalog record. Images in the Online Galleries.
27. Abu Ma’shar, De Magnis Coniunctionibus; bound with Flores Albumasaris, ms (Augsburg, 1489). View catalog record.
28. Abu Ma’shar, Introductorium in Astronomian (Augsburg, 1489). View catalog record.
29. Abu Al-Hasan ‘ali ibn Ahmad Al-Balkhi, Kitab Al-Madkhal fi ‘ilm Al-Nujum ([unknown], 1490). View catalog record.
30. Albertus Magnus, De celo [Et] mundo (Venice, 1490). Bound with Albertus Magnus, Liber Methaurorum (Venice, 1488). View catalog record.
31. Joannes de Sacrobosco, Sphaera Mvndi (Venetiis:  Mandato & expensis … Octauiani Scoti, ciuis Modoetiensis, 1490 quarto Nonas Octobris [4 Oct.], 1490). View catalog record. Images in the Online Galleries.
32. Antonius Andreae, Questiones Antonij Andree Super Duodecim Libros Methaphysice (Venice, 1491). View catalog record.
33. Guido Bonatti, Decem Tractatus Astronomiae (Augsburg, 1491). View catalog record.
34. Hortus Sanitatis (Moguntina, 1491). View catalog record.
35. Plato, Opera, with Marsilio Ficino (Venice, 1491). View catalog record.
36. Aristotle, Copulata Super Libros de Anima Arestotelis cum Textu Iuxta Doctrinam Excelletiss (Cologne, 1492?). View catalog record.
37. Alfonso X, Tabule Astronomice Alfonsi Regis. Augustinus Moravus Olomucensis Johanni Lucilio (Venice, 1492). View catalog record.
38. Caius Julius Solinus, De Memoralibvs Mvndi (Venice, ca. 1493). View catalog record.
39. Albertus Magnus, De Anima Libri Tres. de Intellectu et Intelligibili Libri Duo (Venice, 1494). Bound with Albertus Magnus, Liber Methaurorum (Venice, 1488). View catalog record.
40. Aristotle, Clarissima Singularisque Totius Philosophie Necnon Metaphisice Aristotelis; Magis (Paris, 1494). View catalog record.
41. Albertus Magnus, De Celo [Et] Mundo (Venetiis, 1495). Bound with Albertus Magnus, Liber Methaurorum (Venice, 1488). View catalog record.
42. Albertus Magnus, De Generatione [Et] Corruptione (Venetiis, 1495). Bound with Albertus Magnus, Liber Methaurorum (Venice, 1488). View catalog record.
43. Alexander of Aphrodisias, Opera Graece (Venice:  Aldus Manutius, 1495 – 1498). Bound with Aristotle, Aldine Greek edition (Venice: 1495-1498). View catalog record.
44. Ermolao Barbaro, Castigationes Hermolai, in Plinium Castigatissimae: Quum vix Post Romanas: Caeteris (Cremonae, 1495). View catalog record.
45. Pomponius Mela, Cosmographia Siue de Situ Orbis (Venice, 1495). View catalog record.
46. Petrus Tartaretus, Expositio… Super Textu Logices Aristotelis (Paris, 1495). View catalog record.
47. Aristotle, Opera Graece, Aldine Greek edition (Venice: 1495-1498; 5 vols. bound in 6). Also includes works by Alexander of Aphrodisias, Porphyry, Galen, Philo Judaeus, Theophrastus.
48. Aristotle, Opera Latina (Venice:  Octauiani Scoti, 1496; title in catalog is Metahphysics). View catalog record.
49. Niccolò Leoniceno, Nicolai Leoniceni vincentini in librum de epidemia, qua itali morbum gallicum vocant, ad illustrem virum loanem Fraciscum mirandulensem, Concordiæ comitem præfatio (Venice:  Aldus Manutius, 1497). View catalog record.
50. John Duns Scotus, Scotus nouissime cum emendatissimo codice parisino castigatus (Venice: 18 December, 1497). View catalog record.
51. Dionysius Periegetes, De Situ Orbis (Venice, 1498). View catalog record.
52. Valerius Superchius, Oratio de Laudibus Astronomiae (Venice, 1498). View catalog record.
53. Joannes de Sacrobosco, Bartholomi uespuccij . . .Oratio habita in celebrerrimo Gymnasio Patauino (1484, 1518?). View catalog record.
54. Isidore of Seville, Isidori etymologarum opus: idem de summon bono (Venice 1485). View catalog record.
55. Claudius Ptolemy, Almagest, ed. Regiomontanus (1496). View catalog record.
56. Martin Steinpeiss, Lapidarium omni voluptate refertum (Vienna, between 1495 and 1512).
57. Martianus Capella, Opus Martianus Capella De nuptijs philosphie [et] mercurij libri duo (1499). View catalog record.
58. Holy Roman Empire, Bergwerks-Ordnung: vermehret mit einer zweiten Verzeichnuss sowohi der Artikeln, als deren Inhalts nach Ordung der Anfangs-Buchstaben (15??). View catalog record.

In 1611, Kepler published a little pamphlet as a New Years greeting for some friends. Entitled Strena, seu de Nive Sexangula, it contained a study of the snowflake. Kepler distinguished the way organisms grow from the growth of crystals by accretion, and pioneered geometrical methods for explaining crystal packing. The work stimulated inquiry in mineralogy for the next two centuries. Indeed, as recently as 1998, Thomas Hales provided what is generally regarded as a mathematical proof of one of Kepler’s conjectures about crystal packing (cf. “Kepler’s Conjecture“).

The Strena (1611) is quite rare, and illustrates the depth of the OU Kepler collection which includes first editions of all of his major works. 30 works by Kepler published before 1700 are held in the OU History of Science Collections. We have digitized the Strena and it is available in our online galleries. The Collections also hold an English translation: The Six-Cornered Snowflake, trans. Colin Hardie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966). For a brief discussion of the Strena’s contents, see Cecil J. Schneer, “Kepler’s New Year’s Gift of a Snowflake,” Isis, 51: 1960, 531-545 (available online at JSTOR).

Baxter was curator of the Oxford Botanic Garden. His British Phaenogamous Botany, or Figures and Descriptions of the Genera of British Flowering Plants, was published in 6 volumes between 1834 and 1843. It contains 509 copper-plate engravings, each hand-colored by Baxter’s daughters and daughter-in-law.

Baxter’s work is on display until the end of this week in the History of Science Collections’ exhibit, Treasures of the Collections: Winter Holidays.

According to Wikipedia, holly berries are not edible by humans, but relished by certain birds and other animals. The dense, light-colored wood is used in works of fine craftsmanship, such as cases and chess pieces. In heraldry, holly represents truth. Holly leaves contain caffeine and may be used to make a stimulating and purgative tea.

As you complete this week of final examinations, stop by to see this exhibit if you’re studying in the library and need to take a break. After hours, if you need inspiration, go outside and gaze upon the bright stars of winter. To warm up we recommend, instead of holly tea, a steaming cup of hot chocolate, as advised by an 18th-century Italian physician. And in any case, we wish you every success in your finals, a wonderful winter break, and a very Merry Christmas!

Thanks to the generous and meticulous work of sedimentary geochemist Robert D. Cody, a series of historic texts in geology are being made available as enhanced ePubs for your iPad, iPhone, Nook or other e-reading device.

New to ePub? Want instructions on where to find additional ePub texts or how to load them onto your iPad, iPhone, Nook or other e-reader device? See this general e-book overview page.

Listed in alphabetical order by author last name (right-click to download):

1. D.T. Ansted, Scenery, Science, and Art, being extracts from the Note-books of a Geologist and Mining Engineer (1854). (ePub 6/23/2011).
2. Robert Bakewell, An Introduction to Geology, 2nd ed. (London, 1815). (ePub 9/29/2010).
3. Robert Boyle, An Essay about the Origine & Virtues of Gems (London, 1672). (ePub 8/8/2013).
4. William Buckland, Reliquiae Diluvianae or, Observations on the Organic Remains Contained in Caves, Fissures, and Diluvial Gravel… (London, 1823). (ePub 08/01/2012).
5. Georges Cuvier, A Discouse on the Revolutions of the Surface of the Globe, trans. Robert Kerr (Edinburgh, 1831)
6. Charles Darwin, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (London, 1842). (ePub 11/10/2010).
7. Clarence Dutton, Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon (Washington, 1882). Plates (pdf). Atlas (pdf). (ePub 08/01/2012).
8. Edward Forbes, Travels through the Alps of Savoy (1845). (ePub 12/10/2010).
9. James Hall, Four Contributions in Support of Hutton’s Theory of the Earth (1790, 1798, 1812, 1826). (ePub 10/3/2010).
10. Robert Hooke, Observations on Earthquakes (1705). (ePub 9/19/2011).
11. James Hutton, Theory of the Earth (Edinburgh, 1788). (ePub 9/29/2010).
12. Robert Jameson, System of Mineralogy, v3 [Elements of Geognosy] (Edinburgh, 1808). (ePub 7/10/2012).
13. John Kidd, A Geological Essay on the Imperfect Evidence in Support of a Theory of the Earth (Oxford, 1815). (ePub 7/10/2012).
14. Richard Kirwan
    • Richard Kirwan, Elements of Mineralogy (1784). (ePub 1/21/2011).
    • Richard Kirwan, Geological Essays (London, 1799). (ePub 1/19/2010).
15. Charles Lyell
    Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, 9th ed. (London, 1853; originally published 1830-33). (ePub 9/29/2010).
    • Charles Lyell, Travels in North America (London, 1845), 2 vols. (ePub 3/23/2011).
16. William Maclure, Observations on the Geology of the United States of America (Philadelphia, 1817). (ePub 9/30/2010).
17. Hugh Miller, Old Red Sandstone (4th American edition, 1851). (ePub 4/4/2011).
18. John Mitchell, Two Papers on Earthquakes, with Conjectures Upon Earthquakes (1761). (ePub 1/19/2010).
19. John Murray, A Comparative View of the Huttonian and Neptunian Systems of Geology (Edinburgh, 1802). (ePub 9/29/2010).
20. William Nicol, Henry Sorby, and N. L. Bowen, Five Contributions to Petrography. (ePub 12/30/2010).
21. Rembrandt Peale, An Historical Disquisition on the Mammoth, or, Great American Incognitum (London, 1803). (ePub 8/8/2013).
22. John Playfair, Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (Edinburgh, 1822 reprint of 1802). (ePub 9/29/2010).
23. George Poulett Scrope, Geology and Extinct Volcanos of Central France (London, 1858). (ePub 4/28/2011).
24. William Smith, Strata Identified by Organized Fossils (London, 1816). (ePub 9/30/2010).
25. Nicolaus Steno, Prodromus (1669). (ePub 12/12/2010).
26. Abraham Gotlob Werner, New Theory of the Formation of Veins (1791); trans. Charles Anderson (Edinburgh, 1809). (ePub 11/09/2010).
27. (ePubs file directory)

Coming soon: Cody is currently preparing ePub editions of Agricola’s De re metallica (1556) and Darwin’s study of fossil mammals from the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle.

ePub enhancements
These ePub files are enhanced by Robert Cody. Cody provides a helpful introduction to each author and work. The books also include abundant maps and illustrations, many in color. In some cases, Cody inserts high quality images of plates and maps obtained from the OU History of Science Collections’ online galleries. Cody also embeds fonts to better approximate the small caps of the original papers (and occasionally to accommodate quotations in Greek). He creates hypertext hot links for tables of contents and footnotes. These changes make the books much more accessible and pleasing to use, especially for touch screen e-readers such as the iPad.

Please notify us of errors you encounter as you read these texts. Revised editions will be posted here as corrections are made.

Our heart-felt thanks to Robert Cody for this excellent work that will be of service to many.

It is, indeed, summer. The sun is out and flexing its muscles, luring dedicated followers and addicts outdoors to bask in its ultra-violet rays while opponents find sanctuary in places of shade and air-conditioning. But an all-too-interesting story relating to the history of the sciences comes to mind as the hottest part of the year here approaches, one that begins with what many of us do (or hope to do) during the summer months: travel and experience nature.

It was the year 1494. At the age of 23, a young artist and theorist highly skilled in the practices of painting, engraving, drawing and printing by the name of Albrecht Dürer left his native Nuremberg headed for Venice. Dürer was certainly not on any vacation (it is believed he had fled Germany alone to escape an outbreak of plague), yet he nevertheless made the trek south through the Alps, absorbing the magnificent sights of the European countryside, in turn producing watercolor sketches of places and scenes – images that remain some of the earliest landscape studies in Western art – before finally reaching his Italian destination.

Venice, which was then the epicenter of both printing and the book trade in Italy, seems a perfect match for an artisan such as Dürer. As a teenager, and with the help of his father, Dürer learned the crafts of goldsmithing and drawing. It is speculated that Dürer may also have been under the influence of his godfather, Anton Koberger, a former goldsmith turned printer and publisher most famously known for the Nuremberg Chronicle – a masterpiece amongst incunabula containing over 1,800 woodcut illustrations. In part from his time as an apprentice at the Wohlgemuth’s studio in Nuremberg in 1486 and that as a book illustrator in Basel up until the time he left for Venice, Dürer was exposed to a medium that would allow him to bring together the competing worlds of religion and science.

Albrect Dürer, The Four Horsmen of the Apocalypse, 1498, woodcut.
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, part of a series of fifteen famous woodcuts published in 1498, quickly, and to much delight, captured the attention of virtually all of Europe. While the theme of the Apocalypse woodcut is essentially theological in subject matter, the prominence of movement, stimulated by galloping, muscular horses and the twisted and contorted bodies of their riders and those being trampled offers a dose of humility and realism to the scene. In essence, it is not only a fine example of Dürer’s understanding of both human and non-human anatomy, an area he would continue to develop in throughout the early sixteenth century, but is one of many images by Dürer to be explored in the History of Science Collections.

The History of Science Collections has a number of current and collectible books on this beloved German artist, including material written and drawn by the man himself! Some titles in the Collections are exclusively about the artist while others associate him with other persons, places, and things; regardless, his direct influence on the history of science and the arts come together in one place. Here is a sampling of some primary and secondary resources you will find:

• Alpers, Svetlana. 1983. Art of Describing, The: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
• Braham, Allan. 1965. Dürer. London: Spring Books.
• Dürer, Albrecht, translated and edited by William Martin Conway. 1958. Writings of Albrecht Dürer, The. New York: Philosophical Library.
• Dürer, Albrecht. 1966 (reprint of Nuremberg 1525 edition). Underweysung der Messung mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt in Linien, Ebnen und gantzen Corporen durch Albrecht Durer zusamen gezogen, und zu Nutz alle Kunstliebhabenden mit zu gehorigen Figuren, in Truck gebracht im Jahr M.D.XXV. J. Stocker-Schmid.
• Dürer, Albrecht. 1535. Albertus Durerus Nurembergensis pictor huius aetatis celeberrimus, versus è Germanica lingua in Latinum … Quatuor his suaru[m] Institutionum geometricarum libris … denuo ad scripti exemplaris fidem omnia diligenter recognita, emendatius iam in lucem exeunt. Ex officina Christiani Wecheli.
• Ford, Brian J. 1993. Images of science: A history of scientific illustration. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Frasca-Spada, Marina and Nick Jardine. 2000. Books and the sciences in history. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• Kemp, Martin. 2007. The human animal in western art and science. Chicago: The Univeristy of Chicago Press.
• Kurth, Willi, ed. 1946. The complete woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer. New York: Bonanza Books.
• Mason, Peter. 2009. Before disenchantment: Images of exotic animals and plants in the early modern world. London: Reaktion Books.
• Topsell, Edward. 1658. The history of four-footed beasts and serpents…Collections out of the writings of Conradus Gesner and other authors. London.

Prominent amongst the Collections’ materials on Dürer are images and analysis pertaining to the story of how Dürer, so-to-speak, brought the rhinoceros to the continent of Europe:

Albrect Dürer, Rhinoceros, 1515, woodcut.
Image from Edward Topsell. 1658. The History of Four Footed Beasts,
Serpents, and Insects. London.
(You can also find it in the History of Science Collections image gallery here.)

Rhinos were by no means common to Europe; not many people, aside from those who had traveled and seen a rhino in its native lands had ever known what one looked like. And so on May 20, 1515, the first living rhinoceros to be brought to Europe in 1,200 years was scheduled to arrive in Portugal as a present by the Portuguese King, Manuel I, on behalf of Sultan Muzafar II of the kingdom of Gujarat in western India to Pope Leo X. Unfortunately, the animal, along with the ships crew, perished in a shipwreck. Dürer therefore never saw the animal, but instead used a sketch made by another artist and a letter from Lisbon, which provided a detailed description of the scientific make-up of the rhino, as models for the woodcut image he would eventually produce.

Dürer’s image was naturalistic enough to identify that particular rhino as one of Indian descent (single-horned and possessing folded skin unlike African double-horned, smooth-skinned rhinos), though it did receive some speculation due to the small spiral horn located on the shoulders, which has been referred to as the “Dürer-hornlet.” The image was heavily copied and found its way into a multitude of learning tools including zoological, artistic and scientific texts well into the 18^th century.

Anatomy and the biological sciences are not the only disciplines that Dürer studied and managed to incorporate into his art. For those interested in the field of mathematics, for example, the History of Science Collections are a great place to discover Dürer’s interest in the realm of geometry. His strict knowledge of and approach to the specificity and complexity of angles, dimension, and distance were the focus of many areas of his writing and art.

Albrect Dürer, Man Drawing a Lute, 1523, woodcut.
Image from Dürer, Albrecht, 1535. 
Albertus Durerus Nurembergensis pictor huius aetatis celeberrimus,
versus è Germanica lingua in Latinum ….
Ex officina Christiani Wecheli.
(You can also find it in the History of Science Collections online galleries here.)

In the woodcut titled Man Drawing a Lute, for example, two figures take part in investigating the theory of artistic perspective. The figure on the right examines how light (represented by a string attached to a wall on one end and marked on the edge of a lute on the other end) moves through a wooden frame attached vertically to a long table. The wooden frame is used to model a spectator’s viewscape when looking at an object (in this case a lute) straight on. Through this study, the figures are able to, in turn, produce a relatively accurate drawing of the object, as shown by the image held in the hand of the figure on the left.

Originally produced in 1523 as part of the fourth book of Dürer’s Manual of Measurement (Manual Underweysung der messung, Nuremberg), the woodcut of a Man Drawing a Lute appears again, as regulars to this blog may recall from an earlier post, in a work made and owned by Dürer dating to the year 1535, now proudly housed in the History of Science Collections. The book is a bound with item consisting of two separate books: Albertus Durerus Nurembergensis pictor huius aetatis celeberrimus, versus è Germanica lingua in Latinum … and Alberti Dvreri pictoris et architecti…. A detail of the lute image welcomes every viewer of the Collections blog at the top of its main page.

To explore Albrecht Dürer’s legacy is to shine a light on a number of interelated yet certainly distinct disciplines, namely the arts and sciences. The above description is but a taste of what you will find about Dürer in the History of Science Collections. Find more information on the History of Science Collections here or feel free to contact the office directly at (405)325-2741. While on campus, be sure to use the University Libraries’ online catalog to conduct general and advanced searches to find additional resources on Dürer available online or at a number of locations across the University of Oklahoma including the Fine Arts Library, Architecture Library, Boorstin Collection, Nichols Collection (which holds a first edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle), and Bizzell Library Microforms Area.

Nicholas Wojcik composed this post during a Summer 2010 internship in the OU Masters of Library & Information Studies program. With an undergraduate degree in art history, Nicholas has studied in Europe and Asia as well as OU. He currently works as Microform Technician in the University of Oklahoma Libraries.

In his book Science and the Founding Fathers, I. B. Cohen illustrates the influence of Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, and John Locke on Thomas Jefferson by pointing out that the third President prominently displayed portraits of these three influential thinkers:

“Thomas Jefferson was surely the only president of the United States who ever read Newton’s Principia. He esteemed Isaac Newton as one of the greatest minds the world had produced. In his gallery of immortals in Monticello, he assigned a high place to a set of three portraits: Isaac Newton, mathematician and natural philosopher; Francis Bacon, jurist and codifier of the methods of science; and John Locke, philosopher of ‘common sense’ and author of the influential Two Treatises of Government. He had obtained these portraits from England, having asked the painter John Trumbull to order copies for him. These three portraits were hung in his office while he was secretary of state.” (Cohen, Science and the Founding Fathers, New York: Norton, 1995, p. 97.)

The History of Science Collections holds many works by these authors, including first editions. Seen above: Newton’s Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), 1687; Francis Bacon’s Instauratio magna (The Great Instauration), 1620; and John Locke’s Essay on Human Understanding, 1690.

Isaac Newton

While Principia became an exemplar for mathematical physics in the eyes of Newton’s contemporaries, one of his other works, Opticks, served as a model for experimental science. This first English edition of Opticks is pictured below, alongside Newton’s influential paper on light and colors (published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1671), and one of his many studies of biblical chronology.

Catalog records of Newton’s works in the Collections.

Francis Bacon

Through his writings statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon influenced the practice and organization of science and shaped his contemporaries’ views concerning the goals of scientific inquiry. Among the works by Francis Bacon held in the Collections are multiple editions of Sylva sylvarum and Novum Organum, and his Opera omnia of 1665. Bacon inspired many contemporaries to conduct and promote scientific activity in new ways through the establishment of societies and journals. Pictured below (right) is the first page of the first volume of the Philosophical Transactions.

Catalog records of Bacon’s works in the Collections.

John Locke

The Collections’ holdings of works by John Locke include his Essay on Human Understanding, published in 1690, and the first Latin edition of this important book. Additional works include Some Thoughts Concerning Education, published in 1693, and the third edition of The Works of John Locke, published in 1740. Highlighted below are sections from Locke’s 1690 work in which he argues against innate ideas as the foundation for human knowledge.

Catalog records of Locke’s works in the Collections.

Thomas Jefferson

In his book on science and the founding fathers, I. B. Cohen explores the intriguing question of the influence of the axiomatic structure of Euclid’s geometry on Jefferson’s writing of the Declaration of Independence. The Collections holds many editions of Euclid’s works, including the first Latin edition published in 1482, John Dee’s edition of 1570, and a 1594 Arabic edition based on the work of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. In addition, our holdings include many geometrical works available in the 18th century and present on the list of books from Jefferson’s library.

Jefferson’s interest in natural philosophy and natural history was wide-ranging. A copy of the second English edition of Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia is held by the Collections. This work incorporates Jefferson’s political thinking as well as his views on nature.

Catalog records of Jefferson’s works in the Collections.

Benjamin Franklin

Visitors entering the History of Science Collections are greeted by a portrait of another prominent figure in the Early Republic and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin made his mark not only as a statesman but as a natural philosopher, well-known in his own time for his investigations of electrical phenomena. The Collections holds a number of his works, including the influential New Experiments and Observations on Electricity (third edition, 1754).

The Midwest Junto in the History of Science, an annual meeting which highlights the work of graduate students in the field, was inaugurated in the late 1950s by a group of scholars who took inspiration from Franklin’s Junto. Among that group of Junto creators was Dr. Duane H. D. Roller, who served as Curator of the History of Science Collections from 1954 to 1990. The 53rd and most recent meeting of the Midwest Junto was held in the OU History of Science Collections in May 2010.

Catalog records of Franklin’s works in the Collections.

A Sampling of Works from the Revolutionary Period

Several Methods of Making of Salt Petre, a small pamphlet published by the Continental Congress in 1775, is quite rare.

The History of Science Collections includes over sixty print editions of books published in the year 1776. Some of these are first editions, while others are later editions or translations of the works of well-known authors. Authors found within this group include John Flamsteed, Leonhard Euler, Albrecht von Haller, Antoine Lavoisier, and Carl Linnaeus. The following sampling of images from books published in 1776 provides a tantalizing glimpse into the culture of science in this revolutionary era.

John Evelyn

James Ferguson

Antoine Lavoisier

Lazzaro Spallanzani

William Stukeley

Johann Heinrich Sulzer

Select Secondary Works

• I. Bernard Cohen, Benjamin Franklin’s Science (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990).
• I. Bernard Cohen, Revolution in Science (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984).
• John C. Greene, American Science in the Age of Jefferson (Ames, IA: Iowa State University, 1984).
• Keith Stewart Thomson, Thomas Jefferson and Natural History (Chapel Hill, NC: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2008)