Plinian Society
Encyclopedia
The Plinian Society was a club at the University of Edinburgh
for students interested in natural history
. It was founded in 1823. Several of its members went on to have prominent careers, most notably Charles Darwin
who announced his first scientific discoveries at the society.
. John Baird, the oldest brother, was the first president of the society and at the inaugural meeting on 14 January 1823 he made a statement of the proposed plan and objectives of the society. He drew up an elaborate code of laws for the society, in eighteen chapters. The original members included James Hardie and J. Grant Malcomson who later became geologists in India
, and John Coldstream
. The Regius Professor of Natural History, Robert Jameson
, had previously established the Wernerian Natural History Society
for graduates and professors. He was given the title of Senior Honorary Member by the students, but never attended the Plinian and was not its founder.
From Darwin's description, the Plinian "consisted of students and met in an underground room in the university for the sake of reading papers on natural science and discussing them." Activities also included excursions to the countryside around Edinburgh
. Meetings appear to have been weekly, until at the society's request, Jameson put their case to the university for a room in his museum for their meetings and their own small "museum", but the outcome was that the rent on their old room was raised and they eventually agreed to rent the Speculative Society's room for meetings on alternate Tuesdays. Papers presented by the students were often of high quality, inspired by their lecturers. Commonly, papers took the form of a critique of the work of established experts, together with the student's own thoughts. They covered a wide range of subjects including the circulation of ocean current
s, identification of plants found in the nearby countryside, the anatomy of sea animals they had collected and principles of classification
.
Meetings included a great deal of procedure, with votes on motions and resolutions, and an annual reassessment of the elaborate rules. At that time each meeting was attended by around 25 members, including the five joint presidents, secretary, treasurer, "museum curator" and five members of the council. Around 150 past and present members were on the books. Most were medical undergraduates, with three or four who had graduated being referred to as "Dr." in the minutes
. Several were legal students or humanities students, and a fair number of students from England reflected the numbers of nonconformists
who were barred from attending the universities in England which required Anglicanism
, and instead went to university in Scotland. Professors did not attend, and a December 1826 visit by one professor who intended to donate his latest publication as a reference book was greeted with indignation and a sarcastic student newspaper report that "This is the first time, says our correspondent, we remember to have seen one of our Professors in the Plinian Society."
, and embryology with Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
. On returning in 1824 he was appointed lecturer in invertebrate
animals at the private anatomy school set up by John Barclay
and run by Robert Knox
from 1826. His lectures there promoted Geoffroy's "philosophical anatomy" based on unity of plan
compatible with the transmutation of species
, implying ideas of progressive improvement and hence radical
support for democracy. He was secretary of the Plinian, then in 1826 gave up that post to join the Council of the Wernerian Natural History Society
. Plinian members helped with his pioneering work on marine invertebrates
from the Firth of Forth
, with Coldstream assisting him in 1825–1826.
William A. F. Browne
was proposed for membership by John Coldstream
despite Coldstream's religious inclinations. Browne was an atheistic phrenologist and a proponent of Lamarckian "developmental" theories of the mind. At the Edinburgh Phrenological Society
, George Combe
toasted Browne for his success in proselytising
other medical students. Browne also presented papers on diverse subjects, including plants he had collected, the habits of the cuckoo
, the aurora borealis
, and ghosts (which he believed in). Browne went on to a distinguished career as an asylum reformer at Sunnyside Royal Hospital
in Montrose (1834–1838), and, famously, at the Crichton Royal
, Dumfries (1838–1857); his son, James Crichton-Browne
, collaborated with Darwin in the preparation of The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
(1872).
In the second year of Charles Darwin's education
at Edinburgh he took an increased interest in natural history. Browne, Coldstream and George Fife as three of the five joint presidents proposed Darwin for membership, and he petitioned to join the Plinian on 21 November 1826, at a meeting when Browne announced his intention to refute Charles Bell
's Anatomy and Physiology of Expression. Darwin was elected a member of the Plinian on 28 November 1826, along with another student of his own age, William Rathbone Greg
, who immediately announced plans for a talk showing that "the lower animals possess every faculty & propensity of the human mind." On 5 December Darwin was elected to the society's council. At the same meeting Browne presented an attack on Bell's claims that the Creator had endowed humans with unique muscles lacking in animals to express emotions showing mankind's superior moral nature, and denied that there was any essential difference. Darwin went on to attend eighteen of nineteen meetings that he could have attended during that academic year, and became a zealous assistant to Grant, learning to collect and dissect seashore creatures.
Darwin made a discovery new to science when he observed cilia moving the microscopic larvae of a species of the bryzoan Flustra, and discovered that black spores often found in oyster
shells were the eggs of a skate leech
.He was disappointed when Grant announced these finds to the Wernerian on 24 March 1827, and Darwin presented both discoveries at the Plinian Society on 27 March, his first public presentation. Grant then gave an authoritative talk on sea-mats
, followed by Browne who argued that mind and consciousness were simply aspects of brain activity, not "souls" or spiritual entities separate from the body. A furious debate ensued, and subsequently someone took the extraordinary step of deleting the minutes of this heretical part of the discussion.
joined the Plinian in 1827 and Hugh Falconer
in 1828. Balfour took up the Chair of Botany at Edinburgh in 1845 and was, for many years, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine; his sister, Magdalene Balfour, married William A.F. Browne and bore him eight children, including James Crichton-Browne
. The Baird brothers made occasional appearances after graduation, then in the 1829–1830 session they returned to Berwickshire, with two of them becoming ministers of local parish
es. The society finally collapsed in 1841.
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
for students interested in natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
. It was founded in 1823. Several of its members went on to have prominent careers, most notably Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
who announced his first scientific discoveries at the society.
Foundation, activities and membership
The society was initiated and promoted by three brothers from BerwickshireBerwickshire
Berwickshire or the County of Berwick is a registration county, a committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, and a lieutenancy area of Scotland, on the border with England. The town after which it is named—Berwick-upon-Tweed—was lost by Scotland to England in 1482...
. John Baird, the oldest brother, was the first president of the society and at the inaugural meeting on 14 January 1823 he made a statement of the proposed plan and objectives of the society. He drew up an elaborate code of laws for the society, in eighteen chapters. The original members included James Hardie and J. Grant Malcomson who later became geologists in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and John Coldstream
John Coldstream
-Life:Coldstream, only son of Robert Coldstream, merchant, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Phillips of Stobcross, Glasgow, was born at Leith on 19 March 1806, and after attending the Royal High School, Edinburgh, continued his studies at the university...
. The Regius Professor of Natural History, Robert Jameson
Robert Jameson
thumb|Robert JamesonProfessor Robert Jameson, FRS FRSE was a Scottish naturalist and mineralogist.As Regius Professor at the University of Edinburgh for fifty years, Jameson is notable for his advanced scholarship in natural history, his superb museum collection, and for his tuition of Charles...
, had previously established the Wernerian Natural History Society
Wernerian Natural History Society
The Wernerian Natural History Society , commonly abbreviated as the Wernerian Society, was a learned society interested in the broad field of natural history, and saw papers presented on various topics such as mineralogy, plants, insects, and scholarly expeditions...
for graduates and professors. He was given the title of Senior Honorary Member by the students, but never attended the Plinian and was not its founder.
From Darwin's description, the Plinian "consisted of students and met in an underground room in the university for the sake of reading papers on natural science and discussing them." Activities also included excursions to the countryside around Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. Meetings appear to have been weekly, until at the society's request, Jameson put their case to the university for a room in his museum for their meetings and their own small "museum", but the outcome was that the rent on their old room was raised and they eventually agreed to rent the Speculative Society's room for meetings on alternate Tuesdays. Papers presented by the students were often of high quality, inspired by their lecturers. Commonly, papers took the form of a critique of the work of established experts, together with the student's own thoughts. They covered a wide range of subjects including the circulation of ocean current
Ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun...
s, identification of plants found in the nearby countryside, the anatomy of sea animals they had collected and principles of classification
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
.
Meetings included a great deal of procedure, with votes on motions and resolutions, and an annual reassessment of the elaborate rules. At that time each meeting was attended by around 25 members, including the five joint presidents, secretary, treasurer, "museum curator" and five members of the council. Around 150 past and present members were on the books. Most were medical undergraduates, with three or four who had graduated being referred to as "Dr." in the minutes
Minutes
Minutes, also known as protocols, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting, starting with a list of attendees, a statement of the issues considered by the participants, and related responses or decisions for the issues.Minutes may be...
. Several were legal students or humanities students, and a fair number of students from England reflected the numbers of nonconformists
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
who were barred from attending the universities in England which required Anglicanism
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
, and instead went to university in Scotland. Professors did not attend, and a December 1826 visit by one professor who intended to donate his latest publication as a reference book was greeted with indignation and a sarcastic student newspaper report that "This is the first time, says our correspondent, we remember to have seen one of our Professors in the Plinian Society."
Grant, Browne and Darwin
Dr. Robert Edmund Grant had graduated in 1814 and travelled to study anatomy with Georges CuvierGeorges Cuvier
Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...
, and embryology with Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories...
. On returning in 1824 he was appointed lecturer in invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
animals at the private anatomy school set up by John Barclay
John Barclay (anatomist)
John Barclay FRSE FRCPE FRCSE FLS MWS was an eminent Scottish comparative anatomist, extra-mural teacher in anatomy, and director of the Highland Society of Scotland....
and run by Robert Knox
Robert Knox
Robert Knox was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist and zoologist. He was the most popular lecturer in anatomy in Edinburgh before his involvement in the Burke and Hare body-snatching case. This ruined his career, and a later move to London did not improve matters...
from 1826. His lectures there promoted Geoffroy's "philosophical anatomy" based on unity of plan
Homology (biology)
Homology forms the basis of organization for comparative biology. In 1843, Richard Owen defined homology as "the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function". Organs as different as a bat's wing, a seal's flipper, a cat's paw and a human hand have a common underlying...
compatible with the transmutation of species
Transmutation of species
Transmutation of species was a term used by Jean Baptiste Lamarck in 1809 for his theory that described the altering of one species into another, and the term is often used to describe 19th century evolutionary ideas that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection...
, implying ideas of progressive improvement and hence radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
support for democracy. He was secretary of the Plinian, then in 1826 gave up that post to join the Council of the Wernerian Natural History Society
Wernerian Natural History Society
The Wernerian Natural History Society , commonly abbreviated as the Wernerian Society, was a learned society interested in the broad field of natural history, and saw papers presented on various topics such as mineralogy, plants, insects, and scholarly expeditions...
. Plinian members helped with his pioneering work on marine invertebrates
Marine invertebrates
Marine invertebrates are animals that inhabit a marine environment and are invertebrates, lacking a vertebral column. In order to protect themselves, they may have evolved a shell or a hard exoskeleton, but this is not always the case....
from the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, with Coldstream assisting him in 1825–1826.
William A. F. Browne
William A. F. Browne
Dr William A. F. Browne was one of the most significant psychiatrists of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum and, later, at Crichton Royal in Dumfries , Browne introduced activities for patients including writing, art, group activity and drama, pioneered early forms of occupational...
was proposed for membership by John Coldstream
John Coldstream
-Life:Coldstream, only son of Robert Coldstream, merchant, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Phillips of Stobcross, Glasgow, was born at Leith on 19 March 1806, and after attending the Royal High School, Edinburgh, continued his studies at the university...
despite Coldstream's religious inclinations. Browne was an atheistic phrenologist and a proponent of Lamarckian "developmental" theories of the mind. At the Edinburgh Phrenological Society
Edinburgh Phrenological Society
The Edinburgh Phrenological Society was established in 1820. Phrenology was then claimed to be a science but is now regarded as a pseudoscience. The central concepts of phrenology were that the brain is the organ of the mind and that human behaviour can be most usefully understood in neurological...
, George Combe
George Combe
George Combe , was a Scottish lawyer and writer on phrenology and education. In later years, he devoted himself to the promotion of phrenology. His major work was The Constitution of Man .-Early life:...
toasted Browne for his success in proselytising
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
other medical students. Browne also presented papers on diverse subjects, including plants he had collected, the habits of the cuckoo
Cuckoo
The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos . Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute...
, the aurora borealis
Aurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
, and ghosts (which he believed in). Browne went on to a distinguished career as an asylum reformer at Sunnyside Royal Hospital
Sunnyside Royal Hospital
Sunnyside Royal Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in Hillside, north of Montrose, Scotland. The hospital was originally founded in 1781 by Susan Carnegie as Montrose Lunatic Asylum, Infirmary & Dispensary and obtained a Royal Charter in 1810...
in Montrose (1834–1838), and, famously, at the Crichton Royal
Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary is the main hospital in Dumfries. The hospital serves both the town of Dumfries and the entire catchment area of South West Scotland, with a population of at least 147,000...
, Dumfries (1838–1857); his son, James Crichton-Browne
James Crichton-Browne
Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS was a leading British psychiatrist famous for studies on the relationship of mental illness to neurological damage and for the development of public health policies in relation to mental health...
, collaborated with Darwin in the preparation of The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals is a book by Charles Darwin, published in 1872, concerning genetically determined aspects of behaviour. It was published thirteen years after On The Origin of Species and is, along with his 1871 book The Descent of Man, Darwin's main consideration...
(1872).
In the second year of Charles Darwin's education
Charles Darwin's education
Charles Darwin's education gave him a foundation in the doctrine of Creation prevalent throughout the West at the time, as well as knowledge of medicine and theology. More significantly, it led to his interest in natural history, which culminated in his taking part in the second voyage of the...
at Edinburgh he took an increased interest in natural history. Browne, Coldstream and George Fife as three of the five joint presidents proposed Darwin for membership, and he petitioned to join the Plinian on 21 November 1826, at a meeting when Browne announced his intention to refute Charles Bell
Charles Bell
Sir Charles Bell was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist, neurologist and philosophical theologian.His three older brothers included John Bell , also a noted surgeon and writer; and the advocate George Joseph Bell .-Life:...
's Anatomy and Physiology of Expression. Darwin was elected a member of the Plinian on 28 November 1826, along with another student of his own age, William Rathbone Greg
William Rathbone Greg
William Rathbone Greg was an English essayist.Born in Manchester, the son of Samuel Greg, the creator of Quarry Bank Mill, he was brother to Robert Hyde Greg and the junior Samuel Greg. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh. For a time, he managed a mill of his father's at Bury, and in...
, who immediately announced plans for a talk showing that "the lower animals possess every faculty & propensity of the human mind." On 5 December Darwin was elected to the society's council. At the same meeting Browne presented an attack on Bell's claims that the Creator had endowed humans with unique muscles lacking in animals to express emotions showing mankind's superior moral nature, and denied that there was any essential difference. Darwin went on to attend eighteen of nineteen meetings that he could have attended during that academic year, and became a zealous assistant to Grant, learning to collect and dissect seashore creatures.
Darwin made a discovery new to science when he observed cilia moving the microscopic larvae of a species of the bryzoan Flustra, and discovered that black spores often found in oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
shells were the eggs of a skate leech
Leech
Leeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like other oligochaetes such as earthworms, leeches share a clitellum and are hermaphrodites. Nevertheless, they differ from other oligochaetes in significant ways...
.He was disappointed when Grant announced these finds to the Wernerian on 24 March 1827, and Darwin presented both discoveries at the Plinian Society on 27 March, his first public presentation. Grant then gave an authoritative talk on sea-mats
Bryozoa
The Bryozoa, also known as Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals, are a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals. Typically about long, they are filter feeders that sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles lined with cilia...
, followed by Browne who argued that mind and consciousness were simply aspects of brain activity, not "souls" or spiritual entities separate from the body. A furious debate ensued, and subsequently someone took the extraordinary step of deleting the minutes of this heretical part of the discussion.
Later events
John Hutton BalfourJohn Hutton Balfour
John Hutton Balfour was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to Edinburgh University and also becoming Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Her Majesty's Botanist in Scotland in 1845...
joined the Plinian in 1827 and Hugh Falconer
Hugh Falconer
Hugh Falconer MD FRS was a Scottish geologist, botanist, palaeontologist and paleoanthropologist. He studied the flora, fauna and geology of India, Assam and Burma, and was the first to suggest the modern evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium...
in 1828. Balfour took up the Chair of Botany at Edinburgh in 1845 and was, for many years, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine; his sister, Magdalene Balfour, married William A.F. Browne and bore him eight children, including James Crichton-Browne
James Crichton-Browne
Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS was a leading British psychiatrist famous for studies on the relationship of mental illness to neurological damage and for the development of public health policies in relation to mental health...
. The Baird brothers made occasional appearances after graduation, then in the 1829–1830 session they returned to Berwickshire, with two of them becoming ministers of local parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
es. The society finally collapsed in 1841.
External links
- Announcement of the start of the Plinian Society summer season meetings: