This first full study of Erasmus Darwin's gardening, horticulture
and agriculture shows he was as keen a nature enthusiast as his
grandson Charles, and demonstrates the ways in which his landscape
experiences transformed his understanding of nature. Famous as the
author of the Botanic Garden (1791) and grandfather of Charles
Darwin (1809-1882), Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was a
larger-than-life enlightenment natural philosopher (scientist) and
writer who practised as a doctor across the English Midlands for
nearly half a century. A practical gardener and horticulturist,
Darwin created a botanic garden near Lichfield - which galvanised
his poetry - and kept other gardens, an orchard and small "farm" in
Derby. Informed by his medical practice and botanical studies,
Darwin saw many parallels between animals, plants and humans which
aroused hostility during the years of revolution, warfare and
reaction, but helped him to write Zoonomia (1794/96) and Phytologia
(1800) - his major studies of medicine, agriculture and gardening.
Captivated by the changing landscapes and environments of town and
country and supported by social networks such as those in Lichfield
and Derby, Darwin avidly exchanged ideas about plants, animals and
their diseases with family, patients, friends such as the poet Anna
Seward (1742-1809), farmers, fellow doctors, huntsmen and even the
local mole catcher. The is the first full study of Erasmus Darwin's
gardening, horticulture and agriculture. It shows him as keen a
nature enthusiast as his contemporary Rev. Gilbert White of
Selbourne (1720-1793) or his grandson Charles, fascinated with
everything from swarming insects and warring bees to domestic birds
and dogs, pigs and livestock on his farm to fungi growing from
horse dung in Derby tan yards. Ranging over his observations of
plant physiology and anatomy to the use of plant "bandages" in his
orchard and electrical machines to hasten seed germination to
explosive studies of vegetable "brains", nerves and sensations, the
book demonstrates the ways in which Erasmus Darwin's landscape and
garden experiences transformed his understanding of nature. They
provided him with insights into medicine and the environmental
causes of diseases, the classification of plants and animals,
chemistry, evolution, potential new medicines and foodstuffs and
the ecological interdependency of the natural economy. Like the
amorous vegetables of the Loves of the Plants (1789) which
fascinated, scandalised and titillated late Georgian society, the
many living creatures of Darwin's gardens and farm encountered in
this book were for him real, dynamic, interacting and evolving
beings who helped inspire and re-affirm his progressive social and
political outlook.
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