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= Arabella_Buckley =
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Introduction
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Arabella Burton Buckley (24 October 1840 - 9 February 1929) was an
English writer and science educator. She championed Darwinian
evolution with particular emphasis on the mind and morals, in contrast
to the prevailing emphasis on competition and physical survival.
Charles Darwin described her as being able to 'treat evolution with
much dexterity and truthfulness'.Charles Darwin to Arabella Buckley,
14 November 1880, Cambridge University Library,
Darwin Papers, DAR 143:184.
Biography
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Buckley was born in Brighton, England. Her brother was Henry Buckley,
1st Baron Wrenbury. At the age of 24, she went to work as secretary to
Charles Lyell, and remained with him until his death in 1875, on which
Charles Darwin wrote to her to commiserate with her. After that, she
began lecturing and writing on science.
Being Charles Lyell's assistant and a female put her in good standing
to educate youth. One of Buckley's earlier pieces, The Fairy-Land of
Science, puts her views of science in a children's book setting, much
like a mother educating her child. Her work was labelled as lectures
rather than chapters, mirroring how she would teach young people. One
of her lectures, "The Two Great Sculptors - Water and Ice" emphasizes
how water and ice create hills, crevasses and valleys much as a
sculptor will create a statue using a chisel. It also describes how
water always needs somewhere to go and often takes part of the land
with it, causing cliffs to fall apart leaving faults and intrusions
behind. She saw no contradiction in using fancy to present fact,
writing of the natural world: "Can any magic tale be more marvellous,
or any thought grander, or more sublime than this?"
Buckley married Charles Fisher in early 1884 at the age of 44, but
continued publishing under her maiden name. Although, one of the later
editions of 'Eyes and No Eyes' gives her married name (Mrs Fisher).
She also edited two other publications: Mary Somerville's 'Connexion
of the Physical Sciences' (1877) and Heinrich Leutemann's 'Animals
from Life' (1887). Her books were translated into Japanese, Polish and
Swedish in her lifetime.
In Buckley's time, male scientists often had female assistants and
included some of their findings in the lead scientists' work. The
women themselves generally would not be labelled scientists, and so
did not receive any acknowledgement.
Arabella Buckley died of influenza at her home, 3 Boburg Terrace,
Sidmouth, Devon, on 9 February 1929.
Writing
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Arabella Buckley's writing was predominantly aimed at children and
young people, but was popular and greatly respected by all ages. She
communicated science through enchantment and metaphorical language
that was attractive to younger readers. Like many writers in her time,
she was trying to distance science from the mechanistic and
materialistic philosophies it was sometimes connected to, and promoted
it in moralistic terms: learning is presented as a means to become not
only knowledgeable, but morally good. This places it in the tradition
of books such as Charles Kingsley's 'Glaucus or the Wonders of the
Shore' (1855) which ignited the Victorian craze for the popular
pursuit of the natural world, seen in a framework of what has been
called 'muscular christianity'. Buckley was known for her theistic
perspective on morality in nature. In her 1883 work, 'Winners in
Life's Race', she argued that morality was “not a special gift to
human beings, as Christians might like to believe, but a gradual
development through the animal world.”
However, Buckley veered away from this hyper-masculinised narrative of
nature and science. She tended to avoid technical language, such as
the mechanisms of natural selection, and instead use narrative and
metaphor to reach a more inclusive, wider audience, than ever before
witnessed in the field. This made her work 'barrier crossing', as it
became accessible to children, professionals in sciences and
spiritualists alike.
Works
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*[
https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofna1876buck 'A short
history of natural science and of the progress of discovery from the
time of the Greeks to the present day. For the use of schools and
young persons'] (1876)
*'Botanical Tables for the use of Junior Students' (1877)
*[
https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20091004 'The Fairy-Land
of Science'] (1879)
*[
https://archive.org/details/lifeherchildren00buckiala 'Life and Her
Children'] (1880) with illustrations by John James Wild
*[
https://archive.org/details/inlifeswinnersra00buckrich 'Winners in
Life's Race or the Great Backboned Family'] (1883)
*[
https://archive.org/details/historyenglandf00labbgoog 'History of
England for Beginners'] (1887)
*[
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00078569 'Through magic glasses and other
lectures : a sequel to The fairyland of science'] (1890)
*[
https://archive.org/details/highschoolhistor00buckuoft 'High School
History of England'] (1891) co-authored by W.J. Robertson.
*[
https://archive.org/details/moralteachingsof00fishrich 'Moral
Teachings of Science'] (1892)
*'Insect Life' (1901)
*'Birds of the Air' (1901)
*[
https://archive.org/details/by_pond_and_river_0907_librivox 'By Pond
and River'] (1901)
*'Wild Life in Woods and Field' (1901)
*'Trees and Shrubs' (1901)
*'Plant Life in Field and Garden' (1901)
*'Eyes and No Eyes' (1903)
License
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabella_Buckley
