- Moses Harris
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Moses Harris (1731–1785) was an English entomologist and engraver.
Harris plate from the Aurelian
In the Natural System of Colours (1766) he examined the work of Isaac Newton and tried to reveal the multitude of colours which can be created from three basic ones. As a naturalist, Harris wished to understand the relationships between the colours, and how they are coded, and his book attempted to explain the principles, "materially, or by the painters art", by which further colours can be produced from red, yellow and blue. Harris showed what is now known as the subtractive mixing of colours, with his most important observation showing that black will be formed through the superimposition of the three basic colours. Harris also discovered petrified wood.
In 1778, Harris discovered the Muscina levida [assimilis] species of fly. Two years later in 1780, he followed with a discovery of the Muscina prolapsa [pabulorum] species of fly. [1]
Contents
Pictures of Muscina prolapsa and Muscina levida flies
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Male Muscina prolapsa
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Female Muscina prolapsa
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Male Muscina levida
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Female Muscina levida
Works
- Natural System of Colours (1766)
- The Aurelian or natural history of English insects (1766, 2nd edn 1775)
- The English Lepidoptera, or, the Aurelian's Pocket Companion (1775)
- An exposition of English insects (1776[-80])
- Copper plates for Dru Drury's 'Illustrations of Natural History..'
External links
- NCSU Special collections Short account four plates.
- Section 45:"Object Studies: Hand-Colored Engraving"The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe See also Section 3, "Number, Order, Form" and the glossary entry.
References
- ^ "ITIS Standard Report Page: Muscina." Integrated Taxonomic Information System. 11 Mar. 2009 <http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=150028>
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