Goose Barnacle Geese: Folklore in Early Science
I collect information the way crows collect shiny things! Historically, this impulse to collect the weird and wonderful found expression in cabinets of curiosities: precursors of modern museums assembled by aristocrats, explorers, and early scientists. While I acknowledge the devastating context of colonialism* in which these cabinets were assembled, I share the deep sense of awe and wonder that motivated their creators. And so:
Welcome to my own cabinet of curiosities—facts, quotes, and oddments about pretty much everything!
Here’s a fun thing I just learned: barnacle geese are so named because Medieval scholars believed they hatched from… goose barnacles! The Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre has a great article exploring the origins of this notion, which was actually pretty reasonable given the information available at the time. Click on through for the fascinating details!
And thanks to children’s science writer Rochelle Strauss for the tip.
Photo courtesy of Andreas Wieth, via Wikimedia Commons.
* For more info on historical cabinets of curiosities, check out these articles:
Smithsonian Mag: How Cabinets of Curiosities Laid the Foundation for Modern Museums
Sotheby’s Institute of Art: Cabinets of Curiosities and the Origin of Collecting
Art & Object: The Cabinet of Curiosities & Colonialism
https://www.artandobject.com/news/cabinet-curiosities-colonialism
