关键词: 博物学, 阶级, 高雅文化, 皇室, 波特兰公爵夫人, 班克斯

Abstract: Natural history was considered as a classless scientific practice, because everyone from every class seemed have the access to it. However, people from different classes practiced natural history in quite different ways and what they can achieve was also quite different, too. Along with politeness, noble natural history was supported by wealth, social position and power. It greatly influenced national strategies, academia and popular culture. Royal passion on natural history helped with its popularity in public. Royal society led by Joseph Banks took natural history as the most important part of the society and integrated it into imperialism. Curious natural collections and luxury hand-colored books witnessed the high materialization of natural knowledge. There was no equality among different classes in their interaction of natural history practices, either. Moreover, the naming of species even marked the power of knowledge. Therefore, classless natural history was just an illusion. It was impossible to ignore the class character and noble feature of natural history.