The Quest for the Invisible: Microscopy in the EnlightenmentRoutledge, 2016 M02 24 - 332 pages The eighteenth century has often been viewed as a period of relative decline in the field of microscopy, as interest in microscopes seemed to wane after an intense period of discovery in the seventeenth century. As such, developments in the field during the Enlightenment have been largely overlooked. This book therefore fills a considerable gap in the study of this life science, providing a thorough analysis of what the main concerns of the field were and how microscopists learned to communicate with each other in relevant ways in order to compare results and build a new discipline. Employing a substantial body of contemporary literature from across Europe, Marc J. Ratcliff is able to present us with a definitive account of the state of research into microscopy of the period. He brings to light the little known work of Louis Joblot, re-evaluates the achievements of Abraham Trembley and gives new weight to Otto-Friedrich Müller's important contributions. The book also connects changes in instrument design to an innovative account of microscopical research during the eighteenth century and the rich social networks of communication that grew during this period. Investigating the history of microscopical research from 1680 up to 1800 also shows how scholars progressively established a modern rule on which to shape their new discipline: balancing microscopical magnification with shared vision. This rule developed in response to the diminishing size of the microscopical object during the course of the eighteenth century, from dry minute organisms such as insects, to aquatic minute bodies such as polyps, and finally to aquatic invisible organisms, thus completing the scholar's quest to study the invisible. This book will be essential reading for historians of microscopy, epistemologists, and for historians of the life sciences in the modern period. |
From inside the book
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... tradition of the history of microscopy, which I shall outline briefly. Concerning the instrument, it is said that there was practically no optical improvement of the microscope in the eighteenth century. Yet, it was at this time that ...
... tradition of the history of microscopy, which I shall outline briefly. Concerning the instrument, it is said that there was practically no optical improvement of the microscope in the eighteenth century. Yet, it was at this time that ...
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... traditions. But historians have simply never known a vast majority of the mémoires analysed in this work. Much of this abundant material is new to academia and can be synthesized under the general category of the construction of a ...
... traditions. But historians have simply never known a vast majority of the mémoires analysed in this work. Much of this abundant material is new to academia and can be synthesized under the general category of the construction of a ...
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... traditions making use of the microscope – systematics and experimentalism. As fundamental interpretative tools, communication and cognition are discussed for each of these axes. Balancing the size and visibility of microscopical objects ...
... traditions making use of the microscope – systematics and experimentalism. As fundamental interpretative tools, communication and cognition are discussed for each of these axes. Balancing the size and visibility of microscopical objects ...
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... traditions During the Enlightenment , the microscope was used for both experimental and systematical purposes , and mostly in the natural sciences , as opposed to the mechanical sciences . Natural sciences deal with types of languages ...
... traditions During the Enlightenment , the microscope was used for both experimental and systematical purposes , and mostly in the natural sciences , as opposed to the mechanical sciences . Natural sciences deal with types of languages ...
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... tradition , known as systematics . Although distinct historiographic traditions split them in two fields , systematics and natural experimentalism will be discussed together , because they interacted strongly in Enlightenment ...
... tradition , known as systematics . Although distinct historiographic traditions split them in two fields , systematics and natural experimentalism will be discussed together , because they interacted strongly in Enlightenment ...
Contents
Insects Hermaphrodites and Ambiguity | |
Abraham Trembley the Polyp and New Directions for Microscopical | |
Research | |
The Disputes over Authority and Microscopical Observations | |
The Quantifying Spirit in Microscopical Research and Keeping Up with | |
The Emergence of the Systematics of Infusoria | |
The Microscopical | |
Conclusion | |
Bibliography | |
Prosopographical Index | |
Author Index | |
Other editions - View all
The Quest for the Invisible: Microscopy in the Enlightenment Dr Marc J Ratcliff Limited preview - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
Abraham Trembley Académie des sciences Academy animalcules animals antispontaneist Antonio Vallisneri Baker Bibliothèque Bibliothèque britannique Bonnet Buffon Buonanni Cestoni classification cochineal communication Corti Daumas discovery eighteenth century Ellis England English experimental experiments Folkes Fontana Fontenelle Fournier France French Geneva Geoffroy German lands Gleichen Goeze Histoire naturelle historians Huygens Ibid iconography infusions infusoria insects instrument makers invisible Italian Italy Joblot Johann Journal Journal des sçavans l'Académie royale Latin Ledermüller Leeuwenhoek Linnaeus London Lyonet magnification Malebranche Malpighi Marcello Malpighi marine Mémoires de l'Académie method micrometer microscope makers microscopical bodies microscopical object microscopical observations microscopical research Müller natural history naturalists Needham optical organisms Osservazioni microscopiche parthenogenesis Philosophical Transactions physique polyp programme published Réaumur Redi Roffredi Royal Society royale des sciences scholars sciences de Paris scientific object seventeenth-century shared simple microscope social Spallanzani species spontaneous synonymy Systema Naturae systematics tradition Trembley Trembley’s Trévoux Vallisneri vegetable Vorticella worms