From Galls to Cecidological Herbaria: The Role of Gall Collections in Modern Life Sciences.

Galls (also known as cecidia) have been studied by botanists, zoologists and microbiologists over the last century. Indeed, galls can be induced by different animals, bacteria, viruses and fungi, so that their presence simultaneously attested the presence of specific host plants and gall-inducing species. Consequently, gall collections, also known as cecidological herbaria or cecidological collections, can be interesting to study biodiversity changes over time.

Marble Busts and Fish Fossils. The Catalog of the Museum of naturalia and artificialia at the University of Padua (1797).

The historical catalogs of the museum collections contain a wealth of information for historians seeking to reconstruct their contents, how they were displayed and the ways in which they were used. This paper will present the complete transcription of a draft catalog that was prepared in 1797 for the Museum of Natural History and Antiquities of the University of Padua. Conserved in the university's Museum of Geology and Paleontology, the catalog was the first to be compiled of the museum, which was established in 1733 thanks to the donation by Antonio Vallisneri Jr.

Authoritative Images. The Kiwi and the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.

The first exemplar of a kiwi, the wingless bird of New Zealand, arrived in the form of a lifeless specimen in Europe in 1812. A debate was sparked over the appearance and nature of this strange creature and indeed whether it actually existed. In 1833 the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London entered the debate and the illustrations published in this journal contributed greatly to the acceptance and further study of the kiwi.

"Scientific peep show": the human body in contemporary science museums.

The essay focuses on the discourse about the human body developed by contemporary science museums with educational and instructive purposes directed at the general public. These museums aim mostly at mediating concepts such as health and prevention. The current scenario is linked with two examples of past museums: the popular anatomical museums which emerged during the 19th century and the health museums thrived between 1910 and 1940.

"Some curious drawings". Mars through Giovanni Schiaparelli's eyes: between science and fiction.

From the second half of the 19th century up to the first part of the 20th century the drawings of Mars by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli became the centre of an international controversy concerning the existence of canals and the hypothetical habitability of the red planet. These images also generated a full impact on the popular culture of the time. This essays follows the scientific representations of Mars by Schiaparelli (drawings of discs and maps) from their birth in the hands of the astronomy community up to their growing old in the hands of scientific popularizers such as Camille Flammarion and science fiction writers such as Herbert George Wells.