Strangely beautiful, utterly unique, "Specimens of Hair" presents
the obsessive work of a 19th-century amateur naturalist who
collected hundreds upon hundreds of specimens of hair--animal and
human, Including thirteen of the first fourteen U.S. presidents--in
his quest to understand the mysteries of the natural world. No
matter who we are, old or young, fashion conscious or style
indifferent, we are all aware of hair. We wash it; we comb it; we
cut, curl, and dye it. Hair can be envied or derided, and hair can
provide clues to everything from age to culture to genetic identity
to health. To a nineteenth-century amateur naturalist named Peter
A. Browne, hair was of paramount importance: he believed it was the
single physical attribute that could unravel the mystery of human
evolution. Thirty years before Charles Darwin revolutionized
understanding of the descent of man, Browne vigorously collected
for study what he called the "pile" (from the Latin word for hair,
pilus) of as wide a variety of humans (and animals) as possible in
his quest to account for the differences and similarities between
groups of humans. The result of his diligent, obsessive work is a
fastidious, artfully assembled twelve-volume archive of mammalian
diversity. Browne's growing quest for knowledge became an
all-consuming specimen-collecting passion. By the time of his death
in 1860, Browne had assembled samples from innumerable wild and
domestic animals, as well as the largest known study collection of
human hair. He obtained hair from people from all parts of the
globe and all walks of life: artists, scientists, abolitionist
ministers, doctors, writers, politicians, financiers, military
leaders, and even prisoners, sideshow performers, and lunatics. His
crowning achievement was a gathering of hair from thirteen of the
first fourteen presidents of the United States. The pages of his
albums, some spare, some ornately decorated, many printed ducit
amor patriae-led by love of country-are distinctly idiosyncratic,
captivating, and powerfully evocative of a vanished world. Browne's
albums have been sequestered in the archives of the Academy of
Natural Sciences in Philadelphia to which Brown bequeathed them,
narrowly escaping destruction in the 1970s. They are a unique
manifestation of the avid collecting instinct in nineteenth-century
scientific endeavors to explain the mysteries of the natural world.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
