A reprint of a classical work in the Cambridge Library Collection.
C. E. Raven (1885-1964) was an academic theologian elected Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge in 1932, who developed an interest in natural history and the history of scientific thought. First published in 1947, English Naturalists from Neckam to Ray demonstrates how changing attitudes to the natural world reflected and influenced the transformations in scientific thought between the medieval period and the eighteenth century.
Raven's focus on the field of 'natural history' reveals how the scientific ideas behind modern biological studies developed from the richly illustrated and often fantastical bestiaries of the medieval world. The subjects of this volume are grouped chronologically into Pioneers, Explorers and Popularisers, with biographical details woven together with discussions of their academic work. English Naturalists from Neckam to Ray provided a wealth of new information concerning the founders of natural history and remains a valuable contribution to this subject.
Preface
A. The Prelude
1. Nature and medieval science
2. Nature and medieval art
B. The Pioneers
3. The men of the Renaissance
4. William Turner: his training
5. William Turner in exile
6. William Turner in maturity
7. William Turner, scientist
8. John Caius and the Rariorum Animalium
9. Thomas Penny the botanist
10. Thomas Mouffet and the Theatrum Insectorum
C. The Popularisers
11. Harrison, Batman and Lyte
12. John Gerard
13. Edward Topsell
D. The Explorers
14. The dawn of the 'New Philosophy'
15. John Parkinson
16. Thomas Johnson and his friends
17. William How and Christopher Merret
E. Epilogue
18. The coming of modern man: Religio Medici
Indexes