science

Alvin Wood Chase (1817-1885) was a travelling physician, salesman, author, and self-made man. He dispensed remedies all over America during the late nineteenth century, collecting recipes and domestic tips from the people he met along the way. His self-published books became celebrated U.S. bestsellers and were the household how-to "bibles" of their day.

Even as our understanding of ecological systems evolve, there are touchstone texts that lay the foundations of our understanding. Ecology of Atlantic Shorelines by Mark Bertness is such a touchstone for these unique coastal ecosystems.

This type of book, an illustrated flora, is an example of the core collection of worldwide floras the Botany and Horticulture Library has in its 100,000 plus volume collection. Floras are limited-print scientific texts used by botanists throughout the world for plant identification and to answer botanical nomenclature questions. This book describes 600 plants, their characteristics, and medicinal effects. Additionally, it shows 117 plants with black and white illustrations. The author is a scientist and as well as a botanical artist.

This comprehensive and scholarly text covers a wide variety of parasitic protozoans found in humans and other animal species. The articles, written by a variety of expert authors, contain thorough and detailed descriptions. This text is used by veterinarians and pathologists, including the staff of Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, to identify and manage parasitic protozoa.

This magnificently illustrated book describes and depicts images of paleo art from the inception of the field, in the 1830s, to the modern era. Paleoart, unique in its literary field, includes beautifully reproduced paintings, drawings, tile mosaics, etc. from collections around the world. Each example represents a mixture of science and fantasy as artists have attempted to visualize extinct life in its long-ago environment. Some art used in this volume was taken from the archives and collection of the Smithsonian’s Paleobiology collection. 

You might be wondering why the Smithsonian Libraries would choose a book based on beasts from fantasy, but behind every myth is some truth. The family of “cryptids” includes such familiar creatures as Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster, plus several other questionable beasts of land and sea. This book, illustrated with black-and-white photos and drawings, attempts to apply the scientific method to reports of these mythological creatures. The goal is to separate fact from fiction, i.e., what is pure imagination from what is actually possible.

The title translates as "The life of mammals and fossilized humans, deciphered using comparative anatomy of the chewing organs.” This book's author, Mr. Sanielevici, believed that analysis of the processes and organs involved in chewing and digesting would explain the evolution of humans and mammals. In his ideology, ethnicity, racial diversity, and even personality are derived from historic and regional dietary trends: you are what you eat.

A compilation of physics-related knowledge from the late 18^th century, this text by Augustino A. Messano was likely penned by the scribe Petrus ab Albavilla. Little is known about Messano or his scribe. Bound with the hundreds of pages of text are 15 illustrations, engraved by the Italian wood-engraver Iganazio Lucchesini, demonstrating dozens of physics-related experiments. Unfortunately, the paper size of the engravings is slightly larger than of the paper used for the text, resulting in a book sorely in need of treatment.