A history of the earth and animated nature /

The faces of politeness: Facial hair, masculinity and culture in the long eighteenth century

“…121 A century later, the novelist and poet Oliver Goldsmith argued that variation in the manner of wearing beards was an important distinction between races, noting that 'every nation seems to have entertained diff erent prejudices at diff erent times' towards facial hair. 122 Geographical compendiums, such as Michael Adams's New Royal Geographical Magazine (1794) routinely recorded facial appearance, including facial hair, alongside other characteristics. 123 Th e power of beards as measures of mental acuity and racial 'value' varied.…”

Coloniality, clonality, and modularity in animals: The elephant in the room

“…A. Trembley (1710–1784) and J. Ellis (1710–1776), among others, worked on cnidarians (“animal‐flowers”) and sponges and offered arguably convincing evidence that these species were “compound animals” (Ellis, 1767; Trembley, 1986). This body of zoological studies was later reviewed in popular natural history volumes to help to establish the zoophytes as animals in the minds of naturalists (Buffon, 1804, 1749; Goldsmith, 1774; reviewed by Gibson, 2012).…”

Scott and the Romantic Dog

“…19 In An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature (1774) Oliver Goldsmith explains the role of the dog in the civilising process: 'In order to be secure, and to become master of all animated nature, it was necessary for [man] to begin by making a friend of a part' of the animal creation: 'Thus the first art employed by man, was in conciliating the favour of the dog; and the fruits of this art were, the conquest and peaceable possession of the earth.' 20 The dog mediates between culture and nature, in order to facilitate human domination of the environment. Insofar as the Waverley novels are informed by a stadial view of progress, the dog may help to trace the civilising process.…”