Amateur Students of Living Animals.
A history of biology would be incomplete which took no notice of every-day observations of the commonest forms of life. Some of the best are due to the curiosity of men with whom natural history was no more than an occasional recreation. William Turner (a preacher, who became Dean of Wells), Charles Butler (a schoolmaster), Caius and Lister (physicians), Claude Perrault (a physician and architect), Méry and Poupart (surgeons), Frisch (a schoolmaster and philologue), Lyonet (an interpreter and confidential secretary), Roesel (a miniature painter), Henry Baker (a bookseller, who gained a competence by instructing deaf mutes), Leroy (ranger to the King of France), Stephen Hales, Gilbert White and William Kirby (country parsons), and William Spence (a drysalter) were all amateurs in natural history. To this list we might add Willughby, Ray, Leeuwenhoek, Réaumur, De Geer, Buffon, the Hubers, and George Montagu, who were either so fortunate in their worldly circumstances or so devoted to science as to make it their chief, or even their sole pursuit, though they did not look to it for bread. A large proportion of the naturalists whose names have been quoted occupied themselves with the habits and instincts of animals, and biology has been notably enriched by their observations. To Englishmen the most familiar name is that of Gilbert White, in whom were combined thirst for knowledge, exactness in description, and a feeling for the poetry of nature.
White used his influence to encourage what may be called live natural history, which, as he understood it, "abounds in anecdote[22] and circumstance." He bids his correspondents to "learn as much as possible the manners of animals; they are worth a ream of descriptions." His example has done more than his exhortations. He focusses a keen eye upon any new or little-known animal, such as the noctule, the harvest-mouse, or the mole-cricket; detects natural contrivances little, if at all, noticed before, such as the protective resemblance of the stone-curlew's young; dwells upon the practical applications of natural history, such as the action of earthworms in promoting the fertility of soils; and combines facts which a dull man would be careful to put into separate pigeon-holes, such as the different ways in which a squirrel, a field-mouse, and a nuthatch extract the kernels of hazel-nuts.
The many amateurs of the eighteenth century naturally demanded books written to suit them, and illustrated books with coloured plates, coming out in parts, found a ready sale. Some were devoted to insects, others to microscopic objects. In accordance with prevalent belief, the writers made a point of tracing the hand of Providence in the minutest organisms; many popular treatises were altogether devoted to natural theology. Some few of these natural history miscellanies contained original work, which has not yet lost its interest. The best is Roesel's Insecten-belustigungen (four vols. 4to., 1746-61), memorable among other things for containing the original description of Amœba. For English readers Henry Baker wrote The Microscope Made Easy (1743) and Employment for the Microscope (1753).