Science Writing in the Romantic Era 1770-1837: Volume I: Human Nature

This volume features some of the most controversial and topical science writing of the period. Investigations of the human body led to vexed debates about the nature and origins of life – materialism vs. spiritualism. Anatomical studies demonstrated humans’ likeness to other mammals; these, combined with studies of fossil bones of extinct creatures, led to theories of evolution that laid the groundwork for Charles Darwin; they also led to arguments about the origins and development of racial difference, some of which proved historically dangerous in that they lent authority to racist assumptions about the supposed inferiority of people of colour.