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Read Ebook: The Theory of Environment An Outline of the History of the Idea of Milieu and Its Present Status part 1 by Koller Armin Hajman
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Ebook has 468 lines and 29839 words, and 10 pages
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Anthropo-geography, Geography and History 27
Geography and History 42
More Recent Anthropo-geographical Treatises 65
Primitive Peoples and Environment 69
Society and Physical Milieu 74
Government, War, Progress, and Climate 76
Climate and Man's Characteristics 80
Man's Intellect and Physical Environment 81
Religion and Physical Milieu 83
Climate and Conduct 84
Climatic Control of Food and Drink 91
Summary 93
Appendix 97
PREFACE
Nearly all the material was collected by October, 1915, and this manuscript was finished early in January, 1917.
I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Martin Sch?tze of the University of Chicago for the suggestion, made in 1907, to find out what Herder's idea of milieu is; to my friend and former colleague at the University of Illinois, Dr. Charles C. Adams for references given me at my request ; and to my good friend and colleague, Professor John Driscoll Fitz-Gerald of the University of Illinois for a number of helpful suggestions given when reading the manuscript and for assisting with the reading of the galley proof.
ARMIN H. KOLLER.
INTRODUCTORY REMARK MEANINGS OF THE WORD "MILIEU"
Before entering upon the discussion of the principal theme of this study, it is necessary to cast a brief glance over the origin and development of the meaning and use of the word milieu.
In the course of the last century, the designation milieu became not only more generalized and more frequent in use, but also more extensive, and more specific and distinctive in meaning: "Depuis BALZAC , le sens vulgaire du milieu social n'a fait que s'affirmer davantage par un emploi toujours plus g?n?ralis?: c'est devenu un clich? de la conversation de parler aujourd'hui d'un 'bon milieu,' d'un 'milieu int?ressant,' etc."
Littr? registers eighteen different definitions for the word milieu.
Friedrich D?sel renders milieu by eighteen German words.
Claude Bernard, the celebrated French physiologist, differentiates between inner and outer milieu: "Je crois ..., avoir le premier insist? sur cette id?e qu'il y a pour l'animal r?ellement deux milieux: un milieu ext?rieur dans lequel est plac? l'organisme et un milieu int?rieur dans lequel vivent les ?l?ments des tissus...." Probably as a result, we have today "micro-milieu" in micro-biology.
According to Jean Finot, milieu "includes the sum total of the conditions which accompany the conception and earthly existence of a being, and which end only with its death."
The term milieu was introduced by Herbert Spencer into English literature as "environment," says Martin Sch?tze. Although Carlyle employed the term "environment" as early as 1827, nevertheless, the fact that the term is generally current, is undoubtedly attributable in the first place to Spencer.
The word "Umwelt" is quoted by J. H. Campe, who believed himself to have been the coiner of the term; five years later Goethe used it at the beginning of his "Italienische Reise."
Its Italian equivalent is "ambiente," which is noted here only because of the French "l'ambiance" and the English "ambient" and "circumambiency."
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I A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE IDEA OF MILIEU DOWN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Eratosthenes, in a work cited by Varro, sought to prove, in the opinion of the Italian scholar Matteuzzi prematurely, that man's character and the form of his government are subordinated to proximity or remoteness from the sun. The greatest geographer of antiquity, Strabo, in his Geography, connected man with nature in a causal relation.
John M. Robertson, noting that "theories of the influence of climate on character were common in antiquity," refers to Vitruvius , Vegetius , and Servius . Ritter does not mention the effort of the ancients in this line of ideas.
Giovanni Villani, the noted Florentine historian of the fourteenth century, observes with a deal of finesse that Arezzo by reason of its air and position produces men of great subtilty of mind.
"There follows a lengthened description of the physical basis and conditions of history and civilisation. The chief features of the inhabited portions of the earth, its regions, principal seas, great rivers, climates, &c., are made the subjects of exposition. The seven climatic zones, and the ten sections of each, are delineated, and their inhabitants specified. The three climatic zones of moderate temperature are described in detail, and the distinctive features of the social condition and civilisation of their inhabitants dwelt upon. The influence of the atmosphere, heat, &c., on the physical and even mental and moral peculiarities of peoples is maintained to be great. Not only the darkness of skin of the negroes, but their characteristics of disposition and of mode of life, are traced to the influence of climate. A careful attempt is also made to show how differences of fertility of soil--how dearth and abundance--modify the bodily constitution and affect the minds of men, and so operate on society....
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