Jefferson's moose.

• Autores: Lee Alan Dugatkin
• Localización: Scientific American, ISSN 0036-8733, Vol. 304, Nº. 2, 2011, págs. 84-87
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The article discusses a theory of U.S. biological degeneracy proposed by French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, known as Count Buffan, and efforts by former U.S. president Thomas Jefferson to make Buffan recant his degeneracy theory. According to the author, Jefferson feared that Buffan's degeneracy theory could hurt the cultural and economic maturation of the U.S. so he used the moose, Alces alces, as a key piece of evidence to refute Buffan's theory that U.S. fauna were small and weak. An overview of Buffan's 36-volume work called "Natural History," Buffan's influence on European naturalists, and Jefferson's efforts to dismantle Buffan's theory in his book "Notes on the State of Virginia," in which he argued that Buffan's argument was inaccurate and unsound, is presented.