Natura Artis Magistra’s popular mineralogy: Ideas of nature in the popularisation of mineralogy between 1838 and 1938 with Natura Artis Magistra as the socio-scientific hub

Abstract

This research creates a synoptic overview of mineralogy accessible to non-expert audiences in articles, books and ‘on-site’ activities such as lectures and exhibitions with Natura Artis Magistra as the socioscientific hub between 1838 and 1938. The popularization of mineralogy remains understudied as it is overshadowed by other popular nineteenth- and early twentieth century subjects such as the evolution of the earth in geology or the new practical natural history that focussed on organisms’ behaviours and interactions with their environment. Studying mineralogy as a non-evolutionary discipline about non-living nature has provided new insights into the understanding of nature in the period concerned. I adopt Elizabeth Ferry’s use of ‘regimes of nature’ to examine the conceptions of nature presented in these popular products. The ‘nature as order’- and ‘nature as leisure’-regimes are bound to certain periods and authors and can also be recognized in products on living nature. Yet, the ‘nature as resource’-regime appears to be uniquely universal in popular mineralogy.