THE HANCOCK
EXHIBIT
The Hancock
Natural History Collection resides in Special Collections in the Doheny
Memorial Library. Researchers in a wide variety of subject areas will
find ample use of this visually
appealing
scientific
collection.
One of the richest natural history collections west of the Mississippi,
the Hancock Collection covers a broad spectrum of scientific research,
including botany, geology,
microscopy, evolution,
voyages and explorations, zoology,
and bacteriology. Lavishly illustrated
books, important scientific works and rare journals from past centuries
abound.
HISTORY
The Hancock
Natural History Collection was purchased in 1944 by Captain G. Allan
Hancock from the Boston Society of Natural History. Begun in 1830,
the Library of The Society was one of the earliest established collections
in the areas of natural history in the United States. This Library,
comprising some 74,000 books, pamphlets, and serials, formed the
foundation
of the Hancock Library of Biology and Oceanography, which was housed
on the second floor of the Hancock Foundation Building from 1941
until 2004. What follows is a sample of
the works in this collection, based on the 1992 exhibit held in the
Doheny Memorial Library at the University of Southern California.
VOYAGES
AND EXPLORATION
Though the
Library currently collects works that describe the scientific discoveries
of oceanographic expeditions and Antarctic exploration, many earlier
works focus on travels to such faraway places as Greenland, India
and South Africa. Among them is Voyage
to North America by Pierre de Charlevoix in which he describes
the native peoples and unknown lands he encountered.
GEOLOGY
Initially,
many geological works focused on locating and identifying gems and
minerals. Yet even as early as 1565, naturalists such as Konrad
Gesner described fossils and speculated on their age and the animals
and plants from which they were formed. In the first half of the nineteenth
century, scientists such as Alexander von Humboldt, Georges
Cuvier, and Louis
Figuier made the quantum leap from observation to extrapolation
with their explanations of rock formations and the origin of the earth.
EVOLUTION
AND NATURAL SELECTION
By far the
most influential work on evolutionary theory is Charles Darwin's On
the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection , first published
in 1859. Contrary to popular belief, this work did not propose the
theory that man evolved from the ape; in fact, T. H. Huxley, a strong
proponent of Darwin's work, was the first person to scientifically
examine man's resemblance to apes in Evidences
as to Man's Place in Nature of 1863. It is not until his 1871
publication, Descent
of Man, that Darwin applied his theory to man. In response
to the bitter attacks on his work Darwin declared, "I would rather
be regarded as a descendant of a monkey than of some people that might
be named."
BOTANY
Cultivating
plants for food and identifying their medicinal uses were two of
man's
earliest activities. Initially information was recorded by hand,
but with the advent of printing, multiple copies of these valuable
books,
called herbals, were widely distributed. One such work was Macer
Floridus' De Herbarum Virtutibus Aemilii Macri , a sixteenth century
edition
of a twelfth century text. Among works depicting flora in the "new
world" is Mark Catesby's The
Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands,
which contains wonderful color illustrations. No less valuable
are
less opulent works, such as Eugen Esper's Icones
Fucorum which today attract marine scientists from around
the world to USC.
ZOOLOGY
The Hancock
Collection is particularly rich in works depicting animals, including
John James Audubon's most famous work Birds
of America. Another important bird illustrator of the early
nineteenth century was Thomas
Bewick, who reintroduced the art of wood engraving. His skill
was such that he could depict animals in great detail within just
a few square inches.
MICROSCOPY
AND PHYSIOLOGY
Scientists
such as Robert Hooke,
Martin Ledermüller,
and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
shifted scientific research away from descriptions of animals visible
with the naked eye. Using a microscope, Van Leeuwenhoek was the first
to see bacteria and accurately describe red blood corpuscles. Robert
Hooke, a multifaceted experimenter in the fields of chemistry, meteorology,
and physics, turned his talents to microscopy and became the first
person to describe the cells in plant tissues, the crystal structure
of snowflakes, and the compound eye of a fly. Many scientists of the
nineteenth century, such as T.
H. Huxley, Karl Gustav
Carus, and Louis
Agassiz turned their attention to the anatomical differences and
similarities of man and animals.
PHARMACOLOGY
AND BACTERIOLOGY
Garcia de
Orta's Dell' Historia
deI Semplici Aromati discusses the medicinal qualities of
herbs and plants, including the tobacco. In contrast, Matthieu Orfila's
early nineteenth century work Traité des Poisons focuses on
the harmful properties of various plants and minerals. Best known
for developing vaccines against diseases, Louis
Pasteur also identified the bacteria causing the disease that
threatened to decimate the French silk industry.
CONCLUSION
The
works depicted in this exhibit reside in Special Collections in the
Doheny Memorial Library. These and other works
may be consulted by contacting Melinda
K. Hayes, Natural History Librarian in Special Collections at
USC.
