Alfred Newton’s second-hand histories of extinction: hearsay, gossip, misapprehension (William T. Stearn Student Essay Prize 2020)

Abstract

The study of extinction was rooted in Victorian naturalists’ practices of observation and collection, but presented a challenge to the discipline’s increasing emphasis on empiricism and precision. This paper traces the role of witness testimony and hearsay accounts in early studies of extinction, as preserved in the notebooks of Cambridge zoology professor, Alfred Newton. Beginning in 1850s, Newton and his collaborators sought to trace the histories of suspected extinct species such as the British great bustard and the great auk of Iceland. With its subject absent by definition, the study of extinction relied on hearsay and rumour as well as evidence gleaned from past published accounts. Through methodical attempts to collate diverse and contradictory sources, from eyewitnesses to newspapers to local folklore and gossip, Newton demonstrated the inextricability of human activities from the practice of studying extinction. These attempts to resolve social evidence into scientific certainty were time and again frustrated by the uncertain epistemic status of his sources.