Nature in Ireland: A Scientific and Cultural HistoryJohn Wilson Foster, Helena C. G. Chesney Nature in Ireland is an indispensable reference source, containing definitive histories of Irish botany, mammalogy, entomology, fish and fisheries, geology, meteorology, ornithology, woodlands, demesnes, and bogs. The essays reclaim the study of nature as a major contribution to Irish culture and a significant field of Irish studies, drawing out the links between scientific study, history, art and popular culture. Seán Lysaght explores the question of nomenclature in a bilingual society; Michael Viney gives a lively critical history of hunting, shooting, and other field sports; Dorinda Outram examines the relationship between the standard continental models of natural history and the Irish experience; John Feehan writes of the challenges of conservation and environmentalism; J.H. Andrews presents the history of the mapping of Ireland's physical geography; David Cabot discusses the essential texts of Irish natural history; and in three magisterial essays editor John Wilson Foster traces the traditions associated with perceptions of Irish nature, elucidates the complex relationship of "nature and nation" in the nineteenth century, and, in "The Culture of Nature," takes us on a dazzling tour from Yeats, Wilde, Kavanagh, and Heaney to the cultural implications of eco-tourism, deep ecology, genetic engineering, and artificial life. The essays are accompanied by more that fifty photographs, maps, paintings, and engravings that illustrate the visual culture of Irish nature. In Nature in Ireland, the disciplinary boundaries that have partitioned the study of nature are cleared away with wit, style, and scrupulous scholarship. It is a landmark publication in the study of Irish history, science, and culture. |
Contents
ENCOUNTERING TRADITIONS | 23 |
THE EARLY NATURALISTS | 71 |
THE PROGRESS OF METEOROLOGY | 115 |
WOODLAND IN HISTORY AND CULTURE | 133 |
BOTANY IN IRELAND | 157 |
STUDY AND UTILIZATION | 184 |
MAPPING IRELANDS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY | 199 |
INSECTS AND ENTOMOLOGY | 219 |
ENLIGHTENMENT AND EDUCATION | 367 |
THE EVOLUTION DEBATE | 387 |
NATURE AND NATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY | 409 |
THE ISSUE OF NAMES | 440 |
ESSENTIAL TEXTS IN IRISH NATURAL HISTORY | 472 |
THE ART OF NATURE ILLUSTRATION | 497 |
WILD SPORTS AND STONE GUNS | 524 |
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DEMESNES | 549 |
MAMMALS AND MAMMALOGY | 241 |
BIRD STUDY IN IRELAND | 262 |
FISH AND FISHERIES | 283 |
NATURALISTS ABROAD | 308 |
THE CULTURE OF NATURE | 597 |
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS | 636 |
Other editions - View all
Nature in Ireland: A Scientific and Cultural History John Wilson Foster,Helena C. G. Chesney No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
Anglo-Irish animals Antrim areas became blanket bog bogs botanist botany Britain British Association Catholic Celtic Christian coast collection colour conservation Cork County cultural deer demesnes early eighteenth century England English entomologists expedition fauna Field Club fish fisheries flowers forests Gaelic Galway Geological Survey geologists Giraldus habitats Herries Davies Hibernica human hunting illustrated important insects interest Irish birds Irish flora Irish Naturalists Irish nature James John Journal land landscape later London Lough Macoun mammals modern names National native Natural History Nature in Ireland nineteenth century Northern Ireland observations Ordnance Survey parks Peatlands Philosophical plants political Praeger published records rivers Robert Robert Lloyd Praeger Robert Templeton rocks Royal Dublin Society Royal Irish Academy Royal Society salmon scientific scientists species specimens survived Templeton timber tion topographical tradition trees Trinity College Tyndall Ulster Museum University Press weather wild wildlife William wood woodland