La collezione Scilla presso il Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences: pratiche di visualizzazione dal XVII al XXI secolo

The paleontological collection of Agostino Scilla (1629-1700), now kept at the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, has been visually represented since 1670, year of publication of Scilla’s treaty La vana speculazione disingannata dal senso. The plates of the treaty have been repeatedly used in scientific literature, in comparison with the specimens of the collection and, more often, with other visualization techniques. The contentious taxonomic identification of one of those specimens, the olotype of Squalodon melitensis, shows how the legitimization of images was at the core of scientific debate. According to Daston & Galison, scientific images are epistemic objects related with specific epistemic virtues. The recent digitization project of Scilla’s collection, using new techniques of digital imaging, puts in question, again, the construction of the scientific Self as producer of images.