Marine Science
Richard Wolfgang Semon. Zoologische Forschungsreisen in Australien und dem Malayischen Archipel
Jena: 1893-1903
Richard Wolfgang Semon (b. 1859 Berlin, d. 1918 Munich) was an important anatomical zoologist. From 1891 to 1893, he travelled around Australia, developing influential ideas about biological and social evolution. His studies of memory influenced the work of cultural theorist and art historian Aby Warburg. Semon’s personal biography is fascinating and ultimately tragic. A Jew who converted to Protestantism in 1885, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound while draped in a German Imperial Flag following Germany’s defeat in WWI. The selections shown here include a map of Australia and a detailed chart tracing the life stages of a Ceratodus or lungfish. The closest living relative of the extinct prehistoric Ceradotus is the Queensland or Australian lungfish.
Hubert Ludwig. The Holothurioidea
Cambridge: 1894
Hubert Ludwig (b. 1852 Trier, d. 1913 Bonn) was a prize-winning German zoologist. From 1887, he worked as a full professor of zoology and director of the zoological museum at the University of Bonn. The present work includes information from an 1891 trip along the west coast of Mexico, Central and South America, and the Galapagos Islands. This volume was printed by Harvard University with an English title and the original German text within. A serious treatment of fanciful sea creatures is shown here.
Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz. System der Acalephen: eine aus führliche Beschreibung aller medusenartigen Strahlthiere
Berlin: 1829
The Baltic German Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz (b. 1793 Dorpat, d. 1831) was among the most important scientists exploring the Pacific. Until 1946, the Bikini Atoll was known as Eschscholtz Atoll. From 1815 to 1818, Eschscholtz sailed as a physician and naturalist on the expeditionary ship <em>Rurik</em> under the command of Otto von Kotzebue. He was a close friend of fellow traveler and botanist Adelbert von Chamisso, who later christened the California poppy in Eschscholtz’s honor (Eschscholzia californica). Eschscholtz joined Kotzebue again on the Enterprise between 1823 and 1826. During his voyages, Eschscholtz collected a myriad of specimens which became the basis for his German publications, such as this 1829 volume on jellyfish.