"For Every Beast of The Forest Is Mine" by Rachel Roth

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UBC Undergraduate Journal of Art History Issue 2 | 2011

“For Every Beast of the t he Forest Forest is Mine Mine”: ”: Children’s Books and Science Education in the  Age of Enlightenment Rachel Roth

 !omas

Boreman’s  A Description of ree Hundred Animals , first published in 1730, is recognized as the earliest zoological book written expressly for English children. 1  As  As the

market for children’s print culture grew throughout the eighteenth century, so did the demand for books designed as educational tools.2   In the account that follows, I will examine how children’s book culture, particularly a 1795 edition of  A Description of ree Hundred Animals , illuminates the discourse surrounding the education of young children in the eighteenth century within the larger framework of the Enlightenment period.  !is includes the changing schema of the child and childhood, the philosophical movement towards science as a foundation for knowledge, and ideas of British nationalism and industry.   Seventeenth-cent Seventeenth-century ury philosopher John Locke is widely recognized as one one  of the most influential thinkers on education in the eighteenth century; his writings, most notably Some oughts Concerning Education  Education  (1693), were “practically biblical” in England. 3   Locke’s pedagogy stemmed from the emerging cultural belief that a child’s character was not innate, but developed in response to their environment and education.4  Once this idea gained acceptance, there followed a social responsibility to improve upon preexisting educational practices.  !ough some critics accused Locke of “‘despiritualizing’ childhood,”5   the new framework of the child, which was based on the concept of the child’s mind as a void “white paper” to be moulded, was nevertheless extremely popular.6  1 

Harriet Ritvo, “Learning from Animals: Natural History for Children in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” Children’s Literature  13  13 (1985): 72. 2  Ibid.



Samuel F. Pickering, John Locke and   (London, and Children’s Children’s Books Books in Eight Eighteenth-Century eenth-Century England  (London, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1981), 9. 4 Ibid.



Margaret J.M. Ezell, “John Locke’s Images of Childhood: Early Eighteenth Century Response to Some  !oughts Concerning Education,”  Eighteenth Eighteenth-Century Century Studies  17,  17, no. 2 (1983–1984): 141. 6 Ibid., 149.

 

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 !e

national push for education was particularly radical in that it marked children as rational and individual, and legitimized childhood as a stage of development. 7 As Locke put it, young people ought not to be hindered “from being Children, or from playing, or doing as Children.”8    !e works of the philosopher Rousseau promoted similar ideas, emphasizing the lifelong importance of the “sensations” and “impressions” encountered during childhood. 9  !

  e “discovery” of childhood, tthat hat is, the growing social awareness surrounding the concept, inevitably led to an increase in both literary and artistic representations of children.10  As argued by Rosenthal, the so-called infant academies of the late eighteenth century conveyed “more deeply rooted anxieties about the childhood of creativity [and] the origins of artistic genius,” and also brought “childhood into the public and popular realm in a way that [began] to challenge notions of the assumed superior adult self.”11   !ese very conflicts began to manifest in art exhibitions, where young children and infants were depicted performing professional and proficient artistic work.12  Some pieces, such as Joshua Reynolds’s 1782 work, Children ( e Infant Academy ), ), border on mocking the concept by emphasizing the sexual insinuations and general silliness of such images.13  However,, for an artist like Reynolds, childhood also represented a sense of innocence that However permitted children to genuinely see nature at its purest—an interest that was at the forefront of Enlightenment concerns. It was a common viewpoint that any such artist needed to “unlearn” and revert to a childlike perspective in order to perceive truths about the world.14   !e changing ideas of both what it meant to be a child and what it meant to be an adult resulted in something of a paradox within the discourse surrounding the significance of childhoo childhood in the eighteenth century. Society seemed to be at once for and against education. However, despite Locke’s agreement that children were fundamentally “blank,” he and many other writers interested in childhood education believed children ought to be shaped by proper knowledge.  !us, they would not remain “blank” but develop in accordancee with the information they learned ffrom accordanc rom their education, and the world around them.  !erefore, it would have been unlikely that thinkers such as Locke would ha ve ha ve   advocated returning to this state of relative openness in adulthood, and consequently  would not have agreed with the artists’ claim that children necessaril y  y have a more complete knowledge of nature.   Instructional children children’s ’s books that were designed for educating young children at  at   home began to incorporate scientific subjects soon after the sciences became part of 7  8  9

Ez eell, ll, 152. Ibid., 154.

Larry Wol" , “When I Imagine a Child:  !e Idea of Childhood and the Philosophy of Memory in the Enlightenment,” E iighteenth-Century ghteenth-Century Studies 31, no. 4 (1998): 377. 10 Ibid., 380.

11

 Angela Rosenthal, Rosenthal, “Infant  “Infant Academies and the Childhood of Art: Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun's ‘Julie with a Mirror,’” Eighteenth-C  37, no. 4 (2004): 614.  Eighteenth-Century entury Studies  37, 12 Ibid.

13 14

Ibid. Ibid., 615.

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Rachel Roth

public culture in the eighteenth century.  !is was indicative of the fact that scientific discourse was becoming less controversial amongst adults, and therefore a suitably polite subject for children.15   Eighteenth-cen Eighteenth-century tury children had the unique experience of becoming one of the first generations of people to spend their childhoods reading children’s children’s books, an and d would later apply this experience to their adult education. Eighteenth-century children’s print media (particularly science books) was therefore significant in that it both reflected modern society and a" ected ected the educational development of the next generation. Indeed, this unprecedented form of print culture began to foster a new kind of future by helping to create a new audience, varying in age, class, and gender gender,, for ideological changes occurring in the eighteenth century. Books such as the popular Evenings popular Evenings at Home  (1792–   (1792– 96) by Anna Barbauld and her brother John Aikin, which emphasized aspects of Enlightenment philosophies such as natural rights and encouraging children’ children’s empirical inquiries, were widely read among dissenting families, who were not aligned with the Church of England. Competing for educational space, however however,, were religious critics such as Sarah Trimmer, Trimmer, who believed the sciences were too philosophical for ch children ildren and even dangerous.16   Trimmer’s writings, such as her 1780 book  An easy introduction to the knowledge of nature, and reading the Holy Scriptures, adapted to the capacities of children, children , depicted the natural world as “awe-inspiring, and full of evidence of divine foresight, foresigh t,   beneficence,, and design,” as opposed to a realm of scientific fact.17 beneficence    !e Christian catechism of attributing adult speeches to child characters, used in literature quite seriously seriously,, serves as as th  thee contrast to depictions of children performing adult activities in the infant academies.18  Traditionally, catechism was a didactic practice that taught children to give a single, correc correct, t, and detailed answer upon being asked a series of predetermined religious and secular questions by an adult. Little Little importance importance was given to  whether the child actually understood the meaning of what they were being asked.19  Books like  Evenings at Home , however, deviated from this formula by basing their educationall schema on more modern ideas of epistemology, such as knowledge being educationa founded on a partnership of observation (or empiricism) and reason. 20   !rough these sorts of books, children were not only permitted to read about the sciences, they were encouraged to  participate   in the sciences themselves, thereby gaining a richer understanding than would have been obtained through traditional catechism.21   While the written content of children children’s ’s books openly exemplified the shifting pedagogical and philosophical values of the eighteenth century, the illustrations and

15 

Aileen Fyfe, “Reading Children’s Books in Late Eighteenth-Century Dissenting Families,” e  43 (2000): 454. Historical Journal  43 16  Ibid., 460.

17 18  19  20 21

Ibid.  !ese

functioned as functioned as allegorical explorations of the artist, or were even made in jest.

Fyfe, 470. Ibid. Ibid.

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material nature of children’s books marked many of these shifts in their own right. 22  Locke’s theories about the act of reading explain a process wherein a child comes into contact with “initially unintelligible phenomena” (i.e. words) and gradually comes to connect this “materiality” to tangible things in the world which the child already knows.23  Brown notes that in suggesting that books ought to have pictures, Locke “is not only acknowledging acknowledg ing visual pleasure and the pedagogical uses of pleasure, but more importantly 24

presenting reading as an encounter between readers and objects.”   Publishers like Newbery often produced child-size books, making them both more attractive and accessible.25  In this way, educational material literally became something that every child could handle and make their own. In addition to this basic connection between tangibility and interactivity there were also movable books called metamorphoses, which which had already been popular for several centuries. Metamorphoses incorporated folded pages that the reader could open or close to create pictures and follow a narrative, thereby further participating with the materiality of the book itself. 26   !ese “movables” became a feature almost exclusive to children’s books by the nineteenth century, exemplifying what Locke recognized as the significance of materiality not only in education, but ultimately in the identification of children as children rather than as ad adults in the making. 27   However However,, Locke did not advocate unquestioning reliance on visual material for stock knowledge. In the spirit of empiricism, he encouraged child readers to scrutinize the books and images themselves and, using reason both with and against the material, use books as a means of developing the skills required to think for oneself. 28   !e adult was meant to explicate a picture for the child by pointing it out and remarking upon it, and in this way the child would begin to understand the notion of a frame of reference, permitting them to compare the material with their previous knowledge knowled ge   or experience.  !e child’s discovery of these correlations between print material and the world around them, between the information in the book and the additional guidance supplied by an adult, and between the pictures and the print within the material itself all instantiate the illustrated book’s book’s role as an initiator of conversation.29    !e popularity of the material embellishments of children’s books caught on quickly with eighteenth-century publishers.  !is increasing popularity points to the fact that Locke’s theory, which suggested that cognitiv e acts and development were heavily influenced by images, was gaining momentum within the social sphere. Because children had such little life experience on which to base their knowledge, supplying pictures for them began to be viewed as a beneficial supplement to their education. Images of animals and natural history in particular came to be viewed as one of the best means of initiating 22 

Gillian Brown, “ !e Metamorphic Book: Children’s Print Culture in i n the Eighteenth Century,”  Eighteenth-Century  Eighteenth-C entury Studies 39 (2006): 452. 23  Ibid.

24 25 26 27  28 29

Ibid., 353. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid., 359. Ibid., 354. Ibid.

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the child’s learning process. Indeed, Locke advised that “as soon as [the child] begins to spell, as many Pictures of Animals should be got him, as can be found, with the printed names on them, which at the same time will invite him to read, and a" ord ord him Matter of Inquiry and Knowledge Knowledge.” .” 30   It is worth noting that during the eighteenth century century,, images of animals referenced a larger schema of knowledge.  !ey did not only provide a simple visual aid in early education; realistic pictures of animals were vital for the studies of natural scientists.  Animals that could not be brought to Europe were mobilized across continents in the form of paintings and drawings that could be used as a kind of proxy to aid in careful empirical study.31    !e curator Charissa Bremer-David remarks that Jean-Baptiste Oudry’s 1750 painting Rhinoceros  “communicates   “communicates the impressive volume and mass of the rhino, the folds folds and textures of its thick skin . . . the alert tension of its ears held upright, and its three-toed, padded hooves . . . [It embodies] the essential empirical experience demanded by Enlightenment principles.”32   !e scientific necessity of this sort of image demonstrates that what was useful in the education of an eighteenth-century child became critical in the education of an eighteenth-century adult: an accurate understanding—empirically understanding— empirically gleaned— gleaned—oof the natural world.   Natural history was a relativ el el  yy new literary subject iin n the eighteenth century, yet the literary use of animals had existed as early as the fables of Aesop, and illustrated catalogues of animals called bestiaries had been printed as well. 33   Bestiaries Bestiaries,, however,  were ill-researche ill-researched d by   empirical standards and contained information obtained largely through tales, rumours, and ancient authorities.34   It has been suggested that myth and legend occasionally found their way into eighteent eighteenth-century h-century works, to make lessons more appealing to children. 35  For instance, mythical creatures such as the unicorn appeared in the 1730 and 1795 editions of  A Description of ree Hundred   A n nimals  imals . 36   As Ritvo explains, however, the only reason we know this work was intended for children at all is because it is stated in the preface 37—otherwise the book is virtually indistinguishable from animal books written for adults.38  In the spirit of Locke, children were better o "   being enticed to read rather than forced, and topics such as animals (or other products of natural history) were assumed to

30 31 

Brown, 353.

34 35  36 37  38

Ibid., 73.

Martin Rudwick, “Picturing Nature in the Age of Enlightenment,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 149 (2005): 303. 32 Hal Opperman, review of Oudry’s Painted Menagerie: Portraits of Exotic Animals in Eighteenth-Century  Europe , ed. Mary R. Morton, College Art Association 5 (2008):15. 33 Ritvo, 72–73. Diane L. Barlow, “Special Books Section: Children, Books, and Biology,” BioScience  41  41 (1991): 166. Ibid. Ritvo, 73–74.  !e

preface states the following: “[Most] of the books which have been made use of to introduce children into a habit of reading, being such as tend rather to cloy than entertain them; I have thought fit, with

 A Description short descriptions of animals, and pictures of ree Hundred Animals   (London,  (London, 1795). fairly drawn . . . to engage their attention.” Boreman,

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be intrinsically interesting to children and thus ideal tools for educational practice. 39   Authors of such books tended to focus on the elements that were perceived as most interesting to children.  !e physiognomy of baboons, for example, was described in vivid detail; however, many authors also discussed the moral character of animals, even relating at length how baboons attacked people. 40   While perhaps initially surprising to the contemporary reader reader,, the inclusion of 

several mythical creatures in A in  A Description of ree Hundred Animals  highlights  highlights the work’s empirical goals and motives. For instance, the description of a unicorn begins, “ !e Unicorn, a beast, which, though doubted of by many writers, yet is by others thus described.” 41   !ough the work does include mythical creatures, Ritvo argues that it does not constit constitute ute mere fantasy, like bestiaries. Instead of using the unicorn, or any other animal, as a functional anecdote for morality or another aspect of human life, Boreman appeals to the empirical curiosity of the time, assuming that readers were interested in learning about the nature of the animals themselves as opposed to being purely interested in them allegorically. 42  Ritvo further notes that Boreman Boreman’s ’s descriptions, like those of later authors, focused on the animal’s means of survival, physical characteristics, tendencies, disposition, moral character, and potential usefulness to man. 43   Animal books, in addition to both catering to and fostering a child’s scientific curiosity, also gave lessons on social structure and the ultimate role of animals—to be utilized by humans.44  Ritvo explains that man’s domination over animals was considered  justified because men had the privileged ability to reason while animal animalss could only act on instinct, even those animals that seemed to be capable of performing human-like behaviours.  !is perceived di" eerence rence between rational premeditation and instinctual action was an impenetrable boundary line between men and animals. 45   Any  Any animal that challenged the suprem supremacy acy of man was remarked upon with great interest but also fear fear,, and the descriptions of such animals generally contained some sort of moral reprehension. Curiously, many of the illustrations in Boreman’s book have strikingly human-like facial features, particularly the lions and apes. Perhaps this speaks t speaks too the transitional nature of children’s children ’s books: in trying to move ffrom rom allegorical to factual depictions of animals, m many any  were still anthropom anthropomoorphized in their descriptions—especially regarding their moral character, particularly towards humans—and it is reasonable to infer that this would translate into the images as well. Most children children’’s literature ad advocated vocated being kkind ind to animals, however human needs came first and thus animals could still be economically exploited.46   !is is evident in the special section on whaling added to the 1795 edition of  A Descripti on  on  of ree Hundred Animals , which includes a fold-out drawing—presumably

39 40 41  42  43 44  45 46 

Ritvo, 76. Ritvo, 74. Boreman, 6. Ritvo, 76. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid., 81. Ibid., 82.

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Above ree Fig. 1. e Greenland Whale Fishery , 1795. Copper plate. From  !omas Boreman, A Description of Above Hundred Animals  (London:  (London: A. Millar and W. Law, L aw, 1795), 148. Photographed by Daniel Ralston. Courtesy of UBC Rare Books and Special Collections. Call number: PZ6 1795 D483.

in order to evoke some of the enthusiasm generated by metamorphoses books—depicting the hunting of whales and what appears to be a seal or walrus.  Whaling, in the late eighteenth century century,, represented the Enlightenmen Enlightenmentt spirit of striving for improvement through its demand for both technical and social advancement.47  !is required the demonstration of man man’s ’s superiority over nature through technological and intellectual developments.  !e fishery business o"   the coast of Greenland was a dangerous enterprise, but very economically rewarding for Britain when successful. William Scoresby, a captain, made significant improvements through a pact  wherein he provided biological specimens, obtained privately from voyages to the Greenland Seas, to scientists. 48  In doing so, Scoresby also perpetuated the discourse of

47 

Michael Bravo, “Geographies of Exploration and Improvement: William Scoresby and Arctic

Historical Geography  32  Whaling, 1782–1822,”  Journal of Historical  32 (2006): 512. 48 Ibid.

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man’s domination of animals.  !e geographer Michael Bravo explains that “squaring the physical su" ering ering endured by human and animal in the history of whale fishing was no trivial matter.  !e widely accepted moral sanction for using animals to better the human condition was that Providence demanded of people that they hunt whales and manufacture their oil and baleen.”49   Including a special section on a subject that contained so many nationalistic, moral, social, and scientific implications in a children’s book permitted the introduction of important themes to children through a written description while actively engaging them with fold-out drawings.  !e main focus of the image is the ship with the British flag clearly displayed, while fishermen harpoon sea life all around. However, the killing is not graphic; therefore the central element of the scene appears to be the depiction of successful national industry rather than the wildlife itself.  !is interpretation is supported by the fact that the picture portrays none of the dangers that occur in the Arctic: the sea is calm, the men are all alive, and appear to have full control over nature and its animals. Other children’s books were not so quick to endorse unquestioning devotion to  Evenings at Home  was Britain. Evenings Britain.  was particularly anti-war and promoted the idea that children, and therefore the parents reading with their children, ought to be “discontented with the governement [sic]”50  during periods of war, acting as thoughtful, critical observers of the national condition, and even encouraged voicing resistance.51   !is radicalism hinges on demystification, an Enlightenment tactic of calling things by their right names, which allowed children to discover the truth about glorified war and adventuring practices.52  !e materiality of the book itself, by by educating children within a domestic space, suggests that social and political change ought to begin at home.   Regardless of their political stripe, writers and publishers of children children’s ’s book s gave children the skills and opportunity for participation within Enlightenmen Enlightenmentt discourse.  !e proliferation of this genre of print culture in the eighte eigh teenth enth century marked the movement towards towards the changed notion of childhood as a life stage—as informed by Locke’s theories—and the eventual creation of a new, larger generation of adult learners  who had the advantage of an epistemology founded on the words, pictures, and forms of their childhood books.

49 50 

Bravo, 530. Michelle Miche lle Levy, “ !e Radical Education of Evenings at Home,”  Eighteenth-C  Eighteenth-Century entury Fiction 19 (2006):

123.

51 52 

Ibid., 127. Ibid., 132.

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