In the Fall, Dr. Arnold Dunn's History of Biology class visits the Feuchtwanger Memorial Library to view materials from USC's Hancock Collection. The following books are discussed and examined. They are listed in alphabetical order by author. Questions regarding items listed on this page may be referred to Melinda K. Hayes, Natural History Librarian in Special Collections, USC.
Agassiz, Louis, 1807-1873.
Principles of zoology : touching the structure, development, distribution, and natural arrangement of the races of animals, living and extinct : with numerous illustrations : Part I : comparative physiology for the use of schools and colleges. Boston : Gould and Lincoln, 1858.
Edition: Rev. ed.
Location: QL47.A28 1858Aristotle.
Selections. Latin
Aristotelis et Theophrasti Historiae : cum de natura animalium, tum de plantis & earum causis, cuncta fere, quae Deus opt. max. homini contemplanda exhibuit, ad amussim complectentes : nunc iam suo restitutae nitori, & mendis omnibus, quoad fieri potuit, repurgatae : cvm indice copiosissimo : ex quo superfluum quod erat, decerpsimus : quod uero necessarium nobis uisum est, superaddidimus. Lugduni : Apud Gulielmum Rouillium, 1552.
Translation of Aristotle's [Peri ta zoia istoriai, Peri zoion morion, Peri zoion geneseos, Peri zoion kineseos, Peri zoion poreias (romanized form)] ; and Theophrastus' [Periphuton istorias, Peri phuton aition (romanized form)]
Location: Hancock in Special Collections Q155.A716 1552Baer, Karl Ernst von, 1792-1876.
Über Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere : Beobachtung und Reflexion. Erster[zweiter] Theil. Konigsberg : Bei den Gebrudern Borntrager, 182837.
Location: QL955.B28 1828Belon, Pierre, 1517?-1564
De aquatilibus: libro duo cum [epsilon, iota]conibus ad vivam ipsorum effigium… Paris: C. Stephanum, 1553.
Physical description: 16 p.l., 448 p.: ill; 12x17 cm.
Location: Annex QL615.B44 1553As with Belon’s work, many natural history works of the 16th century are adorned with woodcuts of the animals described. Often illustrators relied on descriptions of the animal provided, especially strange and foreign creatures. The illustrator of today can easily surf the web to find images of the unusual fish. Found worldwide, monkfish (of the family Lophiidae, and also referred to as “anglerfish”, or “goosefish”) are marine bottom-dwelling fish, have a large toothy mouth, and skin instead of scales. An early explorer-naturalist, comparative biologist and embryologist, Pierre Belon undertook voyages in the Mediterranean and traveled to Asia and may have heard tales of this creature. This is the earliest aquatic book in the Hancock collection.
Bernard, Claude, 1813-1878.
Leçons sur la physiologie et la pathologie du systeme nerveux. Paris: J. B. Bailliere, 1858.
2 vols.
Location: QP361.B4Bichat, Xavier, 1771-1802.
Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et la mort. 2nd ed. Paris: Brosson, an X, 1802.
Notes: From the Gomperz Collection, Hoose, Library of Philosophy.
Location: Special Collections QP81 B5 1802Bloch, Marcus Elieser, 1723-1799.
Ichthyologie ou histoire naturelle: génerale et particuliére des poissons. Berlin: chez l’auteur, 1785-97.
Physical description: 12 parts in 6 v.: ccccxxxii color plates; 49 x 29 cm.
Location: Annex QL615.B65 1785 (6 volumes)Bloch’s richly illustrated volumes describing the fishes of the German states, and later those of the world, stand out as graphically and taxonomically exceptional. It is a first in both completeness of its subject, and the use of color in the illustrations. Bloch’s publications represented the most credible compilation, following Carl Linnaeus’s Systema naturae of 1758. Bloch’s Ichthyologia is considered the finest illustrated work on fishes ever produced. Marcus Elieser Bloch, a German physician-surgeon by profession living in Berlin, began to study and write about fishes as a hobby. From 1785 to 1797, almost simultaneous with the appearance of the first German edition, the two sets were translated into French and published together in twelve volumes in folio, with 432 color plates, under the name Ichthyologie; ou, Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des poissons. It is important to understand that this first French edition, is not simply a translation of the original German Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische. Bloch used the French edition as an opportunity to add new information that he had acquired after the equivalent text in the German edition had been published.
Bonnet, Charles, 1720-1793.
Contemplation de la nature. English.
The contemplation of nature. London : Printed for T. Longman ... and T. Becket and P.A. de Hondt ..., 1766.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections QH45.B717 1766, v.1-2Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788.
Histoire naturelle : générale et particuliere ; avec la description du Cabinet de roi. Paris : De l'Imprimerie royale, 17491789.
Contents: t. 1. De la maniere d'étudier et de traiter l'histoire naturelle. Histoire et théorie de la terre / par m. Buffon. 1749.t. 2. Histoire générale des animaux. Histoire naturelle de l'homme / par m. de Buffon. 1799.t. 3. Description du Cabinet du roy / par m. Daubenton. Histoire naturelle de l'homme / par m. de Buffon. 1749.5.415. [Quadrupeds] / par m. de Buffon et m. Daubenton. 175367. Supplément. 7 v. / par m. de Buffon. 177489.t. 1624. Histoire naturelle des oiseaux / par m. de Buffon et m. Gueneau de Montbeillard. 9 v. 175283..t. [2529] Histoire naturelle des minéraux / par m. de Buffon.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections QH45.B77, v.1-36Catesby, Mark, 1683-1749.
The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama islands containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants: particularly the forest-trees, shrubs, and other plants, not hitherto described, or very incorrectly figured by authors. Together with their descriptions in English and French. To which, are added observations on the air, soil, and waters: with remarks upon agriculture, grain, pulse, roots, &c. To the whole, is prefixed a new and correct map of the countries treated of by Mark Catesby. London : printed at the expence of the author, 1731-43.
Physical description: 2 v.: 100, 100, 20 color plates, color map; 51.5 cm.
Location: Annex QH41.C38 1731 (2 volumes)Following almost fourteen years in the Carolinas, Florida and the Bahamas, Mark Catesby (1683-1749) spent most of his remaining years on this magnificent work. He learned to etch his own plates, producing all but two of the 220 illustrations. Unlike many pre-Linnaean studies, Catesby’s work was saved from obscurity because Linnaeus used it as a source for designations for many of the American birds depicted. The folio format of Catesby’s book allowed him to draw many of his bird studies life-size. His first eight plates presented them in a conventional posture, perched on a tree stump or on the ground without any decorative background. Thereafter he broke with tradition by introducing fragments of the vegetation on which they fed. Only when he drew fish did he revert to solitary portraits. He usually created a compatible landscape but sometimes showed a flippant disregard for ecological authenticity by rather peculiar associations of flowers and creatures. A flamingo, for instance, is posed next to a grotesquely large piece of coral which looks like a stylized tree. (v.1 plate 73). The Natural history of Carolina remained in demand for as long as it was the only book on North American natural history. It s author was neither a great naturalist nor a distinguished artist, but by placing his birds in an ecological setting he established a new trend in bird illustration.
Chambers, Robert, 1802-1871.
Vestiges of the natural history of creation. New York, Wiley and Putnam, 1845.
Location: QL363.C4Cuvier, Georges, baron, 1769-1832.
Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles : ou l'on retablit les characteres de plusieurs animaux dont les revolutions du globe ont detruit les especes. Paris : G. Dufour et E. d'Ocagne, 1825.
Edition: 3. ed.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections fQE710.C972 1825, v.1-4, 5 pt. 3, FolioCuvier, Georges, baron, 1769-1832.
Le regne animal distribue d'apres son organisation : pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction a l'anatomie comparee. Paris : Deterville, 1817.
Contents: t. 1. L'introduction, les mammiferes et les oiseaux t. 2. Les reptiles, les poissons, les mollusques, et les annelides t. 3. Les crustaces, les arachnides et les insectes, par M. Latreille t. 4. Les zoophytes, les tables, et les planches.
Location: QL45.C87 1817, v.1-4Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.
On the origin of species by means of natural selection : or The preservations of favoured races in the struggle for life. New York : D. Appleton and Company, 1860.
Edition: A new edition / revised and augmented by the author.
Location: QH365.O2 1860aDarwin, Erasmus, 1731-1802.
Zoonomia : or, The laws of organic life. London : J. Johnson, 1801.
Edition: The 3d ed., cor.
Location: QP29.D22 1801, v.1-4Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné.
Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers ... mis en ordre & publié par m. Diderot. Paris: Briasson, 1751-1765.
Location: Special Collections f503.E56 (17 vols., 11 vols. Plates)France. Commission des sciences et arts d'Egypte.
Description de l'Egypte : ou, Recueil de observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee francaise publie par les ordres de Sa Majeste l'empereur Napoleon le Grand. Paris : Imprimerie imperiale, 180928.
Contents: Antiquities: Descriptions, 180918, 2 v. (v.5); Memoires 180918, 2 v.; Planches, 180922, 5 v. (v.69) Histoire naturelle, 180912, 2 v. in 3; Planches, 180917, 2 v. (v.1718) Histoire naturelle, 180912, 2 v.; Planches, 1809[ca.26], 2 v. in 3. (Vol. II, pt. 2 has no t.p.) Carte topographique. [1818] (v.20) Etat modern, planches, 2 v. (v.1314) Preface et explication des planches (Uniform with the volumes of plates; binder's title only)
Location: Hancock in Special Collections ffDT46.F8 1809, v.5-9, 13-14, 17-21, FolioFries, Jakob Friedrich, 1773-1843.
Die mathematische Naturphilosophie nach philosophischer Methode bearbeitet: ein Versuch. Heidelberg: C.F. Winter 1822.
Notes: a Mudd and Flewelling Collection item from the Hoose Library of Philosophy.
Location: Special Collections QA8.4.F78 1822Geoffroy SaintHilaire, Isidore, 1805-1861.
Essais de zoologie generale : ou Memoires et notices sur la zoologie generale, l'anthropologie, et l'histoire de la science. Paris : Roret, 1841.
Location: QL3.G34 1841Gray, Asa, 1810-1888.
Scientific papers of Asa Gray, selected by Charles Sprague Sargent. Boston : New York : Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1889.
Location: QK3.G77 1889, v.1-2Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich Philipp August, 1834-1919.
The evolution of man : a popular exposition of the principal points of human ontogeny and phylogeny. New York : Appleton, 1879.
Location: QH368.H2 1879, v.1-2Hooke, Robert, 1635-1703.
Micrographia: or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. London: printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections fQH271.H79 1665Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895.
Evidence as to man's place in nature. New York: D. Appleton and co., 1863.
Location: QH368.H96 1863Lamarck, Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de, 1744-1829.
Philosophie zoologique, ou Exposition des considerations relatives a l'histoire naturelle des animaux. Paris : G. Bailliere; [etc., etc.] 1830.
Edition: Nouv. ed.
Location: QL45.L21 1830Leeuwenhoek, Antoni van, 1632-1723.
Arcana naturae detecta. Delphis Batavorum, apud Henricum a Krooneveld, 1695.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections QH271.L48Linné, Carl von, 1707-1778.
Systema naturae : sistens regna tria naturae, in classes et ordines genera et species redacta tabulisque aeneis illustrata. Lipsiae : G. Kiesewetter, 1748.
Edition: Secundam sextam stockholmensem emendatam et auctam editionem.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections QH43.S83 1748Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875.
Principles of geology : being an inquiry how far the former changes of the earth's surface are referable to causes now in operation. London : J. Murray, 1837.
Location: QE26.L956 1837a, v.1-4Malpighi, Marcello, 1628-1694.
Opera omnia : figuris elegantissimis in aes incisis, illustrata. Tomis duobus comprehensa, quorum calatogum sequens pagina exhibet. Londoni: Apud Robertum Scott & Georgum Wells, 1686.
Contents: v.1. Anatome Plantarum v.2. Operum tomus secundus Seminum vegetatione: 1. De Gallis. 2. De varius plantarum tumoribus et ex crecentiis. 3. De radicibus plantarum. Epistolae: 1. De bombyce. 2. De formatione pulli in ovo. 3. De ovo incubato. 4. De cerebro. 5. De lingua. 6. De externo tactus organo. 7. Exercitatio de omento, pinguedine et adiposis ductibus. 8. De viscerum structura exercitatio anatomica. Dissertationes eiusdem de polypo cordis, et de pulmonibus.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections fQH41.M298Merian, Maria Sibylla, 1647-1717.
Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium : Ofte verandering der Surinaamsche insecten. Waar in de Surinaamsche rupsen en wormen met alle des zelfs veranderingen na het leven afgebeeld en beschreeven worden, zynde elk geplaast op die gewassen, bloemen en vruchten, daar sy op gevonden zyn; waar in ook de generatie der kikvorschen, wonderbaare padden, hagedissen, slangen, spinnen en mieren werden vertoond en beschreeven, alles in America na het leven en levensgroote geschildert en beschreeven. Amsterdam : Voor den auteur, als ook by G. Valck, [1705]
Physical description: 2 p. l., 60 p. : 60 plates ; 53 cm.
Location: Annex QL466.M57 1705Surinam, which later divided into Dutch, British and French Guiana, was inhabited by indigenous Arawak Indians, African slaves, Portuguese Jews and Dutch Protestants. After two months’ voyage Merian and her daughter reached the capital, Paramaribo, a town of about 500 wooden dwellings, where she rented a place with a garden for breeding insects. As well as painting insects on parchment with her daughter’s assistance, she pressed specimens or pickled them in brandy. Back in Holland, she subsequently hand-colored at least one copy of Rumph’s D’Amboinische Rariteitkamer (1705), now in the Plant Library of Amsterdam University. The fees she earned from this work went towards paying for the engraving of plates for her Surinam book, which friends had encouraged her to publish. Additional finances were raised by selling her Surinam specimens, and eventually, her original paintings. Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (Transformation of Surinam insects) was published in Amsterdam in 1704, in one version with a Latin text and another in Dutch (as is this copy). The prepublication price of fifteen guilders was increased to eighteen, and a handcolored copy by the author or her daughter cost 45 guilders. It is not known how many copies were printed, but six years later some were still available for sale. The book’s 60 engraved plates portrayed about 90 studies of caterpillars through their evolution into insects. Most were drawn life-size. Merian added to her plants the local names given to them by Indians and European settlers, and Caspar Commelin from Amsterdam’s Botanic Garden contributed Latin designations. Frequent observations on local uses of the plants enlivened her text.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564.
Rime di Michelagnolo Buonarroti, raccolte da Michelagnolo suo Nipote. In Firenze : Appresso I Giunti con licenzia de' superiori, M.DC.XXIII. [i.e. 1623]
Location: Lion Feuchtwanger Memorial Library (Special Collections) PQ4615.B6A6 1623Newton, Isaac, Sir, 1642-1727.
Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica. Cantabrigiae, [1713]
Location: Special Collections 192.N563p 1713Owen, Richard, 1804-1892.
Lectures on the comparative anatomy and physiology of the invertebrate animals : delivered at the Royal college of surgeons, in 1843. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1843.
Location: QL363.O97 1843Paley, William, 1743-1805.
Natural theology : or, Evidences of the existence and attributes of the Deity. Boston : Gould and Lincoln, 1855, c1854.
Edition: [Rev. American ed.]
Location: BL181.P3Priestley, Josephy, 1733-1804.
Experiments and observations on different kinds of air, and other branches of natural philosophy, connected with the subject. In three volumes: being the former six volumes abridged and methodized, with many additions. Birmingham: printed by Thomas Pearson; and sold by J. Johnson, 1790.
Notes: A Gomperz Collection item from the Hoose Library of Philosophy.
Location: QD28.P75 1790 (3 vols.)Ray, John, 1627-1705.
Three physicotheological discourses : concerning I. The primitive chaos, and creation of the world. II. The general Deluge, its causes and effects. III. The dissolution of the world and future conflagration. Wherein are largely discussed, the production and use of mountains, the original of fountains, of formed stones, and seafishes bones and shells found in the earth; the effects of particular floods, and inundations of the sea; the eruptions of vulcano's; the nature and causes of earthquakes. Also an historical account of those two late remarkable ones in Jamaica and England. With practical inferences. London : Printed for William and John Innys, 1721.
Edition: The fourth edition.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections QE25.R39 1721Redouté, Pierre Joseph (1759-1840)
Les liliacées. Paris : Chez l'auteur, Impr. de Didot jeune, an x, 1802- 1816.
Physical description: 8 v. in 4. : port., 485 col. pl. (1 fold) ; 57 x 46 cm.
Location: Annex QK495.L72R3 1802 (8 volumes)Pierre-Joseph Redouté is today probably the most famous of botanical artists; even in his own lifetime he was nicknamed the “Raphael of flowers.” Despite its title, his first and largest work, Les liliacées, was not devoted solely to what would today count as liliaceae, but extends its range to include amaryllis, irises, gladioli, and even some orchids. Les liliacées was published in eighty installments, making eight volumes in all, with a total of 486 plates. The plates were stipple-engraved and printed in color by a process that Redouté claimed to have invented himself, in which all the colors were applied to the copper plate before printing. This method produced excellent results but was cumbersome and expensive, as was the process of copying the drawings onto the plates, for Redouté wanted to avoid the usual result, whereby the engraved image is reversed right to left form the original drawing. To this end he devised a system of mirrors so that the drawing could be copied exactly, the right way around, onto the copper plate. The print run for Les liliacées was roughly two hundred copies.
Salviani, Ippolyto, 1514-1572.
Aquatilium animalium historiae. Rome: Hippolyto Salviano typhernate Romae medicinam profitente auctore, 1554.
Physical description: 8 p.l., 256 numbered leaves: 81 color plates (99 figures); 40 cm.
Location: QL615.S3 1554Salviani was physician to Popes Julius III, Paul IV, and Cardinal Cervini. He was also professor of practical medicine at the Sapienza and principal physician of the medical college of Rome. He is best known for this monumental work, which describes the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. It treats exclusively of the fishes of Italy. Ninety-two species are figured on seventy-six plates, which are masterpieces of that period. Though no attempt is made at a natural classification, similar fishes are generally placed in close proximity. The descriptions are equal to those given by Belon, including details of the uses of the several species.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 1775-1854.
Ideen zu einer Philosophie der Natur: als Einleitung in das Studium dieser Wissenschaft. 2. durchaus verb. Und mit berictigenden Zusätzen verm. Aufl. Landshut: P. Krüll, 1803.
Notes: From the Gomperz Collection, Hoose, Library of Philosophy.
Location: Special Collections 193.S322I 1803Sedgwick, Adam, 1854-1913.
A student's textbook of zoology. London : S. Sonnenschein and Co. ; New York : Macmillan Co., 18981909.
Location: QL47.S448 1898Vesalius, Andreas, 1514-1564.
Opera omnia anatomica & chirurugica. Ludgduni Batavorum: apud Joannem du Vivie, et Joan. & Herm. Verbeek, 1725
Location: Hancock in Special Collections ffQM21.V575 1725Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913.
Contributions to the theory of natural selection : a series of essays. New York : Macmillan, 1871.
Edition: 2d ed., with corrections and additions.
Location: QH366.W19 1871Whewell, William, 1794-1866.
Astronomy and general physics considered with reference to natural theology. London : W. Pickering, 1834 [1833]
Edition: [4th ed.]
Series Title: Bridgewater treatises on the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, as manifested in the creation ; no.3
Location: Hancock in Special Collections BL175.B7 1833 no.3The Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle.
The Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N., during the years 1832 to 1836 : published with the approval of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, edited and superintended by Charles Darwin, Esq. London : published by Smith, Elder and Co., 18391843.
Contents: pt. I. Fossil mammalia, described by Richard Owen, Esq.; with a geological introduction, by Charles Darwin, Esq. pt. II. Mammalia, described by George R. Waterhouse, Esq.; with a notice of their habits and ranges, by Charles Darwin, Esq. pt. III. Birds, described by John Gould, Esq. ... ; with a notice of their habits and ranges, by Charles Darwin, Esq.; and with an anatomical appendix, by T.C. Eyton, Esq. pt. IV. Fish, described by the Rev. Leonard Jenyns. pt. V. Reptilia. / Described by Thomas Bell, Esq.
Location: Hancock in Special Collections fQL5.B3Z766 1839, v.12, 5 Folio
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Created: September 2004; Last updated: October 31, 2008