Alix Cooper (History, SUNY, Stony Brook)
Dealing in Difference: Natural History and
Exchange in Early Enlightenment Danzig
This paper will explore some of the ways in which, during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, various forms of exchange played a crucial role in the shaping of practices of natural knowledge within Europe. Taking as a case study the Baltic port of Danzig (now the Polish city of Gdansk), the paper will probe the relations between science and exchange in the activities of several individuals of the Breyne family, all of whom pursued interests in the natural history of "exotic" tropical plant species as well as other natural kinds. How was this possible on the shores of the Baltic, far removed from the colonial connections cultivated by naturalists from such imperial powers as England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands? The paper attempt to present some answers to this question by exploring the relationships between "literary" and mercantile exchange, and local vis-a-vis international exchange. Drawing on unpublished manuscript materials surviving from the time, ranging from correspondence and diaries to drawings and financial jottings, the paper will show the ways in these networks of exchange became embedded in the life of a scientific household.
