|
"Natural history" is an umbrella term for what are now usually viewed as a number of distinct scientific
disciplines. Most definitions include the study of living things (e.g. botany and
zoology); other definitions extend the topic to include paleontology or ecology or biochemistry, as well as parts of geology and physics. A person interested in natural history is known as a naturalist.
In the Eighteenth and well into the Nineteenth Century, Natural History as a term was frequently
used to refer to all scientific studies, as opposed to political or ecclesiastical history. As such, the subject area would
include all aspects of physics, astronomy, archeology, etc. We still see this usage in some institution names, such as the Natural History Museum in London, the National Museum of Natural History (part of the Smithsonian Institution) in Washington, D.C., the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and
the American Museum of Natural
History in New York City, which also publishes a magazine called
Natural History.
|