Mobile objects: the space of shells in eighteenth-century France
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 August 2006
Abstract
The frequent distinction made between scientific and purely amateur collections misrepresents the specificity of the field of eighteenth-century natural history. This paper argues that the extent and the boundaries of a scientific field can be determined only within the framework of concrete historical constellations of institutions, protagonists, practices and objects. By tracing the circulation of shells in eighteenth-century France, Paris in particular, between about 1735 and 1780, it becomes evident which individuals or groups actually came into contact with these shells; in what practices of collecting, describing and classification they were involved; and in what spaces they were displayed. Thus the contours of a constellation emerge which differ considerably from those drawn hitherto.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , September 2006 , pp. 363 - 382
- Copyright
- 2006 British Society for the History of Science
Footnotes
- 12
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