遊記、通信與布豐的白子研究

Abstract

十八世紀法國學者布豐（Georges Louis Leclerc，comte de Buffon，1707-1788）參閱大量旅遊作品，以撰寫其巨著《博物誌》。本文將以布豐的《論人類》（1749）以及《論人類補遺》（1777）為主軸，探討這位法國近代學者運用遊記，以及透過通信以收集海外不同地區白子（albinos）資料的情形，並且經由比對十八世紀遊記相關的敘述內容，以呈現當時歐洲學者試圖建立較為可靠知識的努力及其侷限。

Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon (1707-1788), one of the famous French naturalists in the Enlightenment, presented his profound knowledge of exotic animals and peoples, to the western world in his voluminous ”Histoire Naturelle” (1749-1788). The completion of ”Histoire Naturelle” was actually based on a great many of contemporary travel books. This article thus investigates the ways that Buffon collected overseas information on albinos. In particular, it focuses on the ”Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme” (1749) and its ”Addition” (1777), two documents from Buffon's ”Histoire Naturelle”. Furthermore, this article compares Buffon's writings with the records of various contemporary voyagers in order to understand the efforts and limits of his search for knowledge of the non-western world.