ccp ancient science networks - bram's snailblog...ancient science networks • m.e. (stéfano)...
TRANSCRIPT
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Historical collections and
ancient science networks
Abraham S.H. Breure
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Overview• Ancient science networks in the 19th / early 20th
century (Moricand, Brot, Drouët, Crosse, and Dautzenberg)
• Historical collections and the link to science networks
• Material of the ‘Comisión Científica del Pacífico’ (CCP)
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Ancient science networks
• Exchange of ideas and arguments (correspondence, face-to-face)
• Exchange of material (unilateral or bilateral)
• Exchange of formal knowledge (reprints)
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Ancient science networks
• M.E. (Stéfano) Moricand – 1779-1854
• J.A. (Jacques) Moricand – 1823-1877
• amateur scientists in Geneva
• botanist [Sr.] and malacologists (collections in Geneva)
Breure & Tardy, 2016 Revue suisse Zool. 123
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Ancient science networks
• Auguste Brot – 1821-1896
• amateur scientist in Geneva
• malacologist (collection in Geneva)
Breure & Tardy, 2016 Revue suisse Zool. 123
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Moricand sr./jr.
n = 40
Brot
n = 28*
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Moricand sr./jr.
n = 40
Brot
n = 28*France is dominantly present
very few outside Europe
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Ancient science networks
• Henri Drouët – 1829-1900
• amateur scientist in Troyes, and Dijon
• malacologist (collection partly in Dijon and Lyon)
• correspondence partly in Crosse archive, partly in Baudon archive (soon in BnF)
Crosse archive
Audibert, 2011 Folia conchyliologica 14
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Crosse archive / Breure & Backhuys, 2016. Basteria 80: in press
Material from Drouët’s publication on molluscs
from French Guiana and Martinique (1859)
was sold to Crosse in 1883, and subsequently
dispersed when his collection was auctioned after his death in 1899
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Ancient science networks
• Philippe Dautzenberg – 1849-1935
• amateur scientist
• malacologist (collection presented to King Leopold of Belgium, now in RBINS)
• correspondence and reprint archive in RBINS
Duchamps, 1999 Apex 14
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Breure, 2016. Basteria 80: in press1881-1900 1900-1915 1915-1935
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Breure, 2016. Basteria 80: in pressn = 481
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Breure, 2016. Basteria 80: in pressn = 481Europe and
France still dominant
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Ancient science networks• Hippolyte Crosse – 1821-1896
• amateur scientist
• malacologist (collection sold after his death and dispersed)
• co-editor and director of the Journal de Conchyliologie
• correspondence archive in private hands
Deyrolle, 1899
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n = 412
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n = 412During 19th/early 20th century France, Germany, Italy and
U.K. were ‘science centers’ in malacology
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French correspondents
0
75
150
225
300
0 10 20 30 40
#Letters
Morelet
Drouët
n = 187
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non-French correspondents
0
50
100
150
200
0 10 20 30 40
#Letters
Hidalgo
n = 225
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Networks – collections• Contacts were predominantly by mail (letters); face-
to-face was exceptional
• ‘Swapping’ of material was very common (duplicates)
• Formal knowledge was distributed via few channels
• ‘Slow science’ via few ‘gate keepers’ per country
• Eponyms are a proxy for good contacts; played a role in trust building?
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‘Gate keeper’
• Joaquin González Hidalgo – 1839-1923
• amateur scientist
• malacologist (collection in MNCN)
• worked on the land snails collected by CCP
RBINS archive
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n=56*France, Germany, Spain, UK and USA dominant
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Comisión Científica del Pacífico
López-Ocón, 2003. Bull. Inst. fr. études andine 32
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Comisión Científica del Pacífico
López-Ocón, 2003. Bull. Inst. fr. études
andine 32
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Comisión Científica del Pacifico
• Collected land, freshwater, and marine shells, besides many other animals and plants
• 230 lots in MNCN (land mollusks)
• Studied and described by Hidalgo (25), Crosse (4), Pfeiffer (2), and Philippi (2)
• Still more to be discovered?
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Hidalgo – Crosse• Corresponded between 1863 and 1897
• 191 letters in Crosse archives
• Hidalgo visited Paris twice; also Paz y Membiela
• Background of completion of ‘Moluscos del Viaje al Pacífico’ (Hidalgo, 1872)
• Plates were made and printed in Paris
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letter d.d. 8 March 1868 Crosse archive
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Annex to letter d.d. 11 November 1869
(Crosse archive)
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letter 17 July 1872 (archive Crosse)
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Summary• Historical collections are valuable assets of present-day
public museums
• Correct interpretations not only needs research on content (labels!) but also on context
• Ancient science networks may provide valuable contextual information
• Networks outside France may shed new light on presumed dominance
• More CCP material than thought, with a hidden novelty
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• Thanks to Rafael Araujo (MNCN), Rose Sablon and Thierry Backeljau (RBINS), Rob Moolenbeek (Naturalis), Wim Backhuys
• Research supported by SYNTHESYS (Brussels, Madrid) and Diederik van Schagen Fund (Netherlands)