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Buffon, Edwards and Jacobsen


Buffon "Long Nosed Monkey" c.1791

Gregory Jacobsen "Puffy Saddlebags #21" 2005

Buffon "Long Nosed Monkey" c.1791

     

George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707 - 1788)
Historie Naturelle
générale et particulière avec la decriptio  du cabinet du Roi

George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a wealthy French aristocrat, educated in law and medicine, but found his true passions were nature and philosophy.  Buffon understood the value of knowledge, empirical study and critical thinking; his self-imposed mission was to further man’s understanding of nature and introduce the incredible variety and wonders of the natural word to the people of France.  Toward this end, in 1749 he began publishing the extensive cabinet of natural history of Louis XV under the title, “Historie Naturelle générale et particulière avec la decription du cabinet du Roi.”  The enormous project would result in 44 volumes and continue publishing after Buffon’s death.  “Historie Naturelle” was eventually published in many editions, translated into a number of languages and became an international success.

Buffon’s use of his social status, privilege and education to seek the truth and further current understanding of all aspects of life – on this planet and beyond – was unique.  In 1788, Buffon published, “
Les Epoques de la Nature” theorizing the age of the Earth to be much older than the Church ordained 6000 years.  He openly questioned the accepted theories of his day and hit upon early notions of man’s evolution through the similarities of ape and human ancestry 100 years before the published work of Charles Darwin.  In “Evolution of the Species,” forward to the sixth edition, Darwin notes, "the first author who in modern times has treated it [Natural Selection] in a scientific spirit was Buffon."

 

Gregory Jacobsen "Snakes Stuffed"   Comte de Buffon c. "White Banded Patas"   Jacobsen "Roast Beef Round the Neck"


Sydenham Edwards (1768 - 1819)
A Complete Dictionary of Practical Gardening
(1806)

Jacobsen "Roving Pile" Sydenham Edwards "Crowned Fritillary" Jacobsen "Fungating Nodules" & "Maggoty Teratoma"


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