Utopia's garden French natural history from Old Regime to Revolution / [electronic resource] :
E.C. Spary.
- University of Chicago Press, c2000.
- 1 online resource (xv, 321 p.) : ill., maps.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-310).
The Place of Histoire naturelle at the Jardin du Roi -- Acting at a Distance: Andre Thouin and the Function of Botanical Networks -- Naturalizing the Tree of Liberty: Generation, Degeneration, and Regeneration in the Jardin du Roi -- Patronage, Community, and Power: Strategies of Self-Presentation in New Regimes -- The Spectacle of Nature: The Museum d'Histoire Naturelle and the Jacobins -- Conclusion: Possible Futures.
The royal Parisian botanical garden, the Jardin du Roi, was a jewel in the crown of the French Old Regime, praised by both rulers and scientific practitioners. Yet unlike many such institutions, the Jardin not only survived the French Revolution but by 1800 had become the world's leading public establishment of natural history: the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle. E.C. Spary traces the scientific, administrative, and political strategies that enabled the foundation of the Muséum, arguing that agriculture and animal breeding rank alongside classification and collections in explaining why natural history was important for French rulers.