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Alexander
von Humboldt, Cosmos, 1858
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) did not envision nature, as
some claim, as a static taxonomy, but rather, as a physiology.
In Cosmos, his last great, synthetic work, he describes the evolution
of the Universe, Solar System, and the Earth as the “universal
fluctuation of phenomena.” He believed that “the discovery
of every separate law of nature leads to the establishment of
more general laws” and considered Nature as “that
which is ever growing and ever unfolding itself into new forms.”
Reflecting on the immense variety of organic forms, he saw in
the periodic transformation of animal and vegetable productions,
the primordial mystery of all organic development--that same great
problem of Metamorphosis.” |
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Erasmus
Darwin, Zoonomia, 1793 |
Charles
Darwin, On the Formation of Vegetable Matter by Worms, 1881 |
Alexander
von Humboldt, Cosmos, 1858 |
Dumas
and Boussingault, Balance of Organic Matter, 1844 |
Ferdinand
Cohn, Bacteria, The Smallest Living Beings, 1872 |
Louis
Pasteur, Etudes sur la Biere, 1862 |
Selman
Waksman, Sergei Winogradsky, 1953 |
Selman
Waksman, Humus, 1939 |
Vladimir
Vernadsky, Principles of Biogeochemistry, 1960 |
James
Lovelock, An Homage to Gaia, 1985 |
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Lloyd
Ackert
Whitney Humanities Center
Yale University
53 Wall Street
P.O. Box 208298
New Haven, CT 06520-8298
Office: (203).432.3112
lloydackert@sbcglobal.net |
The
Sterling Memorial Exhibit is located in the Overflow Case
to the left of the circulation desk. The Sterling Memorial
Library is located at
120 High Street
Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520
Map, Directions
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