William Derham, forgotten early lepidopterist

摘要

The publication of The Aurelian Legacy (Salmon, 2000) has stimulated interest in the history of Lepidopterology and how it fits into the broader history of science. While Salmon has given very informative treatments of several early figures in the British tradition, he does not mention William Derham, and that is an oversight worth correcting. William Derham of Stoulton (1657-1735) was a correspondent and friend of the great John Ray (1627-1705) and became his literary/scientific executor and firstbiographer. Like Ray he was simultaneously interested in science and theology. Derham received his B.A. from Trinity College, Oxford in 1679 and was ordained in the Church of England two years later, becoming Vicar of Upminster, Essex. He began contributing original observations and experiments to the Transactions of the Royal Society in 1697 and was elected a Fellow in 1702. His interests ranged over both the physical and biological sciences. According to the (British) Dictionary of National Biography(Stephen and Lee 1922) he is "said to have made large collections of birds and insects." He was clearly very knowledgeable about insects. In 1713 he published a major work, Physico-Theology, which followed in the tradition of Ray's classic Wisdom of Godmanifested in the Works of the Creation (1691) by arguing from the complexity and efficacy of Nature to the necessary existence of God as its Designer. Physico-Theology includes a lengthy chapter on insects, enriched (like most of the book) with original observations, which are presented as footnotes. A number of those concern Lepidoptera. They demonstrate that Derham was a careful, acute observer. The quotes that follow are from the Third Edition of the work (1714). It went through 9 more editions by1750 and had been translated into French, Swedish and German.