Week 2 Day 5 History of Biology Survey

This reading was chapter 5 "Natural History and Physiology" and it was one of the longer selections so far, and was filled with many dates, names, and quite a bit of information in general. It was concerned with medicine, physiology, and natural history in the 18th century and their development into the science we call biology today. In fact, the term "biology" is just now being used, in the course of my assigned readings. In terms of my education, time frame in which I live, and personal knowledge, this selection was the most relatable to me so far. I recognized many names, experiments, and theories, but I still learned many things I didn't know. Also, the sequence of events and the interactions that brought biology to the point it is now are becoming much clearer to me as well.

There far too many overall to discuss here, but some of the more interesting episodes discussed in the reading included von Haller and Glisson's gall bladder experiments, and the concept of sensible and irritable tissues, as well as the incorporation of metaphysical explanations for muscular contraction, for instance. Even today neuroscience is still one of the areas with the most questions that remain unanswered. I am not a particularly religious person, and it struck me in this reading how often scientists were still turning to spiritual explanations for some of their observations, and how the mechanical versus organicist philosophy was often more like mechanism/atheism versus vitalism/spiritualism. I appreciated Bourget's attempts to distinguish organic and inorganic, and Buffon's "internal mold" sounding remarkably like the DNA/RNA templates we know of today. I know, I know, no rational reconstruction allowed, but it is difficult to read and disallow myself from thinking in terms of what we know today. This reading has helped reinforce in me the necessity of trying to keep historical science ideas in the proper context.

I could write an entire research paper on the generation section of this reading alone! I have always been fascinated by parthenogenesis, regeneration, genetics, and basically all aspects of gender and sexual and asexual reproduction. As I read about Trembley's work with Hydra reminded me of all the years professionally used that organism to demonstrate many fundamental biological concepts, and never having heard of Trembley, how much more I could have done from the historical aspect. I woould like to view some of his work in the collections, as well. I have learned a lot more about workers like Harvey, Leeuwenhoek, Swammerdam, Hartsoeker, Maupertuis, and Needham and the social, cultural, and scientific environments they persevered in.



Bibliographic Note:

Thomas L. Hankins, Science and the Enlightenment: Cambridge History of Science Series, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985). Science and the Enlightenment is a general history of eighteenth-century science covering both the physical and life sciences. It places the scientific developments of the century in the cultural context of the Enlightenment and reveals the extent to which scientific ideas permeated the thought of the age.

Further Reading Note:

Christian Wolff, Theory of Generation (1759)

any works by Spallanzani or Redi

Buffon, Natural History (1749)

Maupertuis, System of Nature (1757)

George Stahl, True Theory of Medicine (1708)