Overview

"""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."

Full Product Details

Author:   Harriet Ritvo
Publisher:   Harvard University Press
Imprint:   Harvard University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.530kg
ISBN:  

9780674673571

ISBN 10:   0674673573
Pages:   298
Publication Date:   01 October 1997
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

Reviews

Ritvo's is an insightful look at the development of English zoology and its strong ties to cultural context. �An� 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 �An� 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 �Ritvo'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...�The 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. evidence that Ritvo brings to bear on her theme is impressive and absorbing...[The book] explores the fascinating question of how far we shape language to fit our behavior and how far language shapes us. 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. Like a dimsum restaurant, The Platypus and the Mermaid offers an enormous variety of tidbits...The reviews in the world's two leading weeklies of science both agreed...that [Ritvo's] is an entertaining and enormously informative book. I can only join the chorus. [An] 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. In The Platypus and the Mermaid, Harriet Ritvo explores some of the motives, reasonable and otherside, underlying British classifications of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...Anybody who reads it will be fascinated by all the curiosities Ritvo has assembled...[Her] book is worth reading for its erudition and charm and for her perceptive observations on the social and political motives embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys. Like a dimsum restaurant, The Platypus and the Mermaid offers an enormous variety of tidbits...The reviews in the world's two leading weeklies of science both agreed...that [Ritvo's] is an entertaining and enormously informative book. I can only join the chorus. -- Herman Reichenbach International Zoo News [UK] [An] 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 [An] 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 [Ritvo'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...[The 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 In The Platypus and the Mermaid, Harriet Ritvo explores some of the motives, reasonable and otherside, underlying British classifications of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...Anybody who reads it will be fascinated by all the curiosities Ritvo has assembled...[Her] book is worth reading for its erudition and charm and for her perceptive observations on the social and political motives embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys. -- Matt Cartmill Natural History Ritvo's study of 18th- and 19th- century British taxonomic practices is premised on the belief--repeatedly espoused by anthropologists--that classification of important objects such as animals can reveal as much about the classifiers as about the classified. The way we order the world reflects how we think about it...This book provides an extremely rich and detailed collection of vignettes illustrating the many ways that Victorian thought of animals, making for thought-provoking and entertaining reading. -- Sherrie Lyons Science This racy, erudite study of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century taxonomy reminds us that classification reveals at least as much about the classifiers as the classified. Moving deftly from the practice and language of science towards popular attitudes, The Platypus and the Mermaid takes on hybrids, monsters, freaks and culinary choice...[It] offers a highly entertaining account of the interactions of science and culture [and] is a compelling reminder of the politics and prejudice that fired the classifying imagination. -- Angelique Richardson Times Literary Supplement Harriet Ritvo's theme is classification, but in the vernacular tradition rather than the classically biological. Her knowledge is prodigious, and she is not afraid to speak out on arcane topics...Ritvo has written an authoritative and compelling book filled with often bizarre and sometimes macabre accounts of how humans divide up their world. Every statement and quotation has full references in the end notes to the pages and her erudition should make this an essential classic for all those interested in the wider issues of taxonomy. -- Juliet Clutton-Brock New Scientist In The Platypus and the Mermaid , Harriet Ritvo explores some of the motives, reasonable and otherside, underlying British classifications of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...Anybody who reads it will be fascinated by all the curiosities Ritvo has assembled...[Her] book is worth reading for its erudition and charm and for her perceptive observations on the social and political motives embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys. -- Matt Cartmill Natural History

In The Platypus and the Mermaid , Harriet Ritvo explores some of the motives, reasonable and otherside, underlying British classifications of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...Anybody who reads it will be fascinated by all the curiosities Ritvo has assembled...[Her] book is worth reading for its erudition and charm and for her perceptive observations on the social and political motives embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys. -- Matt Cartmill Natural History

In The Platypus and the Mermaid , Harriet Ritvo explores some of the motives, reasonable and otherside, underlying British classifications of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...Anybody who reads it will be fascinated by all the curiosities Ritvo has assembled...[Her] book is worth reading for its erudition and charm and for her perceptive observations on the social and political motives embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys. -- Matt Cartmill Natural History [An] 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 [An] 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 [Ritvo'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...[The 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 Harriet Ritvo's theme is classification, but in the vernacular tradition rather than the classically biological. Her knowledge is prodigious, and she is not afraid to speak out on arcane topics...Ritvo has written an authoritative and compelling book filled with often bizarre and sometimes macabre accounts of how humans divide up their world. Every statement and quotation has full references in the end notes to the pages and her erudition should make this an essential classic for all those interested in the wider issues of taxonomy. -- Juliet Clutton-Brock New Scientist In The Platypus and the Mermaid, Harriet Ritvo explores some of the motives, reasonable and otherside, underlying British classifications of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...Anybody who reads it will be fascinated by all the curiosities Ritvo has assembled...[Her] book is worth reading for its erudition and charm and for her perceptive observations on the social and political motives embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys. -- Matt Cartmill Natural History Like a dimsum restaurant, The Platypus and the Mermaid offers an enormous variety of tidbits...The reviews in the world's two leading weeklies of science both agreed...that [Ritvo's] is an entertaining and enormously informative book. I can only join the chorus. -- Herman Reichenbach International Zoo News [UK] Ritvo's study of 18th- and 19th- century British taxonomic practices is premised on the belief--repeatedly espoused by anthropologists--that classification of important objects such as animals can reveal as much about the classifiers as about the classified. The way we order the world reflects how we think about it...This book provides an extremely rich and detailed collection of vignettes illustrating the many ways that Victorian thought of animals, making for thought-provoking and entertaining reading. -- Sherrie Lyons Science This racy, erudite study of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century taxonomy reminds us that classification reveals at least as much about the classifiers as the classified. Moving deftly from the practice and language of science towards popular attitudes, The Platypus and the Mermaid takes on hybrids, monsters, freaks and culinary choice...[It] offers a highly entertaining account of the interactions of science and culture [and] is a compelling reminder of the politics and prejudice that fired the classifying imagination. -- Angelique Richardson Times Literary Supplement [An] 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. In The Platypus and the Mermaid, Harriet Ritvo explores some of the motives, reasonable and otherside, underlying British classifications of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...Anybody who reads it will be fascinated by all the curiosities Ritvo has assembled...[Her] book is worth reading for its erudition and charm and for her perceptive observations on the social and political motives embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys. Like a dimsum restaurant, The Platypus and the Mermaid offers an enormous variety of tidbits...The reviews in the world's two leading weeklies of science both agreed...that [Ritvo's] is an entertaining and enormously informative book. I can only join the chorus. animals, making for thought-provoking and entertaining reading. book is the first I have encountered that deals with it so thoroughly and accurately. culture [and] is a compelling reminder of the politics and prejudice that fired the classifying imagination. embedded in the scientific doctrines she surveys. evidence that Ritvo brings to bear on her theme is impressive and absorbing...[The book] explores the fascinating question of how far we shape language to fit our behavior and how far language shapes us. make this an essential classic for all those interested in the wider issues of taxonomy. 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. [Ritvo's] is an entertaining and enormously informative book. I can only join the chorus. YAn 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 YAn 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 YRitvo'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...YThe 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 Ritvo's is an insightful look at the development of English zoology and its strong ties to cultural context.

This wide-ranging study of the heroic age of scientific classification attempts - with only partial success - to place the taxonomic advances and prejudices of 18th- and 19th-century England in a broader cultural context. MIT historian Ritvo (The Animal Estate, 1987) first analyzes the politics and broader allegiances that clouded the objectivity of zoologists who embraced the gargantuan task of ordering the biological world, even as British imperialism was rapidly expanding their knowledge of that world. The author exhaustively details the unprofessional behavior scientists resorted to for personal gain (such as needlessly inventing new species and naming them after their employers). Then she expands her definition of taxonomy to include the informal classification of animals by amateur naturalists, groups with specialized relationships to animals (like farmers, breeders, hunters, and pet owners), and the general meat-eating public. Ritvo persuasively argues that each of the ways . . . people imagined, discussed, and treated animals inevitably implied some taxonomic structure. Her analysis of how British sportsmen classified wild animals as game or vermin points to a more fundamental and still prevalent assumption that nature exists solely for human entertainment. Similarly, her analysis of the conflicts between hunters, farmers, and pet owners over the proper role of wild animals describes a cultural battle yet raging. Too often, though, Ritvo shies away from social analysis with a sense of propriety rivaling that of her Victorian subjects. Her introduction notes that worries about the concupiscence of human females structured the theory and practice of animal breeding ; in the text these worries are mentioned only briefly, and Victorian attitudes about female sexuality are dodged entirely. This hit-and-miss social commentary, combined with a penchant for inflated academic language (allayed only slightly by period cartoons), sabotages Ritvo's goal of illuminating the cultural ramifications of Enlightenment zoology. (Kirkus Reviews)

The Victorians were great classifiers: taxonomy was an art form in itself in the 19th century. This was also a period in which a great deal of new information was discovered about the natural world thanks to voyages of Darwin and the endeavours of an increasingly professional scientific community. This unconventional and absorbing book examines the way in which very different groups within society, from zoologists to butchers, circus entertainers to artists, categorized and regarded the different types of animals. In doing so it sheds much light on the beliefs, values and prejudices of the contemporary mind. (Kirkus UK)

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