Explanation, teleology, and analogy in natural history and comparative anatomy around 1800: Kant and Cuvier.

This paper investigates conceptions of explanation, teleology, and analogy in the works of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Georges Cuvier (1769-1832). Richards (2000, 2002) and Zammito (2006, 2012, 2018) have argued that Kant's philosophy provided an obstacle for the project of establishing biology as a proper science around 1800. By contrast, Russell (1916), Outram (1986), and Huneman (2006, 2008) have argued, similar to suggestions from Lenoir (1989), that Kant's philosophy influenced the influential naturalist Georges Cuvier. In this article, I wish to expand on and further the work of Russell, Outram, and Huneman by adopting a novel perspective on Cuvier and considering (a) the similar conceptions of proper science and explanation of Kant and Cuvier, and (b) the similar conceptions of the role of teleology and analogy in the works of Kant and Cuvier. The similarities between Kant and Cuvier show, contrary to the interpretation of Richards and Zammito, that some of Kant's philosophical ideas, whether they derived from him or not, were fruitfully applied by some life scientists who wished to transform life sciences into proper sciences around 1800. However, I also show that Cuvier, in contrast to Kant, had a workable strategy for transforming the life sciences into proper sciences, and that he departed from Kant's philosophy of science in crucial respects.

Arctos: Community-driven innovations for managing natural and cultural history collections.

More than tools for managing physical and digital objects, museum collection management systems (CMS) serve as platforms for structuring, integrating, and making accessible the rich data embodied by natural history collections. Here we describe Arctos, a scalable community solution for managing and publishing global biological, geological, and cultural collections data for research and education. Specific goals are to: (1) Describe the core features and implementation of Arctos for a broad audience with respect to the biodiversity informatics principles that enable high quality research; (2) Highlight the unique aspects of Arctos; (3) Illustrate Arctos as a model for supporting and enhancing the Digital Extended Specimen concept; and (4) Emphasize the role of the Arctos community for improving data discovery and enabling cross-disciplinary, integrative studies within a sustainable governance model. In addition to detailing Arctos as both a community of museum professionals and a collection database platform, we discuss how Arctos achieves its richly annotated data by creating a web of knowledge with deep connections between catalog records and derived or associated data. We also highlight the value of Arctos as an educational resource. Finally, we present the financial model of fiscal sponsorship by a nonprofit organization, implemented in 2022, to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of Arctos.

[Acupuncture theory in Huangdi Neijing and launching the natural history of body].

Chinese traditional medicine is long in the natural history, which focuses on herbal medicine, but has less discussion on acupuncture. On the basis of exploring the body knowledge in Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor 's Inner Canon) from the perspective of the natural history, especially through the investigation of the evolution of acupoint knowledge, the route of the natural history of body in Huangdi Neijing have been detected in the aspects of observation, record, nomination and classification. In Huangdi Neijing, the natural history of body is characterized by the object annotation, the interaction between the nature and things, and the practicability. Launching the natural history of body is of great significance to understanding the generation of classical body knowledge and constructing acupuncture theory.

[What Charles Darwin owed to Joseph Banks]. / Ce que Charles Darwin doit à Joseph Banks.

History has remembered Joseph Banks as the explorer-botanist of the first voyage of James Cook. Yet, shortly after his return, he got elected president of the Royal Society and, for over 40 years, he then played in Great Britain an eminent role in reorganizing natural sciences and advocating an "economic botany". He actively intervened in acclimatization and varietal selection of plants and animals in Great Britain as in the future English colonies. Thus he built an intellectual environment which will promote the emergence of Charles Darwin's thoughts.

L'histoire retient Joseph Banks comme l'explorateur-botaniste du premier voyage de James Cook. Pourtant, peu de temps après son retour, il se fait élire président de la Royal Society et joue alors, pendant plus de 40 ans, un rôle éminent en Grande-Bretagne en réorganisant les sciences naturalistes et en prônant une « botanique économique ¼ . Il intervient activement pour l'acclimatation et la sélection variétale de plantes et d'animaux en Grande-Bretagne comme dans les futures colonies anglaises. Ainsi il construit un environnement intellectuel qui favorisera l'émergence de la pensée de Charles Darwin.

Collections are truly priceless.

Last month, Duke University in North Carolina announced that it was shuttering its herbarium. The collection consists of nearly 1 million specimens representing the most comprehensive and historic set of plants from the southeastern United States. It also includes extensive holdings from other regions of the world, especially Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. Duke plans to disperse these samples to other institutions for use or storage over the next 2 to 3 years, but this decision reflects a lack of awareness by academia that such collections are being leveraged as never before. With modern technologies spanning multiple fields of study, the holdings in herbaria and other natural history collections are not only facilitating a deeper and broader understanding of the past and present world but are also providing tools to meet both known and unforeseen challenges facing humanity. Science and society can hardly risk the loss of such an important resource.

Petty's instruments: the Down Survey, territorial natural history and the birth of statistics.

William Petty's work has usually been regarded as an epistemic break in the history of statistical and politico-economic thought. In this paper, I argue that Petty's statistical notions stemmed from the natural-historical techniques he originally implemented to manage the Down Survey. Following Bacon, who viewed the description of trades as a paramount branch of natural history, Petty approached the art of surveying itself as an object of natural-historical analysis. He partitioned the surveying work into individual tasks and implemented a meticulous division of labour, employing hundreds of disbanded soldiers as surveyors and using questionnaires to calibrate the responses of his 'instruments', as he called his specialized workers. By borrowing these methods from natural history to organize surveying work, Petty was able to conceptualize Ireland as a political body defined by tables of aggregate data. I then compare the Down Survey with John Graunt's observations on the bills of mortality to show that both are representative of a particular style of natural history, aimed at describing the natural and political state of a circumscribed territory. I close by considering other manifestations of 'territorial natural history', indicating a continuity between this research tradition and the appearance of statistics in the British Isles.

Shall we promote natural history collection today?-Answered by reviewing Ernest Henry Wilson's plant collection process in China.

Plant diversity exploration needs to be accelerated because many species will go extinct before their discovery and description, and many species-rich regions remain poorly studied. However, most contemporary plant collections prefer to focus on a specific group, which hinders the exploration and conservation of plant diversity. Therefore, we need an alternative approach to the dilemma at hand. The comprehensive Natural History Collection (NHC), which existed throughout the pinnacle of biodiversity exploration in the 20th century could be considered. We explore Ernest Henry Wilson's (one of the most successful naturalists in the 20th) plant collections in China as a case to illustrate the advantages of NHC and discuss whether NHC deserves to be promoted again today. From multiple sources, we gathered 19,218 available specimen records of 11,884 collecting numbers assigned and analyzed the collected species, the collection's nature, and restored four routes of his explorations. Results reveal that Wilson's specimens were collected from 28 prefecture-level cities and 38 county-level regions of 7 provinces or municipalities, they belong to 200 families, 1046 genera, 3794 species, and 342 infraspecific taxa, approximately 41 %, 22 %, 10 %, 5 % of Chinese plant families, genera, species, and infraspecific taxa respectively. The Wilson case study shows that NHC is particularly effective in emphasizing species discovery and conservation, recording ecological information, understanding a region's flora, and developing landscape applications. Therefore, we strongly advocate for the expansion of natural history collections in species-rich regions. Furthermore, we recommend the employment of specialized collectors, the enlistment of international cooperation, and the standardization of guidelines for future NHCs.

Francis Bacon and the practices of measurement.

The instrumental character of Francis Bacon's natural and experimental histories was often noted, but never fully investigated. In this paper I aim to reconstruct the theoretical and methodological background which supports this feature. I claim that we can read large parts of the second book of Bacon's Novum organum as a guide to laboratory practices; and that it was read in this manner by some of Bacon's seventeenth century followers. Key to this guide is Bacon's theory of prerogative instances which, in turn, provides the grounding for a whole theory of instruments of detection and instruments of measurement. I show, in particular, how Bacon suggested that such instruments can be used for 'charting' virtues and powers; a process in which instruments of detection can be transformed into instruments of measurement. I also show that Bacon's views on instruments entail an elaborated conception of measurement which departs from the ethos of artisanal perfection. Instead of pursuing the 'best results', Bacon's instrumental natural and experimental histories aim to offer a large enough corpus of correlations, estimates and calculations which, taken together, can represent more or less accurately changes and variations of natural virtues and powers.

A forerunner of Darwin in the service of nihilists: the translation and reception of Vestiges in Russia.

Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation by Robert Chambers, a Scottish publisher and popular writer, was one of the most influential evolutionary works in the pre-Darwinian age. This article examines the circumstances in which this treatise was published in Russia in 1863 and went through a second printing in 1868. Vestiges was translated into Russian by Alexander Palkhovsky (1831-1907), a former medical student, ideologically close to the nihilist movement, and was initially printed by the radical publisher Anatoly Cherenin, later prosecuted for his ties with revolutionary circles. Vestiges was translated not from the English original, but from a German translation by Karl Vogt. Given the popularity of German materialism among Russian radicals in the 1860s, association with Vogt's name did much to draw attention to the translation. Contrary to Vogt, who took an anti-evolutionary stance while translating Vestiges, Palkhovsky and other nihilists ardently supported evolution in the hope that it would help them combat religious belief. Praising the author of Vestiges for his evolutionary views, Russian radicals at the same time criticized him for numerous references to God, teleological thinking and blindness to social problems. In their attempts to put Vestiges into service, Russian nihilists were similar to English freethinkers of the 1840s. The study of how Vestiges was read and perceived in Russia provides a better understanding of the cross-cultural reception of evolutionary ideas on the eve of Darwin's Origin of Species.

A Tale of Enduring Myths: Buffon's Theory of Animal Degeneration and the Regeneration of Domesticated Animals in Mid-19th Century Brazil.

The long 19th century was a period of many developments and technical innovations in agriculture and animal biology, during which actors sought to incorporate new practices in light of new information. By the middle of the century, however, while heredity steadily became the dominant concept in animal husbandry, some policies related to livestock improvement in Brazil seemed to have been tailored following a climate-deterministic concept established in the mid-18th century by the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon. His theory of animal degeneration posited, among other things, the necessity of recurrent crossbreeding to preserve animal species living in nonnative environments from climate-induced degeneration. Although largely discredited by the early 19th century, the teachings of the French naturalist seem to have found supporters in a Brazilian program to modernize national agriculture through the application of the natural sciences. Herein I examine the revival of Buffon's theories in that government-sponsored program to improve animal husbandry and breeding techniques, including actual applications of this theory in the real world. Ultimately, I argue that Buffon's theory of degeneration was used to tailor public policies and funding for the improvement of domesticated animals in Brazil between 1856 and 1860.

Preproject 'Swiss Virtual Natural History Collection'.

The initiative 'Swiss Natural History Collection Network' (SwissCollNet) aims to improve the accessibility of the Swiss natural history collections for research, education and the wider public. In the 2021-24 funding period, SwissCollNet is identifying, prioritizing and digitizing as many collections as possible and building an online portal called the 'Swiss Virtual Natural History Collection' (hereafter SVNHC) to provide open access to harmonized sample data from Swiss collections. The University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons developed scenarios for the technical implementation of the SVNHC portal in a preliminary study on behalf of SwissCollNet and based on the requirements of collections and data centres.

Darwin's feathers: Eco-evolutionary biology, predictions and policy.

The scientific community is often asked to predict the future state of the environment and, to do so, the structure (biodiversity) and the functions (ecosystem functioning) of the investigated systems must be described and understood. In his "handful of feathers" metaphor, Charles Darwin explained the difference between simple and predictable systems, obeying definite laws, and complex (and unpredictable) systems, featured by innumerable components and interactions among them. In order not to waste efforts in impossible enterprises, it is crucial to ascertain if accurate predictions are possible in a given domain, and to what extent they might be reliable. Since ecology and evolution (together forming "natural history") deal with complex historical systems that are extremely sensitive to initial conditions and to contingencies or 'black swans', it is inherently impossible to accurately predict their future states. Notwithstanding this impossibility, policy makers are asking the community of ecological and evolutionary biologists to predict the future. The struggle for funding induces many supposed naturalists to do so, also because other types of scientists (from engineers to modellers) are keen to sell predictions (usually in form of solutions) to policy makers that are willing to pay for them. This paper is a plea for bio-ecological realism. The "mission" of ecologists and evolutionary biologists (natural historians) is not to predict the future state of inherently unpredictable systems, but to convince policy makers that we must live with uncertainties. Natural history, however, can provide knowledge-based wisdom to face the uncertainties about the future. Natural historians produce scenarios that are of great help in figuring out how to manage our relationship with the rest of nature.

Specimen collection is essential for modern science.

Natural history museums are vital repositories of specimens, samples and data that inform about the natural world; this Formal Comment revisits a Perspective that advocated for the adoption of compassionate collection practices, querying whether it will ever be possible to completely do away with whole animal specimen collection.

Response to "Specimen collection is essential for modern science".

Natural history museums are vital repositories of specimens, samples and data that inform about the natural world; this Reply responds to a Formal Comment that queried whether it will ever be possible to completely do away with whole animal specimen collection, inviting open conversations about the ethical implications of specimen collection.

Aspectos electroclínicos de la epilepsia temporal mesial / Neuropsychological risk in temporal lobe epilepsy

Introducción: La epilepsia del lóbulo temporal mesial se considera la más frecuente de las epilepsias focales, con signos y síntomas característicos que ayudan a definir su diagnóstico. Contenidos: Dentro de su historia natural, las crisis pueden iniciar en los primeros años de vida, usualmente como episodios febriles con un periodo de remisión, para reaparecer en la adolescencia o en el adulto joven. La presentación electroencefalográfica tiene un patrón característico, con aparición de puntas y ondas agudas interictales en la región temporal anterior, por lo general unilaterales, y con actividad ictal generalmente theta en la misma localización. La causa más frecuente es la esclerosis del hipocampo. El tratamiento con medicamentos anticrisis puede controlar la epilepsia, aunque algunos casos pueden evolucionar a la farmacorresistencia, en la cual la cirugía de epilepsia está indicada, y tiene buenos resultados. Conclusiones: Esta revisión se centra en la descripción de las características electroclínicas de la epilepsia temporal mesial, para hacer un diagnóstico temprano e iniciar un tratamiento adecuado, a efectos de lograr un mejor pronóstico y una mejor calidad de vida para los pacientes con epilepsia y sus familiares.

Introduction: Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy is considered the most common of the focal epilepsies, with characteristic signs and symptoms that help define its diagnosis. Contents: In the natural history of the disease, seizures can begin in the first years of life, usually as febrile seizures with a period of remission, to reappear in adolescence or in the young adult. The electroencephalographic presentation has a characteristic pattern with the appearance of interictal sharp waves and spikes in the anterior temporal region, usually unilateral, and with generally theta ictal activity in the same location. The most common cause is hippocampal sclerosis. Treatment with antiseizure medication can control epilepsy. However, in some cases evolution of drug resistance can occur, leading to epilepsy surgery as the most appropriate treatment, based on its good results. Conclusions: This review focuses on the description of the electroclinical characteristics of temporal mesial epilepsy, in order to make an early diagnosis and adequate treatment, thus providing a better prognosis and quality of life for patients with epilepsy and their families.

Buffon, Species and the Forces of Reproduction.

Throughout the Histoire naturelle Buffon was ever aware of epistemological issues involving the reproduction of species, the only beings in nature. By the 1760s he had come to believe that empirical evidence, the source of all human knowledge, revealed that reproduction was a physical process, involving a common living (minute, active, and lively) matter and material forces, all of which he traced to the foundational force of gravitational attraction.

Síndrome de Angelman en el adulto / Angelman syndrome in adulthood

Introducción: El síndrome de Angelman (SA) está ampliamente descrito en la infancia, pero existen escasos estudios en edad adulta y la mayoría recoge un pequeño número de pacientes o condiciones específicas, como epilepsia o sueño. Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio es describir el SA en la edad adulta en nuestro centro, sus necesidades especiales, y el soporte médico y social para mejorar la atención y ofrecer una mejor transición del servicio de pediatría a las unidades de adultos. Pacientes y métodos: Se recogen pacientes con SA genéticamente confirmado, y describimos datos demográficos, médicos y sociales mediante la revisión de historias clínicas, entrevistas telefónicas con el cuidador principal y tres escalas estandarizadas de sueño, dependencia y calidad de vida. Resultados: Se incluye a 30 pacientes con una mediana de edad de 22,7 años: 22 son deleciones, 27 presentan antecedente de epilepsia y 13 están en tratamiento con, al menos, dos fármacos antiepilépticos. Las comorbilidades más frecuentes después de la epilepsia fueron los síntomas psiquiátricos, la escoliosis, el sobrepeso, el estreñimiento y problemas oftalmológicos. El 40% precisó ingresos hospitalarios en la edad adulta, cinco están institucionalizados y 24 reciben terapias no médicas. El médico a cargo es el neurólogo en la mayoría, seguido del neuropediatra. Conclusiones: Es necesario realizar estudios de historia natural más allá de la infancia. Ésta es la primera revisión española de adultos con SA que recoge un amplio espectro de condiciones sociales y médicas de estos pacientes.(AU)

Introduction: Angelman syndrome (AS) is widely described in childhood, but few studies have been conducted in adulthood and most of them report a small number of patients or specific conditions, such as epilepsy or sleep. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe AS in adulthood in our centre, the special needs it requires, and the medical and social support to improve care and to provide a better transition from the paediatric service to units for adults. Patients and methods: We collected patients with genetically confirmed AS, and described demographic, medical and social data by reviewing medical records, telephone interviews with the primary caregiver and three standardised sleep, dependency and quality of life scales. Results: Thirty patients with a median age of 22.7 years were included: 22 were deletions, 27 had a history of epilepsy and 13 were on treatment involving at least two antiepileptic drugs. The most frequent comorbidities after epilepsy were psychiatric symptoms, scoliosis, overweight, constipation and ophthalmological problems. Forty per cent required hospital admissions in adulthood, five were institutionalised and 24 received non-medical therapies. The doctor in charge was the neurologist in most cases, followed by the neuropaediatrician. Conclusions: Studies that examine the natural history beyond childhood are warranted. This is the first Spanish review of adults with AS that covers a broad spectrum of social and medical conditions of these patients.(AU)

Female naturalists and the patterns of suppression of women scientists in history: the example of Maria Sibylla Merian and her contributions about useful plants.

BACKGROUND: This work reunites many women naturalists who registered knowledge about native flora in scientific expeditions around the globe between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Since male naturalists are more recognized in this period of time, we aimed to list female naturalists that published plant descriptions and observations, focusing on the work of Maria Sibylla Merian and to analyze her trajectory as an example to discuss the patterns of the suppression of women scientists. A second aim was to inventory the useful plants described in Maria Sibylla's Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium and find pharmacological evidence about the traditional uses described for those plants cited as medicinal and toxic. METHODS: A survey of female naturalists was carried out by searching information in Pubmed, Scielo, Google Scholar and Virtual Health Library. Once Maria Sibylla published her book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium by her own, without male co-authors, and also this book is one of the only to have text and illustrations altogether and there are reports indicating information on useful plants in this work, she and her book were chosen as subject of this research. All the information was tabulated by dividing the plants into food, medicinal, toxic, aromatic or other uses. Finally, with the combinations of the scientific name of medicinal and toxic plants with information about their popular uses, a search was carried out in databases in order to indicate current pharmacological studies that reported evidences about the traditional uses described. RESULTS: We found 28 women naturalists who participated in scientific expeditions or trips, or in a curiosity cabinet, or who were collectors of Natural History between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. All these women illustrated botanical species and/or recorded their everyday or medicinal use or reported their observations in the form of a published work, letters or diaries. Also, the trajectory of Maria Sibylla Merian revealed that her scientific relevance has been neglected from the eighteenth century by mechanisms of suppression, most of the time by male depreciation, which can be seen as a pattern for suppression of women in science. However, Maria Sibyllas' contributions have been valued again in the twenty-first century. In Maria Sibylla's work, 54 plants were identified, 26 of them used for food, 4 of them aromatic, 8 medicinal, 4 toxic and 9 other uses. CONCLUSION: This study evidences that there are female naturalists whose work could be an important source for ethnopharmacological studies. Researching about women scientists, talking about them and highlighting the gender bias present in the scientific academy about the way the history of science is told is essential for the construction of a more diverse and richer scientific academy. The traditional use of 7 of 8 medicinal plants and 3 of 4 toxic plants reported was correlated with pharmacological studies, highlighting the importance of this historical record and its potential to direct strategic research in traditional medicine.

Reimagining the future of natural history museums with compassionate collection.

Compassionate collection involves minimizing harm while collecting museum data in the field. By adopting this practice, natural history museums could better maintain existing collections, accommodate more nonlethal specimens and data, and foster an inclusive community.

The Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille: 150 years of natural history.

When marine natural sciences began to be the concern of most European scientists, in the middle of the 19th century, Marseille, in southern France, was no exception. The creation, ca. 150 years ago, of the first Zoology Laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences of Marseille took place in 1868. Under the leadership of Antoine-Fortuné Marion, it soon led to the creation of the Station Marine d'Endoume (SME) in 1889. Marion's pioneering work survived both world wars and was then taken to another dimension by Jean-Marie Pérès, head of the marine station from 1948 to 1983. This institution is still alive to date. We here inventoried all the taxa described by SME scientists (1870 to 2021) and arranged them in a public database. Three main periods of activity at the SME are described, as well as the focus made through time to different groups of taxa, selected ecosystems, or biogeographic areas. Through many examples, it was possible to document how these naturalistic, taxonomic descriptions contributed to a broader scientific knowledge within this period. Finally, we discussed trends in taxonomic and naturalistic research, based on the SME experience.