Utopia's Garden
eBook - PDF

Utopia's Garden

French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Utopia's Garden

French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution

About this book

The royal Parisian botanical garden, the Jardin du Roi, was a jewel in the crown of the French Old Regime, praised by both rulers and scientific practitioners. Yet unlike many such institutions, the Jardin not only survived the French Revolution but by 1800 had become the world's leading public establishment of natural history: the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle.

E. C. Spary traces the scientific, administrative, and political strategies that enabled the foundation of the Muséum, arguing that agriculture and animal breeding rank alongside classification and collections in explaining why natural history was important for French rulers. But the Muséum's success was also a consequence of its employees' Revolutionary rhetoric: by displaying the natural order, they suggested, the institution could assist in fashioning a self-educating, self-policing Republican people. Natural history was presented as an indispensable source of national prosperity and individual virtue.

Spary's fascinating account opens a new chapter in the history of France, science, and the Enlightenment.

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Yes, you can access Utopia's Garden by E. C. Spary,Emma C. Spary in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & French History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. List of Illustrations
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. List of Abbreviations
  5. Introduction
  6. Chapter One: The Place of "Histoire naturelle" at the Jardin du Roi
  7. Chapter Two: Acting at a Distance: Andre Thouin and the Function of Botanical Networks
  8. Chapter Three: Naturalizing the Tree of Liberty: Generation, Degeneration, and Regeneration in the Jardin du Roi
  9. Chapter Four: Patronage, Community, and Power: Strategies of Self-Presentation in New Regimes
  10. Chapter Five: The Spectacle of Nature: The Museum d'Histoire Naturelle and the Jacobins
  11. Conclusion: Possible Futures
  12. Appendix
  13. Bibliography
  14. Index