cabbagingcove:

Today in History - April 19

Downe, Kent, England, 1888

On April 19, 1888, Charles Robert Darwin passed away at Down House, in Downe, Kent, at age 73. He was active in the natural history community to his last, and was buried with great pomp and ceremony in Westminster Abbey, next to Isaac Newton and John Herschel.

Though his earlier works were clearly influential, one of his most accurate and long-standing books was his last - The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Earthworms. In fact, his observations on the anatomy and function of earthworms were so thorough that the species he covered in his book have largely been ignored in basic research until recently, when the concept and ability to test for “gut flora” (bacteria in the digestive system) arose in the early 2000s.

(via biomedicalephemera)

botanicatropicalia:

Hand Colored Engravings by J.F. Neumann.

(via scientificillustration)

biomedicalephemera:

Lunda cirrata [now Fratercula cirrhata] - Tufted Puffin

Like other puffins, tufted puffins have vastly different breeding and winter plumage, along with horny coverings on the bill during the breeding season.

Bulletin de la Societe Zoologique de France. 1879.

carolathhabsburg:

This is the first photographed woman ever, Dorothy Catherine Draper. Picture by her brother John William Draper, 1840

yama-bato:

Leonardo Da Vinci

via : http://beautywelove.blogspot.com/2011/10/contemplation.html

(via scientificillustration)

Gorgeous display of information. 

(via scientificillustration)

The Humble-Bee: Its Life History and How to Domesticate It. F. W. L. Sladen, 1912.

(Source: biomedicalephemera)

Title: Tartariae Maioris sive Asiaticae Tabula … . Tartarium Russicam, Tartariam Sinensem et Tar4tariaem Independente sive Rell Quam… 1730

Map Maker: Johann Mattheus Haas /   Homann Heirs

Place / Date: Nuremberg / 1730

Coloring: Hand Colored

Size: 21.5 x 18.5 inches

Description:

Rare early edition of Haas’ map shows of the Tartar regions of Asia.

Unlike later editions, this first edition has a cartouche in the upper left corner with a portrait of the Russian Czarina, Anna Ivanovna.

With title cartouche in the lower left corner, another title cartouche with title in French in the upper left and mileage scale in lower right.   This detailed map shows settlements, geographical features, and many overlapping regions, provinces and countries. The northern coastline shows a very indefinite, oversized Nova Zemlya and a conjectural eastern peninsula. Hokkaido is attached to both Sakhalin Island and to the mainland. A portion of the mythical Company’s Land remains to the East.  The map is dedicated to the Russian czarina, Anna Ivanovna.

The map is of interest for the use of East Sea, the sea between Korea and Japan, here called “Mere Orientale Minus.”

Title: [Untitled Map of the Continents]

Map Maker: Johann Baptiste Homann

Place / Date: Nuremberg / 1720

Coloring: Hand Colored

Size: 23 x 20 inches

Description:

Fascinating set of 4 maps of the Continents, which was included in some editions of Homann’s atlas.  Finely engraved, the map was likely a teaching tool. 

Shows many of hte great cartographic myths, including Island of California, Comagnie Land and the Northwest Passage.

Title: L’Asie divisee en ses Principales Regions et ou se peuvent voir l’estendue, Des Empires, Monarchies, Royaumes, et Estats qui partagent presentement …

Map Maker: Gerard Valk

Place / Date: Amsterdam / 1700

Coloring: Hand Colored

Size: 24 x 19.5 inches

Description:

Rare map of Asia, engraved by Gerard Valk in Amsterdam.

While many of Valk’s maps were re-issue of maps done by Blaeu, Visscher and other Dutch map makers, this map is his original work and shows the fine engraving style of the later Dutch engravers.

Title: Asia

Map Maker: Zacharias Heyns

Place / Date: Amsterdam / 1598

Coloring: Hand Colored

Size: 6.5 x 6 inches

Description:

Extremely rare 16th Century map Asia and part of the Unknown Southern Continent, published by Zacharias Heyns in his rare Le Miroir du Monde, ou, Epitome du Theatre d’Abraham Ortelius, published in Amsterdam in 1598.

Zacharias Heyns was the son of Peter Heyns, who wrote the rhyming text for Ortelius’ Spieghel Der Werelt, first published in 1577.  Zacharias Heyns Le Miroir du Monde …  was likely an attempt to continue the success of his father, although the maps bear no connection to Ortelius’ work. 

All of the maps for this work are woodcuts, making it one of the last atlases to employ this means of printing.  The atlas is highly sought after among collectors, prized for its rarity and the unique appearance of its maps. The second edition of 1615 is virtually unknown, with Koeman locating only 1 example at the Bibliotheque Nationale.

turnofthecentury:

Ernst Haeckel, German biologist and naturalist - Photograph by Nicola Perscheid (1864–1930) - Published in Photographische Gesellschaft, 1906

(via unnaturalist)

From Good.com. created by ColumnFive 

Title: A New Map of Asia from the latest Observations Most Humbly Inscrib’d to the Right Honbl. George Earl of Warrington &c.

Map Maker: John Senex

Place / Date: London / 1721

Coloring: Hand Colored

Size: 22 x 19 inches

Description:

Nice example of Senex’s map of Asia.

John Senex was one of England’s best known map makers at the beginning of the 18th Century, who was appointed Geographer to Queen Anne. This is a very attractive map of Asia, combining the latest information available to Senex with the many misconceptions of the continent prevalent in Europe at the time. Many rivers, towns, lake, roads, and other information is presented from the Urals to the East Indies.

The map tracks the currents in the Indian Ocean  by month and also notes the currents along the east coast of SE Asia and the Philippines.

An inset of “ye supposed N. Coast of Asia” is given in the lower left “to avoid too great a contraction of the scale.” The map is most confused in the seas to the north of Japan. The “Land of Iess” and “Company’s Land” are shown as indistinct and large land masses, and north of them is an open “Eastern Ocean.”  Senex includes a charming cartouche, which shows two figures in Asian dress, along with flora and fauna of the continent.

Title: Asia ex magna orbis terre descriptionie Gerardi Mercatori Desumpta studio et industria G.M. Iumioiris

Map Maker: Gerhard Mercator

Place / Date: Amsterdam / 1606

Coloring: Hand Colored

Description:

Full example of Mercator’s map of Asia. Includes an ornate cartouche and sailing ship.

The map was updated and the cartouche etc. changed in 1606.  The map is based upon Mercator’s World Map of 1569.