Spallanzani, a believer in preformation theory, found that he could prevent contamination by microorganisms in strongly heated infusions protected from aerial contamination, but he observed that as soon as air was allowed to enter the flask, microorganisms proliferated. He was one of the first to dispute the doctrine of spontaneous generation. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In this preliminary to a larger work on regeneration which was never published, Spallanzani described regenerative capacities of remarkable complexity and repetitiveness in the land snail, salamander and toad and frog, establishing the general law that an inverse ratio obtains between the regenerative capacity and age of the individual. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. English translation as An essay on animal reproductions (London, 1769). Digital facsimile of the English translation from Google Books at this link.

Later refutation of the theory of spontaneous generation. Spallanzani’s conclusions were similar to those expressed by Pasteur nearly a century later. His collected works were published in Milan, 2 vols., 1932-33. English translation as Dissertations relative to the natural history of animals and vegetables. 2 vols., London, 1784. Digital facsimile of the "new edition, corrected and enlarged" (1789) from the Internet Archive at this link.

Discovery of photosynthesis. Ingen-Housz showed that the green parts of plants, when exposed to light, fix the free carbon dioxide of the atmosphere, but that in darkness plants have no such power. Thus he proved that animal life is dependent ultimately on plant life, a discovery of fundamental importance in ecology.

Blumenbach, Professor of Medicine at Göttingen, was the founder of modern anthropology. In the above work he rejected the “preformation” theory and advanced the theory of epigenesis as the true explanation of the phenomenon of embryological development. English translation, London, [1792?].

Sprengel demonstrated for the first time that the whole structure of nectar-bearing flowers is adapted for fertilization by insects. In his study of the Rose-bay Sprengel discovered dichogamy – that in some plants the two sexes (stigmas and anthers) while occurring in one blossom, mature at different times. This prevents the flowers from being fertilized by their own pollen, and necessitates fertilization by the pollen carried to them by insects.

Grandfather of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton, Erasmus Darwin provided in Zoonomia, his major work in medicine and natural science, the first consistent all-embracing hypothesis of evolution. Nevertheless, his grandson, Charles, said Erasmus’s theory had no effect on his On the Origin of Species.

Simultaneously with Lamarck, Treviranus coined the term “biology” for the study of living things, and he was the first to use it in a book title. This massive work was a summary of all basic knowledge about the structure and function of living matter. Treviranus wrote that any living creature has the ability to adapt its organization to changing external conditions. Thus both Haeckel and Weismann considered Treviranus to be a precurser of evolution theory, even though Treviranus never explained how changes in organic structures occurred nor how they could become hereditary. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Oken maintained that all organic beings originate from, and consist of, cells, and that organisms are produced by an agglomeration of these cells.

Lorenz Oken, a leading light in the Nature-Philosophical School in Germany, produced important work in the field of biology. He founded the journal Isis, which published articles of great value; its incursion into the field of German politics led to a demand for the resignation of Oken from his professorship or the suppression of his journal. Oken resigned and continued to publish Isis.

Discovery, in 1831, of the cell nucleus. First issued as a separate pamphlet: Observations on the Organs and Mode of Fecundation in orchideae and asclepiadeae ... [with:] Additional remarks ... London, [privately
printed] ‘For Distribution’, Oct. 1831.

Wagner saw and described the nucleolus.

Dutrochet asserted that respiration follows the same pattern in both animals and plants, showing that the minute openings on the surface of leaves (the stomata) communicate with lacunae in deeper tissue. He also demonstrated that only the green parts of the plant can absorb carbon dioxide, thereby transforming light energy into chemical energy. The Mémoires are a collection of all his more important biological papers.

In this monumental work in folio format Ehrenberg extended Otto Friedrich Müller’s bacteriological classification. Like Müller, he made no distinction between protozoa and bacteria, classing them both as infusoria. His classification included Bacterium, which he described and named in 1828, and published in 1830, Vibrio, Spirillum and Spirochaeta. The fine hand-colored plates in this book were drawn by Ehrenberg himself. Includes (p. 80) first description of B. subtilis.

Ehrenberg's book was translated into French with the atlas in reduced  8vo format and condensed to 8 uncolored plates, as Traité pratique du microscope, et de son emploi dans l'étude des corps organisés par le docteur L. Mandl; suivi de Recherches sur l'organisation des animaux infusoires par D.-C.-G. Ehrenberg. Accompagné de quatorze planches. (Paris: J.-B. Baillière, 1839). Digital facsimile of the 1839 translation from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Schleiden demonstrated that plant tissues are made up of and developed from groups of cells, of which he recognized the “cytoblast” or cell-nucleus. He observed with great accuracy certain other activities of the cell, and is an important figure in the development of the cell theory. In keeping with other scientists of his time, he held that young cells develop spontaneously from the cytoblast, an acceptance of the theory of spontaneous generation. English translation (Sydenham Society) 1847.

Schwann’s three-part preliminary application of Schleiden’s “watch-glass” cell theory to the genesis of animal cells. Schleiden communicated the theory to him verbally. This paper actually pre-dates Schleiden’s first publication (No. 112) but Schwann gives Schleiden full credit for the Uhrglastheorie. English translation with commentary in L.J. Rather, P. Rather, and J.B. Frerichs, Johannes Müller and the nineteenth century origins of tumor cell theory, Canton, Mass., [1986].

Mainly devoted to the investigation of the elementary structure of animal tissues, Schwann’s Untersuchungen had an important bearing on the development of the doctrine of the cell structure of animal tissue. In this work Schwann discarded Schleiden’s Uhrglastheorie and put forward a theory of his own. In the same work he described the neurilemma, the “sheath of Schwann”. Schwann was Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Liège. English translation (Sydenham Society), 1847. See M. Florkin, Naissance et déviation de la théorie cellulaire dans l’ceuvre de Theodore Schwann. Paris, Hermann, 1960. Digital facsimile of the 1839 edition from Google Books at this link.

Von Mohl saw and described cell division. English translation, London, 1852.

This work attacked Liebig’s theories, although courteously. Moleschott, a Dutch physiologist, evolved a purely materialistic conception of the world. He considered life a magnificent metabolic process, and thought a product of the activities of the brain.

Remak was the first to point out that growth of new tissues was accomplished by the division of pre-existing cells.

Schultze showed the cell to be a clump of nucleated protoplasm, stating that each muscle fibre or primitive muscle bundle was developed from a single myoblast by successive divisions of its cell or nucleus. His work settled the controversy with regard to the place of the cell in muscle tissue and stimulated the histologists to investigate the nature of intercellular tissue. Partial English translation in No. 143.1.

Schultze showed that protoplasm is practically identical in all living cells.

In vol. 1 of this work written after Spencer read Darwin's On the origin of species, Spencer originated the express "survival of the fittest." Spencer conceived that every species is endowed with its own type of physiological unit, each unit being capable, under certain circumstances, of reproducing the whole organism. Spencer set forth doctrines of evolution some years before the appearance of the Origin of species. 

Haeckel’s gastraea theory, which considers the two-layered gastrula the ancestral form of multicellular animals.

Classic account of cell division and karyokinesis. Flemming named the nuclear substance “chromatin” and gave the name “mitosis” to cell division. Translation of Part II in J. Cell Biol., 1965, 25, No. 1, pt. 2, 3-69. See also Flemming’s book on the subject, Zellsubstanz, Kern und Zellteilung, Leipzig, 1882.

A pioneer work on the formation and division of cells. In this third edition Strasburger established one of the principles of modern cytology, i.e., that independent cell formation does not occur but that fresh nuclei invariably arise through the division of older ones. The first edition of this book appeared in 1875.

Loeb founded the theory of “tropisms” as the basis of the psychology of the lower forms of life. English translation in Loeb’s Studies in general physiology, Vol. 1, 1-88. Chicago, 1905.

Mitochondria described, p. 145.

Minot’s theory of aging, based on cytomorphosis and the rate of growth. This work first appeared as a paper in vol. 7 of the Popular Science Monthly, 1907.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

This work established Loeb's reputation as a researcher who treated organisms as machines. He stated that biologists explain organic phenomena only when they could control those phenomena. Loeb first published the title essay in Popular Science Monthly, 80, 1912, 5-22.

The Hathi Trust maintains versions of all 107 parts, most of which are searchable to a limited extent, at this link.

Raymond Pearl did important work on the subject of vital statistics.

Discovery of pinocytosis.

Second edition, extensively revised as Geschichte der biologischen Theorien in der Neuzeit, pt. l., Leipzig-Berlin, 1913. English translation of pt 2. as The history of biological theories, London, 1930.

Previously published in Swedish and German editions. Many reprints were published.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

A pioneering attack on air pollution caused by “the hellish and dismall cloud of sea-coal” which perpetually enveloped London. Of course, the problems Evelyn wrote about did not go away, and the work continued to be reprinted, with at least four editions published in the 20th century, including one in 1961 by the National Society for Clean Air.

A protest against the careless destruction of England’s forests to fuel the furnaces of the glass and iron industries. The work was influential in establishing a much-needed program of reforestation that had a lasting effect on the British economy. This was the first official publication of the newly established Royal Society.

Discovery of photosynthesis. Ingen-Housz showed that the green parts of plants, when exposed to light, fix the free carbon dioxide of the atmosphere, but that in darkness plants have no such power. Thus he proved that animal life is dependent ultimately on plant life, a discovery of fundamental importance in ecology.

The first textbook of zoogeography, containing the first world map showing the distribution of mammals. French translation of part 1 only by Jakob Mauvillon: Zoologie géographique. Premier article, L'homme (Cassel: Imprimerie française, 1784.) Digital facsimile of the 1777 edition from the Internet Archive at this link; of the French translation from the Hathi Trust at this link.

In this foundation work on phytochemistry, Saussure analysed the chief active components of plants, their synthesis and decomposition. He specified the relationships between vegetation and the environment. He showed that plants grown in closed vessels took their entire carbon content from the enclosed gas, and thus demolished the old theory that plants derive carbon from the so-called “humus” of the soil.

One of the first works on the geographical distribution of plants. Humboldt was a pioneer student of geographical–ecological plant associations. The sheets of this work were reissued as Vol. I of the authors' Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent, fait en 1700, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804, with an extra half-title and general title and the plate colored. Digital facsimile of the 1805 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. English translation: Essay on the geography of plants, edited with an introduction by Stephen T. Jackson, translated by Sylvie Romanowski. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Edwards studied the influence of environmental factors on animal life, concluding that vital processes depend on external physical and chemical forces but are not entirely controlled by them. The work includes an account of Edwards’ important experimental work regarding the effect of light on the body. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.  For the English translation by Thomas Hodgkin, with important additional material by Hodgkin and others see No. 12197.

Verhulst constructed the simplest mathematical model of a continously growing population with an upper limit to its size.

In his second paper on population growth Verhulst introduced the term, logistic. He modified his equation so its early part is exponential and becomes logistic only after a definite length of time. Verhulst published a second paper on this subject: Deuxième mémoire sur la loi d’accroissement de la population. Mem. Acad. Roy. Belg., 1847, 20, 1-32.

“The fountainhead of the conservation movement” (Mumford). This is a comprehensive scientific account of humanity's enormous and often destructive impact on the physical world. Marsh warned of the dangers of the reckless misuse of land then endemic in the United States, using the ruined lands of the Mediterranean region as an example of America’s probable future, and called for a scientific program to restore the land. Reprint edited by David Lowenthal, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1965. Reprint of the 1965 edition with a foreward by William Cronon and a new introduction by David Lowenthal, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003. Digital facsimile of the 1864 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Revised second edition retitled The earth as modified by human action (1874). Digital facsimile of the second edition from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

"In 1872, at the urging of many of his friends, including Darwin, Philip Sclater, and Alfred Newton, Wallace began research for a general review of the geographic distribution of animals. He was unable to make much progress initially, in part because classification systems for many types of animals were in flux at the time.^[120] He resumed the work in earnest in 1874 after the publication of a number of new works on classification.^[121] Extending the system developed by Sclater for birds—which divided the earth into six separate geographic regions for describing species distribution—to cover mammals, reptiles and insects as well, Wallace created the basis for the zoogeographic regions still in use today. He discussed all of the factors then known to influence the current and past geographic distribution of animals within each geographical region. These included the effects of the appearance and disappearance of land bridges (such as the one currently connecting North America and South America) and the effects of periods of increased glaciation. He provided maps that displayed factors, such as elevation of mountains, depths of oceans, and the character of regional vegetation, that affected the distribution of animals. He also summarised all the known families and genera of the higher animals and listed their known geographic distributions. The text was organised so that it would be easy for a traveller to learn what animals could be found in a particular location. The resulting two-volume work, The Geographical Distribution of Animals, was published in 1876 and would serve as the definitive text on zoogeography for the next 80 years.^[122]

"In this book Wallace did not confine himself to the biogeography of living species, but also included evidence from the fossil record to discuss the processes of evolution and migration that had led to the geographical distribution of modern animal species. For example, he discussed how fossil evidence showed that tapirs had originated in the Northern Hemisphere, migrating between North America and Eurasia and then, much more recently, to South America after which the northern species became extinct, leaving the modern distribution of two isolated groups of tapir species in South America and Southeast Asia.^[123] Wallace was very aware of, and interested in, the mass extinction of megafauna in the late Pleistocene. In The Geographical Distribution of Animals (1876) he wrote, "We live in a zoologically impoverished world, from which all the hugest, and fiercest, and strangest forms have recently disappeared".^[124] He added that he believed the most likely cause for the rapid extinctions to have been glaciation...." (Wikipedia article on Alfred Russel Wallace, accessed 02-2017).

In this study of oyster culture precipitated by the impoverishment of natural oyster beds, Möbius provided the earliest description of a marine animal community maintained in a state of equilibrium by limitations of resources.

Forbes was the first to apply ecological principles to limnology. He emphasized population regulation and the dynamic nature of the community.

In this landmark of theoretical population ecology Lotka attempted to provide for parts of biology a basis comparable to that given by theoretical physics to experimental physics. This was the first great exposition and elaboration of Verhulst’s logistic. (No. 145.56). Reprinted, New York, 1956 as Elements of mathematical biology.

The mathematician Volterra created the basic equations for two species interactions. Abridged English translation as appendix to R. Chapman, Animal ecology, New York, 1931.

Elton integrated the concepts of food chains, pyramids of numbers, and the “niche” into a useful framework for ecology.

Gause developed the concept of competitive exclusion as formulated by Volterra.

“The birth of ecosystem ecology” (McIntosh). Lindeman described energy flow in ecosystems in a form amenable to productive abstract analysis. This paper introduced what came to be known as the "Ten percent law."

This elegantly written textbook by a pioneering authority is based on a carefully documented historical approach to the subject.

Born in Asia Minor, Herodotus travelled through Greece, Asia Minor and North Africa. His Historiae includes careful observations on the nature and habits of various peoples, and he may be regarded as the founder of anthropology. There are numerous English translations. One of the most interesting, and certainly the most elegantly printed is The History of Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The translation of G. Rawlinson, revised & annotated by A. W. Lawrence. To which is added a life of Herodotus. London: The Nonesuch Press, 1935. The editor was the brother of the more famous T. E. Lawrence. Digital facsimile of the 1474 edition from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link. ISTC No. ih00088000. Regarding the other early printed editions of Herodotus see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link. Regarding the first printed edition of Herodotus in the original Greek see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link. Regarding how Herodotus used writing and messages in his Historiae see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Written, designed, and illustrated by Dürer, this work is notable for its extraordinary series of anthropometrical woodcuts. The first two books deal with the proper proportions of the human form; the third changes the proportions according to mathematical rules, giving examples of extremely fat and thin figures, while the last book depicts the human figure in motion and treats of foreshortenings. Dürer’s work is the first attempt to apply anthropometry to aesthetics. The woodcuts represent the first attempt to employ cross-hatching to depict shades and shadows in wood engraving. Facsimile edition with commentary volume by M. Steck, Zurich, J.S. Dietikon, [1969]. Dürer’s manuscript prepared for the printer for the first part of the above work is preserved at Dresden along with many other anatomical studies by him. See The human figure by Albrecht Dürer. The complete “Dresden Sketchbook” edited with introduction, translation and commentary by W. L. Strauss. New York, 1972.

For more information on this work see HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

Della Porta preceded Lavater in attempting to estimate human character by the features. This is one of the first works on the ancient “science” of physiognomy to be extensively illustrated.

Elsholtz was the first physician to study anthropometry and human proportion.

Contains 800 illustrations of the human face. Cardan, Professor of Medicine at Padua as well as a celebrated mathematician and scientist, claimed to be able to draw horoscopes from the appearance of the face. A French translation was also published in 1658.

The earliest work of importance in comparative morphology. Tyson compared the anatomy of man and monkeys and between the two he placed the chimpanzee, which he regarded as the typical pygmy. This was the origin of the idea of a “missing link” in the ascent of man from the apes. Facsimile reprint with introduction, 1966. Biography of Tyson by Ashley Montagu, Philadelphia, 1943.

Lavater was the last of the descriptive physiognomists. He expanded the above work into Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe, 1775-78. This was translated into English by H. Hunter as Essays on physiognomy, 3 vols. in 5, London, 1789-98 [i.e. 1788-99] and other editions. His work was very influential on portraiture.

This work on the human figure, published more than 100 years after the death of Rubens, is one of a handful of anatomical treatises illustrated by an artist of the first magnitude.

Blumenbach was the founder of anthropology. In this, his doctoral dissertation, he classified mankind into four races, based on selected combinations of head shape, skin color and hair form. In the second edition (1781) he found it necessary to expand this division into five races, but his famous terms “Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malayan” were not used until the third edition of 1795. English translation in Blumenbach, The anthropological treatises…, translated by T. Bendyshe, London, 1865.

In the first significant anthropological work produced in America, Smith argued that racial differences were produced by environment, contradicting the prevalent theories of separate creations of discrete and different races. Reprint of 2nd., enlarged edition, 1810, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1965.

English translation, London, 1865.

This work on physiognomy includes Camper’s description of his craniometrical methods. Camper is chiefly remembered for the “facial angle” of his own invention. The book first appeared in Dutch in 1791. English translation in Camper, The works… on the connexion between… anatomy and the arts, London, 1794. Digital facsimile of the 1792 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link. 

Prichard, a Bristol physician, classified and systematized facts relating to the races of men better than any previous writer. His interest in anthropology was stimulated by one of the pressing questions of his day: Did all the races of mankind have a common origin, as stated in the Scriptures, or did they spring from different ancestral stocks? Prichard, a confirmed monogenist, sought to demonstrate the common origin of the human races by compiling evidence from a variety of fields, including anatomy, physiology, comparative psychology, linguistics and cross-cultural studies. He theorized that the earliest races of mankind had been dark-skinned, and that the black races, far from representing a degeneration from white "perfection," were the origin from which the white races had sprung.

The second edition of his book, 1826, contains a remarkable anticipation of modern views on evolution, views which were suppressed in later editions. Facsimile edited with an introductory essay [and bibliography] by G. W. Stocking, Jr., Chicago, University Press, 1973. The one-volume first edition was unillustrated. By the 3rd edition the work was expanded to 5 vols. (1836-47) and contained many color plates. In that form it synthesized all then known information about the various races of mankind, forming a basis for modern ethnological research.

Prichard issued a popularization of his work, with numerous color plates, as The natural history of man (1843). The fourth edition of that was edited and enlarged, and published in 2 vols. by Edwin Norris (1855). 

Purkynĕ was first to examine the interior of the human eye and the dog eye, using only a candle and a concave spherical lens. He thus invented the ophthalmoscope three decades before Helmholtz (1851; No. 5866). Reprinted in his Opera (No. 82), 1918,1, 163-94. English trans. in John, Jan Evangelista Purkyne, Philadelphia, 1959. See Albert & Miller, Jan Purkinje and the ophthalmoscope, Amer. J. Ophth., 1973, 76, 494-99.

Purkynĕ was also the first to classify fingerprints. Reprinted in his Opera omnia (No. 82), vol. 1, pp. 163-94, 1918. English translation in John, Jan Evangelista Purkynĕ, Philadelphia, 1959.

Knox, anatomist at Edinburgh, and notorious for his association with the resurrectionists, made important researches in the field of ethnology while serving as an army surgeon at the Cape of Good Hope.

De Quatrefages was one of the most eminent French anthropologists.

Huxley showed that in the visible characters man differs less from the higher apes than do the latter from lower members of the same order of primates. He also provided the first thorough and detailed comparative description of the Neanderthal remains in English. The first issue of the first edition did not include a Table of Contents.

Includes Huxley’s classification of mankind by means of the hair. The full text was originally published in the Fortnightly Review, I, 1865, 257-76. The full text was reprinted in Huxley's Critiques and addresses (1873).

Pruner-Bey did the first important work on the classification of races according to texture and shape in section of hair. Digital facsimile from Persee.fr at this link.

Most often remembered for his contributions to neurology, Broca was also among the greatest of the French anthropologists. He originated modern craniometry and in that connection devised many craniometric and cranioscopic instruments. See also No. 344 et al.  

The papers in vol. 1 concern anthropology in general; the bulk of vol. 2 concerns prehistoric man; vol. 3 concerns primates and evolutionary theory; vol. 4, edited by Broca's son August and published in 1883, concerns craniology; vol. 5, edited by S. Pozzi, concerns the brain. Digital facsimiles of all 5 vols. are available from BnFGallica.

This is really two works. The first demolished the theory that the universe was created for humans while in the second Darwin presented a mass of evidence in support of his earlier hypothesis regarding sexual selection. With respect to human origins, Darwin predicted that the ancestors of humanity would eventually be found in Africa, based on the extensive primate populations there. However, during the 19th and early 20th centuries paleoanthropologists focused their researches in Europe and Asia rather than Africa. This focus only very gradually changed after Raymond Dart discovered Australopithecus africanus in 1924.

In his classification of various populations, Quetelet adopted the plan of determining the standard or typical “mean man” as a basis, using stature, weight, or complexion, etc., as a measure in each particular race or population.

The standard work on primitive religion for many years. Tylor approached his subject from the point of view of psychology, exploring the nature of belief in spirits, omens, magic, etc. His work has important ties with the analytical psychology of Jung. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Spencer founded and edited this series. 

Lombroso inaugurated the doctrine of a “criminal type”. His systematic studies showed that in general the criminal population exhibits a higher percentage of physical, nervous and mental anomalies than the normal population; this he attributed partly to degeneration and partly to atavism.

Topinard was curator of the museum of the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris. “Topinard’s angle” and “line”, both described in this book, are landmarks employed in anthropometry. English translations 1878 and 1894.

Virchow made an important survey of the physical characters of the German people. Outside pathology of which he was the Master, Virchow’s greatest scientific interest was anthropology.

Faulds’s fingerprint method of identification.

Ploss incorporated a vast amount of data concerning every aspect of woman in the unillustrated first edition, and died the year it was published. He covered anthropology, psychology, aesthetics, physiology, sexuality, in what became a standard work. Digital facsimile of the first edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Anthropologists Maximilian Bartels and his son Paul Bartels edited the work through several expanded and illustrated editions, which were a major commercial success, probably because the set contained material on sexuality. After the death of Paul Bartels in 1914 sexologist Ferdinand von Reitzenstein continued the editorial work and published the 11th edition in 1927. Digital facsimile of that edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

An English translation in 3 vols. by Eric John Dingwall was published in London in 1935 as Woman: An historical gynaecological and anthropological compendium. Dingwall improved the text and plates significantly. By that time the work included more than 1000 illustrations in black and white and 7 color plates. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Ratzel emphasized the importance of the investigation of the history of primitive peoples in the study of ethnology.

Bertillon invented a method (“Bertillonage”) of identifying persons by means of selected measurements, the five following measurements being used as the basis of his system: head length, head breadth, length of middle finger, length of left foot, and length of forearm from elbow to extremity of middle finger. His method was used particularly for the identification of criminals.

De Quatrefages showed that pygmies are descended from ancient races and are not, as was believed by many, a retrograde or degenerate type of negro of comparatively recent growth. English translation by Frederick Starr, 1895. Digital facsimile of the 1887 edition from the Internet Archive at this link; of the 1895 edition at this link.

English translation, London, 1893.

Frazer’s theoretical evolutionary sequence of magical, religious, and scientific thought is no longer accepted, and his broad general psychological theory has proved unsatisfactory; however it enabled him to compare and synthesize (in the 3rd edition, 12 vols., 1911-15) a wider range of information and religious and magical practices than was achieved by any other single anthropologist. New abridgement, 1959.

The use of fingerprints as identification marks was known to the Chinese, but Galton was among the first to explain their possibilities in the identification of criminals. “Galton’s delta” is a triangular area of papillary ridges on the distal pads of the digits.

A study of the constitutional differences between man and woman.

The Henry system of fingerprint classification,  developed when Henry served as Inspector-General of Police in Bengal, is the basis for the system presently in use worldwide.

Exhaustive bibliography. 2nd ed., 1928.

An exhaustive and well-illustrated survey of medical anthropology with emphasis on sexuality.

Revised edition, 1934.

Includes a useful chronological table and a valuable bibliography. First published 1935.

Extensively annotated and illustrated catalogue of an exhibition of books and instruments documenting the history of measuring techniques in physical anthropology and experimental psychology in the 18th and 19th centuries. With S. Gori-Savellini, P. Guarnieri, and C. Pogliano.

Blumenbach was the founder of craniology, and his craniological collection served as the principal foundation for his investigations into the natural history of mankind. He used the norma verticalis, the shape of the skull as seen from above, as the means of distinguishing three types: Mongols, Negroes, and Caucasians. The above work includes a description of the uncinate (“Blumenbach’s”) process. See No. 156.

Oken’s vertebral theory of the skull.