Martin Lister
FRS (12 April 1639 – 2 February 1712) was an English
naturalist and physician. His daughters
Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
and
Susanna were two of his illustrators and engravers.
[
J. D. Woodley, ‘Lister , Susanna (bap. 1670, d. 1738)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 200]
accessed 10 April 2017
/ref>
Life
Lister was born at Radcliffe, near Buckingham
Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of Central Milton Keynes, sou ...
, the son of Sir Martin Lister MP for Brackley in the Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
and his wife Susan Temple daughter of Sir Alexander Temple. Lister was connected to a number of well known individuals. He was the nephew of both James Temple
James Temple (1606–1680) was a puritan and English Civil War soldier who was convicted of the regicide of Charles I. Born in Rochester, Kent, to a well-connected gentry family, he was the second of two sons of Sir Alexander Temple, although ...
, the regicide and also of Matthew Lister
Matthew Lister (born 1992) is a British slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 2008 to 2015, predominantly in the C2 class with Rhys Davies.
He won two bronze medals in the C2 team event at the ICF Canoe Sl ...
, physician to Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
, queen of James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
, and to Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
. He was also the uncle of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (née Jenyns, spelt Jennings in most modern references; 5 June 1660 (Old Style) – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier who rose to be one of th ...
who corresponded with him throughout her life.
Lister was educated at Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...
, Leicestershire under Mr Barwick and matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...
in 1658. He graduated in 1658/9, and was elected a fellow in 1660. In 1668 he travelled to France to study as a physician and settled at York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
in 1670 to practice medicine.[Royal Society (Great Britain), Charles Hutton ''The Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London, Volume 1'']
/ref> He became Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
on 2 November 1671. He practised medicine at York until 1683, when he moved to London. In 1684 he received the degree of M.D. at Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
on the recommendation of the Chancellor.[ In 1687 became F.R.C.P.
Lister bought Carlton Hall in Craven in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He attended the Earl of Portland when he was ambassador to France in 1698.
He was physician to Queen Anne from 1709 until his death.][ He died at ]Epsom
Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...
at the age of 72 and was buried at Clapham Church.[ He bequeathed his books and copper-plates to the University of Oxford.
Lister was a prolific correspondent. More than 2,000 letters written by and to him survive in the ]Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
, Oxford and other repositories. They are to and from a variety of people including family, friends and other scientists. Abstracts of these letters have been published on line.
Memorial inscription
The memorial inscription for Lister in Clapham church is now lost. It read:
Near this place is buried the body of
MARTIN LISTER,
Doctor of Physick, a Member of the
Royal Society, and one of
Queen Ann’s Physicians,
who departed this life,
the second day of
February 1711–12.
Scientific work
Lister contributed numerous articles on natural history, medicine and antiquities to the ''Philosophical Transactions
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...
''. He was the first arachnologist and conchologist, and provided an unprecedented picture of a seventeenth-century virtuoso. Lister is recognized for his discovery of ballooning spiders and as the father of conchology
Conchology () is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includ ...
, but it is less well known that he invented the histogram
A histogram is an approximate representation of the distribution of numerical data. The term was first introduced by Karl Pearson. To construct a histogram, the first step is to " bin" (or "bucket") the range of values—that is, divide the ent ...
, provided Newton with alloys, and donated the first significant natural history collections to the Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
in Oxford. Just as Lister was the first to make a systematic study of spiders and their webs, this biography is the first to analyze the significant webs of knowledge, patronage, and familial and gender relationships that governed his life as a scientist and physician. His principal works were ''Historiae animalium Angliae tres tractatus'' (1678) which was the first organised, systematic publication on shells; ''Historiae Conchyliorum'' (1685 1692), and ''Conchyliorum Bivalvium'' (1696). As a conch
Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends).
In North Am ...
ologist he was held in high esteem, but while he recognised the similarity of fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
a to living forms, he regarded them as inorganic imitations produced in the rocks. Lister employed his daughters from an early age. His daughters, Anne Lister
Anne Lister (3 April 1791 – 22 September 1840) was an English diarist, famous for revelations for which she was dubbed "the first modern lesbian".
Lister was from a minor landowning family at Shibden in Calderdale, West Riding of Yorkshire ...
, and Susanna Lister were both credited as his illustrators and engravers.[
In 1683 he communicated to the ]Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
(1684), an ingenious proposal for a new sort of maps of countries; together with tables of sands and clays, such as are chiefly found in the north parts of England. In this essay he suggested the preparation of a soil or mineral map of the country, and thereby is justly credited with being the first to realise the importance of a geological survey.
Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known as the author of ''Principles of Geolo ...
speaks of Lister in his ''Principles of Geology
''Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation'' is a book by the Scottish geologist Charles Lyell that was first published in 3 volumes from 1830–1833. Ly ...
'' as follows:
Dr. Plot, in his 'Natural History of Oxfordshire.' (1677) attributed to a 'plastic virtue latent in the earth' the origin of fossil shells and fishes; and Lister, to his accurate account of British shells, in 1678, added the fossil species, under the appellation of ''turbinated and bivalve stones''. 'Either,' said he, 'these were terriginous, or if otherwise, the animals they so exactly represent ''have become extinct''. This writer appears to have been the first who was aware of the continuity over large districts of the principal groups of strata in the British series, and who proposed the construction of regular geological maps.
He was a benefactor of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.[ The ridge ]Dorsa Lister
Dorsa Lister is a wrinkle ridge system at on the Moon, in southern Mare Serenitatis. It is 180 km in diameter and was named after English naturalist and physician Martin Lister
Martin Lister FRS (12 April 1639 – 2 February 1712) was an En ...
in the Sea of Serenity
Mare Serenitatis (Latin ''serēnitātis'', the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is .
Geology
Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian e ...
on the Moon was named after him.
Collections
]
Before he died in 1712, Lister donated over a thousand books and manuscripts to the Ashmolean Museum, most of which were medical and scientific works. In 1769 Dr. John Fothergill gifted the Ashmolean several volumes of Lister’s letters and around 40 of his notebooks, which he had bought at auction.
In 1858 the Trustees of the Museum offered a transfer of their written artefacts to the Bodleian, and in 1860 more than 3700 volumes were received by the Library. Lister’s books and manuscripts form almost a third of this initial collection, making him its second-most represented donor next to Elias Ashmole. His series consists of c. 1260 volumes dating from the 16th to 18th centuries, their topics ranging through medicine, anatomy, natural philosophy, and botany, as well as into voyages and travel.
Publications
* ''Histories Animalium Angliae tres tractatus, &ct'',, 1678.
* ''Goedartii Historia Insectorum cum notis'', 1682.
* ''De Fontibus medicinalibus Angliae'',,, 1682.
* ''Historiae Conchyliorum'', 1685
* ''Exercitatio Anatomica, in qua de Cochlcis agitur'', 1694.
*
* ''Cochlearum ct Linacum exercitatio Anatomica'',,, 1695.
* ''Conchyliorum bivalvium utriusque aquae exercitatio Anatomica tertia'', 1696.
*
* ''Exercitationes Medicinales, &tc'',,. 1697.
* ''Journey to Paris'', c. 1699
See also
* Susanna Lister, Anne Lister
Anne Lister (3 April 1791 – 22 September 1840) was an English diarist, famous for revelations for which she was dubbed "the first modern lesbian".
Lister was from a minor landowning family at Shibden in Calderdale, West Riding of Yorkshire ...
* Historia animalium (Gessner book), ''Historia animalium'' by Conrad Gessner
Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...
References
Sources
*''Dr. Martin Lister: A bibliography'' by Geoffrey Keynes. (Includes illustrations by Lister's wife and daughter). Published by St Paul's Bibliographies (UK) with an
*
External links
*Lister, Martin (1678
''Historiæ Animalium Angliæ''
- digital facsimile at the Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
*Lister, Martin (1685
''Historae conchyliorum.../ Susanna et Anna Lister figuras pin, two vol.''
- digital facsimile from the Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
The Correspondence of Martin Lister
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EMLO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lister, Martin
1639 births
1712 deaths
17th-century English medical doctors
18th-century English medical doctors
English naturalists
English geologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
People from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge