It's science itself that was put on trial in 1818 in a dispute over a $75 inspection fee, as related in this fascinating account. Burdick (Masters of All They Surveyed
), director of Princeton's history of science program, illuminates the convergence of commerce, science and shifting views of the natural world and human exploitation of it. The case of Maurice
v. Judd
arose from merchant Samuel Judd's refusal to pay the inspector's fee on three casks of spermaceti oil, claiming inspection was required only for fish oil, not whale oil. The jury heard the case in a “gloriously feisty public forum” as the Linnaean classification system was debated, with Samuel Latham Mitchill, a local “patriarch of natural history,” testifying that the whale was indeed not a fish. The plaintiff's lawyers argued against a system that said whales, monkeys and humans were related, and raised the threat to civil order if scientists were allowed to interpret legal statutes. Burnett's look at the trial and its fallout adds a historical dimension to debates caused by science's role in the legal sphere, especially when it introduces new concepts. 16 pages of color illus., 19 b&w illus. (Dec.)
