Gesner, 1555
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| Conrad Gesner (from Wikimedia) |
Conrad Gesner or Geßner was a Swiss naturalist very
respected in his time and in the centuries that followed. Many consider him the
father of modern zoology due to his Historiae
animalium, more than 4500 pages in
five volumes. The first four, devoted to mammals (Quadrupedes vivipares),
herps (Quadrupedes ovipares), birds (Avium natura) and
aquatic fauna (Piscium & aquatilium animantium natura) were
published between 1551 and 1558, and the last, dedicated to snakes and
scorpions was posthumous. The first four volumes were translated into German in
1563 under the title Thierbuch. It’s
one of the first natural history works that include colour illustrations of
animals and their environment and the first that includes fossils.
Gesner studied in many European towns: Strasburg, Basel , Montpelier or Bourges , in addition to Zurich
Gesner’s engraving represents a young NBI in a
realistic way. We can here see reproductions of the Latin and German editions.
Conrad Gesner died of plague at the age of 49 during
one of the epidemics that followed the great pandemic called the black death.
Those interested in Gesner’s work can find his work scanned
in the web. The third
volume, Avium natura, is here.
Aldrovandi,
1603
Pope
Gregory XIII will always be remembered for commissioning and being the namesake
for the Gregorian Calendar, conceived to avoid Christmas being celebrated in
summer. During his time, he was better
known for his political activity, being behind many religious plots,
including St. Bartholomew's Day
Massacres of Huguenots (August, 24th, 1572) and wars involving most catholic kingdoms against Othoman Empire and
England.
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| Ulisse Aldrovandi (from Wikimedia) |
Nevertheless, his cousin was Ulisse Aldrovandi’s mother, and this allowed this
naturalist from Bologna Bologna
Turning the page we find a surprise. Aldrovandi took
the image from Gesner’s Corvus sylvaticus, as if it was a different
species. The print is a mirror image of the original, which is normal when you
copy to a woodcut or a copperplate, that is printed in turn the other way
round.
Obviously, the inclusion of two versions of NBI in a
volume, particularly one dedicated to web-footed birds is really quite odd.
Keeping in mind the means available at that time, it’s logical that authors copied each other and that, in some cases, they tried to guess whatthe previous author was describing. Aldrovandi identified Gesner’s ibis as another species, probably because this was a juvenile, with its feathered face, which presumably caused the mistake. But Aldrovandi cites also Bellonius, who is no other than Pierre Belon. This French naturalist published, also in 1555, L 'Histoire de la nature des oyseaux considered one of the first works of comparative anatomy. Among other quotations of Belon, Aldrovandi includes in chapter LVI another Phalacrocorax , this time Phalacrocorax Bellonii. However, this time it is a web-footed bird. The illustration is quite confusing.
Which bird is this? Many other illustrations in the
book are difficult to identify, but this one is particularly puzzling. We
should reject cormorants and mergansers, which are well illustrated in other
chapters. What is, then, Phalacrocorax Bellonii?
Read part 2
Read part 2
