Botanophilia in Eighteenth-Century France: The Spirit of the Enlightenment

Front Cover
Springer Science & Business Media, Oct 31, 2001 - Art - 197 pages
The book describes the innovations that enabled botany, in the Eighteenth century, to emerge as an independent science, independent from medicine and herbalism. This encompassed the development of a reliable system for plant classification and the invention of a nomenclature that could be universally applied and understood. The key that enabled Linnaeus to devise his classification system was the discovery of the sexuality of plants. The book, which is intended for the educated general reader, proceeds to illustrate how many aspects of French life were permeated by this revolution in botany between about 1760 to 1815, a botanophilia sometimes inflated into botanomania. The reader should emerge with a clearer understanding of what the Enlightenment actually was in contrast to some popular second-hand ideas today.
 

Contents

Prologue
1
Sebastien Valliant and the Sexuality of Plants
9
Linnaeus Prince of Botanists
19
Bernard de Jussieu and the Petit Trianon
31
The Buffon Phenomenon
45
From Jussieu to Candolle
57
Plants and Medical Practices
71
The Amiable Science and Sensibility
87
Learned Societies and Eminent Botanophiles
121
The Blending of Science and Art
141
The Botanophiles Confront Deforestation
162
Epilogue
174
Finale
177
Bibliography
179
Index
192
Copyright

Public Botanophilias Floras
102

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