Article ID: CBB385478624

Alfred Newton’s second-hand histories of extinction: Hearsay, gossip, misapprehension (2021)

unapi

The study of extinction was rooted in Victorian naturalists’ practices of observation and collection, but presented a challenge to the discipline’s increasing emphasis on empiricism and precision. This paper traces the role of witness testimony and hearsay accounts in early studies of extinction, as preserved in the notebooks of Cambridge zoology professor, Alfred Newton. Beginning in 1850s, Newton and his collaborators sought to trace the histories of suspected extinct species such as the British great bustard and the great auk of Iceland. With its subject absent by definition, the study of extinction relied on hearsay and rumour as well as evidence gleaned from past published accounts. Through methodical attempts to collate diverse and contradictory sources, from eyewitnesses to newspapers to local folklore and gossip, Newton demonstrated the inextricability of human activities from the practice of studying extinction. These attempts to resolve social evidence into scientific certainty were time and again frustrated by the uncertain epistemic status of his sources.

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Authors & Contributors
Karl Schulze-Hagen
Allen, Adrian Van
Ferme, Mariane
Hellawell, Philippa
Hicks, Daniel J.
Jenkins, Bill
Concepts
Extinction (biology)
Epistemology
Natural history
Evidence
Experience; witness
Conservation biology
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
21st century
18th century
Early modern
20th century, early
Places
Great Britain
Edinburgh
Madagascar
United States
New Zealand
Germany
Institutions
Royal Society of London
Wernerian Natural History Society
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