"Sadly, this is the last wing that we will be touring today at the museum, but keep your eyes and mind open because this is the most recent time period leading into the modern methodology of scientific explorations! There is plenty to learn from this period, as well as many influential, scientific leaders that expressed their findings during the times."

 

 

Many scientists during this time made efforts to broaden the understanding of animals from the "New World" and the Old. Pierre Belon noted several anatomical similarities between the human skeleton and that of a birds (Debus 38). Belon published La nature and diuersite des poissons in 1551 that contained many illustrations of his observations of fishes, marine mammals, and birds (Debus 37). His contributions led others to build upon comparative anatomy for various species, as well as explore more unknowns about the animal world.

 

 

Pierre Belon's sketches of human and bird skeletons

from Portraits d'oyseaux, animaux, serpents, Herbs, arres, hommes et femmes d'Arabie and Egypte (1557)

Picture obtained from Wikipedia

 

 

"This is remarkable. The similarities between the physiological and anatomical structures of both the human and the bird are astounding. Belon was definately onto something very important!!"

 

 

Edward Topsell was a famous natural historian that published Historie of Four-Footed Beastes and Historie of Serpents in 1607 and 1608, respectively. These contained again the mythological and observational combination of animals primarily to serve the religous context found in the Bible (Debus 36). However, more and more scientists were digressing from this type of zoology and branching out.

 

 

Other scientists such as Conrad Gesner contributed to the 16th century progression of zoology. Gesner produced a five volume bibliography of his knowledge of plants and animals entitled, History Animalum (Debus 35). In this Gesner uses similar methods of classification as Aristotle by ordering data and observations by fish, insects, birds and so on (Debus 35). Below are some examples of Gesner's detailed account of the bony fishes.

 

 

 

 Gesner's depictions of the fishes (1598)

 

 "As you can see everyone, as the printing press became more prevalent during the 16th century better pictures and drawings became available. The influence of books and publications not only allowed for more scientists to collaborate but also for future generations to have a grasp on a wide variety of science, especially zoology. Now, I would like to introduce Robert Hooke and a few other notable scientists that had a huge impact on science. Let's take a look at the how the microscope changed the viewpoint of animals and plants previously only seen by the naked eye."

 

Robert Hooke was a reknown innovator whom had improved the compound microscope and observed what he called, "little boxes or cells" (Woodruff 449). This would be the birth of what we known understand as cells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Robert Hooke 1665

From: The Micrographia or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses.
The Microscope

 

 

"Hooke's meticulous illustrations and depictions using the microscope gave him fame and even a publication in the Royal Society. He included fold out engravings and plates which easily showed his artistic skills (Jardine 183). Robert Hooke had competition with the new findings of the microscope by none other than Antwone van Leeuwenhoek. Leeuwenhoek would devote his lifetime towards observing new undiscovered areas of biology under the microscope during the 1600s and 1700s (Woodruff 449).

 

 

 "As you can see guys and gals, there was a tremendous progress of zoology from Aristotle to the late 17th century. More time and devotion was set aside for observation which we have already seen during the first wing of the museum tour. But as for now, we are done with this trip through the first half of the history of science. There are many more important aspects of science that occur from this point onward, but we will have to wait until next time to take a stroll through the more recent episodes of Carl Linnaeus and Charles Darwin. Thank you all for attending. I hope you learned lots!

 

 

The changes that occured from the medieval period to the 16th and 17th centuries contributed to more accurate zoology. The mythological assumptions of beasts were replaced with fundamental depictions of animals. With the influene of the printing press, zoology and biology could reach all corners of study.

 

Belon's comparative anatomy would lead to later acknowledgements for evolution by Jean-Baptiste Lamark, Alfred Russel Wallace, and the famous Charles Darwin. These steps during the early modern period of zoology and biology allowed for more reasoning and understanding in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as the Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin.

 

As we can see zoology has transformed from simply Aristotle's observations to distinct branches of science, including marine biology, comparative anatomy, and microbiology. These are just a few of the early modern deviations of biology. Within the next two centuries biology would be broken down to many more distinct fields of study. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Primary Source:

 

Hooke, Robert. Micrographia or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. 1665.

    information: I used the University of Oklahoma's History of Science Collections as my primary source for this episode. The actual prints of Robert Hooke's Micrographia or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses was a perfect source for understanding how zoology has broken into different distinct fields of study through the 16th and 17th century.

 
Secondary Sources:

Debus, Allen. Man and Nature in the Renaissance. Cambridge University Press, 1978.

 

 

Jardine, Lisa. The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: the man who measured London. Harper Collins Publishers: New York, NY 2004.

    information: This book was a bibliography written about the life of Robert Hooke. Many people know him for his contributions to the microscope, but in fact Hooke had many other significant findings in biology and astronomy. I used this book to get an author's viewpoint of Robert Hookes life.

 

Woodruff, Lorande Loss. Foundations of Biology.  Macmillan Company: New York, 1924.

 

    information: Although this book is a little outdated it provided me with a basic understanding and time line to some of the historical theories in biology. It is actually amazing to read through an older publication of biology just to see how much science has progressed in the past 80 years.

Image Bibliography

 

Robert Hooke: Micrographia

University of Oklahoma History of Science Collections

Accessed 20 November 2008.

 

Wikipedia accessed 21 November 2008.