audio by title trying leviathan -graham burnett

In 1818, through a bizarre series of circumstances, taxonomy and science were put on trial in a courthouse in New York City. What started as a minor case about the inspection of barrels of whale oil, became a showcase trial on the publics understanding of natural history and the new order of nature. The whole cause célèbre court case revolved around a deceptively simple question: was a whale  a “fish” or a “mammal”?