The Poetics of Natural HistoryWinner of the 2000 American Studies Network Prize and the Literature and Language Award from the Association of American Publishers, Inc. Early American naturalists assembled dazzling collections of native flora and fauna, from John Bartrams botanical garden in Philadelphia and the artful display of animals in Charles Willson Peales museum to P. T. Barnums American Museum, infamously characterized by Henry James as halls of humbug. Yet physical