Stettin Entomological Society
Encyclopedia
The Entomological Society of Stettin or Stettin Entomological Society, based in Stettin (Szczecin)
, was one of the leading entomological
societies of the 19th century. Most German
entomologists were members, as were many from England
, Sweden
, Italy
, France
, and Spain
. The society had very large collections and a very comprehensive library.
This first German entomological society was formed in 1839. Following the death at age 39 of its first and short-lived president,Dr. Wilhelm Ludwig Ewald Schmidt
, Carl August Dohrn
(1806-1892), a lifelong resident of the then Prussian
town of Stettin, became its second president. He was elected at an anniversary meeting on 5 November 1843. Having acted as secretary of the society for the previous four years, he continued in this role, and that of president, for the next forty.
Under Dohrn's presidency the society became as important as the entomological societies of London
and Paris
. As in these countries, the society reflected the growing professionalism during the second half of the 19th century, necessitating specialisation. Specialisation was accompanied by a rise in technical standards of argument and presentation and a tendency toward the use of learned jargon. There were differences, however, as German universities and academies became increasingly advanced relative to those of England and France, organising seminars (with their published proceedings) and encouraging early publication of, for instance, the Ph.D.
dissertation, the academic "program" and the technical monograph. Also, after about 1850, any entomologist who wished to keep abreast of developments in his subject had to be able to read at least English
, French
, German
, Italian
, and, in some cases, Swedish
. Latin
and Greek
were indispensable. Far fewer entomologists in England and France were multilingual than in Germany. The Irish entomologist Alexander Henry Haliday
, an early member of the society, was a notable exception.
Stettin (Szczecin) is close to Lund
in Sweden
, home of the great Swedish dipterist Johann Wilhelm Zetterstedt, and also to Mesritz
, where Hermann Loew
, the greatest dipterist of the century, was to become Director of the Royal "Realschule". Both were members of the society.
The society's journal was called the Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung, abbreviated Stett. Ent. Zeit.
, have appeared in their volume of proceedings; as the articles on the determination of questionable Linnean species of Coleoptera, for which the collection of Linnaeus, in the possession of the Linnean Society of London, has afforded the materials. Besides the various interesting communications contained in this volume, (among which may be particularized Suffrian
's criticisms on Schönherr
's generic arrangement of the Curculionidae
, and an elaborate investigation, by the veteran Gravenhorst
, of the affinities of the Brachyeltrous genus Quedius, the society have published a second volume of their yearly journal (the Linnaea) containing, beside the usual portion of matter concerning Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Diptera, from the pens of Suffrian, Zeller
and Loew
, a considerable contribution to the knowledge of the almost microscopical and obscure Hymenopterous family Mymaridae by Prof. Förster
; as a supplement to which may be mentioned Loew's discovery of the hitherto unknown economy and prior states of these insects, communicated in the ' Entomologisches Zeitung'."
"The flourishing state of the society during all this time is the best evidence of the power of Dohrn to attract and keep together the bulk of the entomologists of Germany and many of other countries, and his influence remained great. Coleoptera occupied his own attention but he had a regard for insects of other orders if only for the reason that it brought him into communication with the lovers of them, for he had a sympathy not only with the entomologists as such but also as cultivators of a sense of pleasure and enjoyment in the varied realm of nature, and he was able, as a rule, to give far more information on cognate matters than he received"
Various other obituaries of C.A. Dohrn are listed by Reinhard Gaedike and Eckhard K. Groll in Biographien der Entomologen der Welt http://www.zalf.de/home_zalf/institute/dei/php/biograph/biograph.php
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
, was one of the leading entomological
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
societies of the 19th century. Most German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
entomologists were members, as were many from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The society had very large collections and a very comprehensive library.
This first German entomological society was formed in 1839. Following the death at age 39 of its first and short-lived president,Dr. Wilhelm Ludwig Ewald Schmidt
Wilhelm Ludwig Ewald Schmidt
Wilhelm Ludwig Ewald Schmidt was a German physician, botanist, and entomologist.He was the first President of the Entomological Society of Stettin.-Works:...
, Carl August Dohrn
Carl August Dohrn
Carl August Dohrn was a German entomologist.-Biography:Born at Stettin Carl August was the son of Heinrich Dohrn, who was a wine and spice merchant, and had made the family fortune by trading in sugar...
(1806-1892), a lifelong resident of the then Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
town of Stettin, became its second president. He was elected at an anniversary meeting on 5 November 1843. Having acted as secretary of the society for the previous four years, he continued in this role, and that of president, for the next forty.
Under Dohrn's presidency the society became as important as the entomological societies of London
Royal Entomological Society of London
The Royal Entomological Society of London is devoted to insect study. It has a major national and international role in disseminating information about insects and improving communication between entomologists....
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. As in these countries, the society reflected the growing professionalism during the second half of the 19th century, necessitating specialisation. Specialisation was accompanied by a rise in technical standards of argument and presentation and a tendency toward the use of learned jargon. There were differences, however, as German universities and academies became increasingly advanced relative to those of England and France, organising seminars (with their published proceedings) and encouraging early publication of, for instance, the Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
dissertation, the academic "program" and the technical monograph. Also, after about 1850, any entomologist who wished to keep abreast of developments in his subject had to be able to read at least English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and, in some cases, Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
. Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
were indispensable. Far fewer entomologists in England and France were multilingual than in Germany. The Irish entomologist Alexander Henry Haliday
Alexander Henry Haliday
Alexander Henry Haliday, also known as Enrico Alessandro Haliday and Alexis Heinrich Haliday sometimes Halliday , was an Irish entomologist. He is primarily known for his work on Hymenoptera, Diptera and Thysanoptera, but Haliday worked on all insect orders and on many aspects of entomology.Haliday...
, an early member of the society, was a notable exception.
Stettin (Szczecin) is close to Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, home of the great Swedish dipterist Johann Wilhelm Zetterstedt, and also to Mesritz
Miedzyrzecz
Międzyrzecz is a town in western Poland with 18,584 inhabitants . The capital of Międzyrzecz County, it was part of the Gorzów Wielkopolski Voivodeship from 1975–1998. Since the Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998, Międzyrzecz has been situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship...
, where Hermann Loew
Hermann Loew
Friedrich Hermann Loew was a German entomologist who specialised in the study of Diptera, an order of insects including flies, mosquitoes, gnats and midges...
, the greatest dipterist of the century, was to become Director of the Royal "Realschule". Both were members of the society.
The society's journal was called the Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung, abbreviated Stett. Ent. Zeit.
Quotes
"The Stettin Entomological Society has continued in full activity, and the number of entomologists, in other countries as well as Germany (six of them members of this Society), who have been admitted as ordinary members during the past year, shows that their proceeding have aroused a greater zeal for scientific enquiry and mutual communication. Some of the visits to England of their Secretary, Dr. SchaumHermann Rudolph Schaum
Hermann Rudolph Schaum was a professor in Berlin and an entomologist. He specialised in Coleoptera....
, have appeared in their volume of proceedings; as the articles on the determination of questionable Linnean species of Coleoptera, for which the collection of Linnaeus, in the possession of the Linnean Society of London, has afforded the materials. Besides the various interesting communications contained in this volume, (among which may be particularized Suffrian
Christian Wilhelm Ludwig Eduard Suffrian
Christian Wilhelm Ludwig Eduard Suffrian was a German entomologist who specialized in Coleoptera especially Chrysomelidae.He was a schoolteacher in Münster...
's criticisms on Schönherr
Carl Johan Schönherr
Carl Johan Schönherr was a Swedish entomologist who revised the taxonomy of beetles, including weevils.Born in Stockholm, Schönherr was son of a German immigrant who had established himself as a silk manufacturer. At the age of nineteen, he took over the business together with his mother and...
's generic arrangement of the Curculionidae
Curculionidae
Curculionidae is the family of the "true" weevils . It was formerly recognized in 1998 as the largest of any animal family, with over 40,000 species described worldwide at that time...
, and an elaborate investigation, by the veteran Gravenhorst
Johann Ludwig Christian Gravenhorst
Johann Ludwig Christian Carl Gravenhorst , sometimes Jean Louis Charles or Carl, was a German entomologist, herpetologist and zoologist.- Life:...
, of the affinities of the Brachyeltrous genus Quedius, the society have published a second volume of their yearly journal (the Linnaea) containing, beside the usual portion of matter concerning Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Diptera, from the pens of Suffrian, Zeller
Philipp Christoph Zeller
Philipp Christoph Zeller was a German entomologist.Zeller was born at Steinheim Württemberg, two miles from Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller. The family moved to Frankfurt where Philip went to the gymnasium where natural history was not taught. Instead, helped by Alois Metzner, he taught...
and Loew
Hermann Loew
Friedrich Hermann Loew was a German entomologist who specialised in the study of Diptera, an order of insects including flies, mosquitoes, gnats and midges...
, a considerable contribution to the knowledge of the almost microscopical and obscure Hymenopterous family Mymaridae by Prof. Förster
Arnold Förster
Arnold Förster was a German entomologist, who worked mainly on Coleoptera and Hymenoptera.-Life:Arnold Förster, who was born on 20 January 1810 in Aachen, Germany, where he died on 12 August 1884. He was Oberlehrer , or upper teacher, in Aachen for his entire adult life. He worked ceaselessly on...
; as a supplement to which may be mentioned Loew's discovery of the hitherto unknown economy and prior states of these insects, communicated in the ' Entomologisches Zeitung'."
"The flourishing state of the society during all this time is the best evidence of the power of Dohrn to attract and keep together the bulk of the entomologists of Germany and many of other countries, and his influence remained great. Coleoptera occupied his own attention but he had a regard for insects of other orders if only for the reason that it brought him into communication with the lovers of them, for he had a sympathy not only with the entomologists as such but also as cultivators of a sense of pleasure and enjoyment in the varied realm of nature, and he was able, as a rule, to give far more information on cognate matters than he received"
Sources
- Douglas, J. W., 1892. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine (3) 3:164-165: Obituary of C. A. Dohrn.
- Lefèvre, E., 1892. Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. 61: Obituary of C. A. Dohrn.
Various other obituaries of C.A. Dohrn are listed by Reinhard Gaedike and Eckhard K. Groll in Biographien der Entomologen der Welt http://www.zalf.de/home_zalf/institute/dei/php/biograph/biograph.php
External links
- BHL Scanned volumes of Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung