The Platypus & the Mermaid: And Other Figments of the Classifying Imagination - Hardcover

Ritvo, Harriet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674673573 ISBN 13: 9780674673571

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1997

Synopsis

"Cats is 'dogs', and rabbits is 'dogs', and so's parrots; but this 'ere 'tortis' is a insect", a porter explains to an astonished traveler in a 19th-century "Punch" cartoon. Railways were not the only British institution to schematize the world. This book aims to capture the fervor of the Victorian age for classifying and categorizing every new specimen, plant or animal, that British explorers and soldiers and sailors brought home. As she depicts a whole complex of competing groups deploying rival schemes and nomenclatures, Harriet Ritvo shows us a society drawing and redrawing its own boundaries and ultimately identifying itself. The experts (whether calling themselves naturalists, zoologists, or comparative anatomists) agreed on their superior authority if nothing else, but the laymen had their say and Ritvo shows us a world in which butchers and artists, farmers and showmen vied to impose order on the wild profusion of nature. Sometimes assumptions or preoccupations overlapped; sometimes open disagreement or hostility emerged, exposing fissures in the social fabric or contested cultural territory. Of the greatest interest were creatures that confounded or crossed established categories; in the discussions provoked by these mishaps, monstrosities, and hybrids we can see ideas about human society about the sexual proclivities of women, for instance, or the imagined hierarchy of nations and races. An account of taxonomy as zoological classification and as anthropological study, this book offers a new perspective on the constantly shifting, ever suggestive interactions of scientific lore, cultural ideas, and the popular imagination.

About this title

Review

Ritvo's is an insightful look at the development of English zoology and its strong ties to cultural context.

ÝAn¨ entertaining and often hilarious story of how 19th-century scientists and philosophers tried to come to terms with the complex problem of classifying living things...The subject is of enduring interest and the book is the first I have encountered that deals with it so thoroughly and accurately. -- Harry Miller "Times Higher Education Supplement"

ÝAn¨ engaging, offbeat book..."The Platypus and the Mermaid" is a study of a wide range of classificatory practices in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Ritvo is particularly interested in the interplay between learned and popular writing...I have thoroughly enjoyed Ritvo's entertaining and informative tour of both the highroads and the hedgerows of natural history. -- Stefan Collini "New York Times Book Review"

ÝRitvo's¨ learning is wide and unusual, her book a bran tub stuffed with obscure authors and diverse beliefs, where science mingles with prejudice, and sense with silliness...The huge range of out-of-the-way evidence that Ritvo brings to bear on her theme is impressive and absorbing...ÝThe book¨ explores the fascinating question of how far we shape language to fit our behavior and how far language shapes us. -- Richard Jenkyns "New York Review of Books"

embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys.

animals, making for thought-provoking and entertaining reading.

book is the first I have encountered that deals with it so thoroughly and accurately.

make this an essential classic for all those interested in the wider issues of taxonomy.

[Ritvo's] is an entertaining and enormously informative book. I can only join the chorus.

culture [and] is a compelling reminder of the politics and prejudice that fired the classifying imagination.

From the Back Cover

This book captures the fervor of the Victorian age for classifying and categorizing every new specimen, plant or animal, that British explorers and soldiers and sailors brought home. As she depicts a whole complex of competing groups deploying rival schemes and nomenclatures, Harriet Ritvo shows us a society drawing and redrawing its own boundaries and ultimately identifying itself. A thoroughly absorbing account of taxonomy - as zoological classification and as anthropological study - The Platypus and the Mermaid offers a new perspective on the constantly shifting, ever suggestive interactions of scientific lore, cultural ideas, and the popular imagination.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674673573
• ISBN 13: 9780674673571
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 298