| 1 | Creator: | Dovaston, John,1740-1808. | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Astronomical Notebook
| | | | Dates: | 1764-1799 | | | | Abstract: | The amateur astronomer and scientific instrument maker John Dovaston was born into a long-established Shropshire family on April 25, 1740, the son of John Dovaston and Margaret (Rogers). While still in his twenties, Dovaston used the proceeds from his sugar plantations in Jamaica to build "The Nursery," an estate near West Felton, near Shrewsbury, where he lived until his death on April 4, 1808.
Dovaston's astronomical notebook contains observations on the transits of Venus and Mercury, 1761-1799; the eclipse of the moon, July 1776; and the comet of August 1797; as well as more general notes on stellar positions, astronomical instruments, calendars, and the measurement of latitude and longitude. The volume is illustrated, and includes copies of two letters received from his fellow amateur astronomer, Waldron Hill. Dovaston's interest in astrology is suggested by his detailed notes on casting a horoscope ("The Manner of Erecting a scheme or figure of the Heavens"), as well as by the presence of nativities for his son (1782) and for William Dovaston (1765). | | | | Call #: | Mss.522.D75 | | | | Extent: | 1.0 Volume(s) | | | | Sections: |
Background
|
Scope and Contents Note
|
Administrative Information
|
Inventory
| | | | |
View Full Finding Aid
|
View Full Finding Aid as PDF
|
View as XML
| | | | Subjects: | Astrology--Great Britain--18th century | Astronomy--Great Britain--18th century | Beyond Early America | Bookplates | Calendars | Comets | Dovaston, John Freeman Millward, 1782-1854 | Dovaston, John,1740-1808. | Eclipses. | Hill, Waldron | Horoscopes | Latitude--Observations | Mercury (Planet)--Transit | Venus (Planet)--Transit | |
| 2 | Creator: | Couch, Jonathan, 1789-1870 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Jonathan Couch Papers
| | | | Dates: | 1839-1891 | | | | Abstract: | In many ways, Jonathan Couch was a prototype of the Victorian provincial naturalist, a trained physician whose eclectic, but intensely local interests ran from the life sciences to geology, Cornish folk beliefs, and local history. His major works included a three-volume translation of
Pliny's Natural History (London, 1847-1849) published by the Wernerian Club of London,
The History of Polperro (Truro, 1871), and the exhaustive four-volume
A History of the Fishes of the British Islands (London, 1862-1868).
The remnants of a wide-ranging mind, the Couch Papers contain a sampling of correspondence, rough drafts of articles, and notes on a variety of topics of interest to the Cornish naturalist and antiquarian, Jonathan Couch. The bulk of the correspondence relates to Couch's translation of Pliny's Natural History, published by the Wernerian Club of London between 1847 and 1849. The notes are highly diverse, but include some systematic descriptions of fishes, probably used in his
A History of the Fishes of the British Islands and notes Cornish folk beliefs. Of particular interest are his "Notes connected with instinct and reason" and three manuscripts relating to evolutionism: "Enquiry into the circumstances...," "On the history and development of man," and "The Natural History of the Creation of the World, with its changes to the subsidence of the flood and Noah." | | | | Call #: | Mss.B.C831 | | | | Extent: | 1.0 Linear feet | | | | Sections: |
Background
|
Scope and Contents Note
|
Administrative Information
|
Inventory
| | | | |
View Full Finding Aid
|
View Full Finding Aid as PDF
|
View as XML
| | | | Subjects: | Astronomy--Great Britain--18th century | Beyond Early America | Conchology--Great Britain | Cornwall--Description and travel | Couch, Jonathan, 1789-1870 | Creationism. | Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 | Developmental biology--Great Britain | Dreams | Evolution (Biology) | Fisheries--Great Britain | Fishes--Great Britain | Human evolution | Instinct | Natural history--Great Britain--19th century | Pen works | Photographs | Pliny the Younger | Superstition--Great Britain | Wernerian Club (London, England) | Zoology--Great Britain | |
|
