Author Description

The Work Offers A View Of The Social And Cultural Context For Collecting Of Natural History In Late 17th Century England. It Seeks To Show The Continuing Intrinsic Connection Between Chorography, Antiquarianism, Natural History And Even Applied Mathematics, And The Interest Of Such Matters For The University Of Oxford. An Introductory Chapter Places Chorography In Its European Cosmological Context Before Looking At Details Of Its Study In Both Its Antiquarian And Practical Aspects In Early Modern England, And The Methods By Which It Was Pursued There. Parallels Are Drawn With Similar Activity In France And Germany. In The Following Chapters, Through An Account Of The Work Of Robert Plot, The Way In Which His Writings Established A New Form Of Chorographical Natural History Investigation And Writing Is Described, And How This Work Fed Into, And In Part Provoked, The Foundation Of The Ashmolean Museum As A Noncollegiate, University Institution, In Oxford. Activity In The Museum During Its Early Years Is Described As Is The Work Of The Philosophical Society That Met Within It. The Composition Of This Body Is Analysed-- Provided By Publisher.