The Royal Society and the Tartar Lamb (article)

The Royal Society and the Tartar Lamb
by John H. Appleby for Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London

This article is mostly a discussion of the Royal Society’s reception of the vegetable lamb, first as a scientific idea and specimen, then as a misunderstanding of other natural phenomena, then in connection with the Pinna. I find it relevant as it shows the persistence of the vegetable lamb in European culture well after Mandeville’s time, providing useful evidence for what a captivating idea it represented.

The discussion opens with the idea of the “Joseph’s Coat”, a gift out of Russia that came to be in the newly-created Bodleian Library (1609). It is said to be made from the skin of the Tartar lamb, presented then as a real species that is known and used in remote parts of the world. At the same time that visitors to the Library are commenting in wonder at “Joseph’s Coat”, Francis Bacon refutes the idea of the marvelous vegetable lamb. The article goes on to describe the reactions of Engelbert Kaempfler, John Bell, Thomas Dimsdale and others to the idea of the lamb.

Next, the article discusses the “toy lamb” theory, presented in other articles I’ve already discussed in this blog, namely that the rhizome of a certain tree fern is altered, in some types of regional folk art, to look like a lamb. The dried vegetation is said to have lead to the misapprehension that the object represents a plant-animal hybrid. The article points out that no one who encounters the idea of the vegetable lamb in their travels ever asserts that they saw one growing, evidence that a misunderstood art object might actually be the root of the myth.

The article mentions a Jesuit missionary discovering a similar species in Canada in 1716, but not much detail is given. Cool.

Lastly, the article discusses a link between the vegetable lamb and the Pinna, or sea silkworms. However, the article is a bit weak and unclear on this point, and I’ll save discussion of the crossover for my reflections on Laufer’s article Pinna and the Syrian Lamb. This article provides a much clearer treatment of what is really, in spite of Appleby’s watered-down discussion, a pretty interesting connection.

Both Mandeville and Odoric are mentioned at the article’s closing, but only in passing, and only to say that their inclusion of the vegetable lamb in their writings served to solidify its place in the medieval “scientific” imagination.

Three and a half stars. This one was so dry I thought it was one of my ancient articles; imagine my surprise when I realized it was published in 1997.