Among the largest and longest-lived of all terrestrial organisms, trees
are not just an integral part of the planet's ecology, but are also a
key resource in the development of civilization and a ubiquitous
cultural metaphor, used to describe everything from the organization of
knowledge to the structures of genetics and genealogy. Cabinet 48
features Arthur Fleming on the demise of the loneliest tree in the
world; Dan Handel on Dietrich Brandis and colonial forest management in
India; James Trainor on how the woods have reclaimed James Pierce's
environmental artwork on Pratt Farm in Maine; and an art project by John
Stoney. Elsewhere in the issue: Brian Dillon on the photographs that
inspired the fantastical marine illustrations of nineteenth-century
naturalist Philip Henry Gosse; Anthony Acciavatti on psychorheology, a
science developed in the late 1930s to explore the psychological
ramifications of tactile experience; and an interview with a member of
the FBI Art Crime Team.
