Geology Emerges as a Science

This chapter discusses the development of American geology. Starting with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Silliman, and Louis Agassiz, who spent the latter portion of his career in the United States and proceeding to geological greats such as John Wesley Powell and others, the New World offered unique insights impacting how geology advanced. This difference is related to the immense size of the continent, its wealth of resources, and the variable geologic settings found within. The geologic principles discovered in Europe and other parts of the world were applied to North America as the continent was explored. Contributions to the growing field of geology from American and Canadian geologists of the time, including the further understanding of glacial periods, advancements in mineralogy, and exploration of the natural wonders and economic minerals of North America, including the westward expansion and further study of coal deposits and paleobotany.

“Of One Blood All Nations”

As the nation wrestled with emancipation in 1863, many Americans called for a reassessment of racism in light of scripture. Americans looked to various texts, including the Curse of Ham, but especially Paul’s statement, God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17:26). This was a major proof text in a hotly contested debate over human origins. One view—represented by Swiss-born Harvard professor Louis Agassiz—supported “polygenism,” the belief that different races originated at different times and places. Others argued for “monogenesis,” claiming all races had a common origin and shared a common humanity. Paul’s “one blood” statement became a proof text for monogenesis and a key argument against slavery. Americans often cited it alongside the Declaration of Independence and the golden rule.

Russian Diplomat and Entomologist Robert Romanovich (Carl Robert) Osten-Sacken and His Role in the Studies of North American Insects

This paper analyzes a fruitful scientific collaboration between a Russian diplomat and entomologist, Carl Robert Osten-Sacken, and a German dipterist Friedrich Hermann Loew, who laid the foundation for the studies on North American Diptera. In particular, it provides information about three collections of insects, made by Osten-Sacken: the main collection of North American Diptera with type specimens of the species described by Loew and Osten-Sacken himself, which was left in the USA and is now permanently deposited at the Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology (Harvard University); a collection of the most common North American insects that was presented by Osten-Sacken to the Museum of Natural History (NYC), and a small collection of European Diptera, hosted at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. Other aspects of Osten-Sacken’s entomological studies are also analyzed, particularly his proposals for the chaetotaxy of Dipteran and for the order’s taxonomy, and his biographical book, “Record of My Life Work in Entomology”, is reviewed.

Icecapades

This chapter focuses on James David Forbes and Louis Agassiz, two glaciologists that fueled a passion for ice and snow that prominently figured in the public imagination. It looks into Agassiz's “Études sur les glaciers” and its accompanying atlas of thirty-two plates that stirred sublime awe and scientific curiosity. It also talks about how Forbes, in contrast to Agassiz, fashioned his “Travels Through the Alps of Savoy” in a format and style after Horace-Bénédict de Saussure's publication as a reference for both scientists and mountaineers. The chapter emphasizes how Forbes and Louis Agassiz's works divulge their infatuation with glaciers as a highly dynamic, volatile, and agentic environment. It also discloses Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz who assumed Agassiz's legacy after his death in December 1873 by publishing “Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence.”

Horace-Bénédict De Saussure’s Quest for Mont Blanc

This chapter recounts the late eighteenth century to trace the steps of Conrad Gessner, the Swiss naturalist who is widely credited as the father of Alpinism. It analyzes Horace-Bénédict de Saussure's “Voyages dans les Alpes” that delineated scientific observations and ecstatic descriptions of Saussure's travels. It also explores Saussure's creation of an entirely new model of depicting a mountain's summit perspective, introduction of influential observations on glaciers and glacial movement, and obsession with climbing Mont Blanc. The chapter talks about how Alexander von Humboldt referenced Saussure in his own publications and credited Saussure's accomplishment whenever possible. It also mentions Swiss geologist and zoologist Louis Agassiz, who was among the first to publicly suggest that glaciers covered large parts of the earth during an “ice age.”

Poetic Science and Competitive Vigor

This chapter looks at Edward Whymper's best-selling “Scrambles Amongst the Alps” in 1871. It reveals how Whymper's book is unmistakably shaped by Alexander von Humboldt's discourse, prefaced by literary quotes, and brimmed with references to Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, James David Forbes, Louis Agassiz, and Leslie Stephen. It also emphasizes Whymper's engagement to nineteenth-century traditions while pointing ahead to the nationally tinged race for first ascents in the twentieth century. The chapter mentions Irish physicist John Tyndall, Whymper's contemporary and rival, who climbed with competitive vigor but praised challenges in the mountains as mental and physical recovery from his work in London. It examines Tyndall's writings that shaped the representation and consumption of mountaineering by imbuing the sport with a spiritual dimension.

Epinephelus sicanus (Doderlein, 1882) (Perciformes: Serranidae: Epinephelinae), a valid species of grouper from the Mediterranean Sea

During the editing of the paper “In memory of Pietro Doderlein” (Massa et al. 2018), consulting Doderlein’s bibliography, and highlighting some interesting documents and the material preserved in the Museum of Zoology of the University of Palermo (MZPA) (today named after Doderlein), a taxonomic anomaly was noticed about a grouper collected more than one hundred years ago. The aim of the present statement is to prove that the name Cerna sicana Doderlein, 1882 (presently as Epinephelus sicanus [Doderlein, 1882]) should be considered a valid species unless it is demonstrated that it is a synonym of another valid species. In 1882 Doderlein described Cerna sicana from a single specimen (Fig. 1). The holotype is a female, composed of three parts: MZPA-P/46 comprising the stuffed specimen bearing the external anatomical features (Fig. 1), MZPA-AN/440 comprising the dry gill arches and the heart (Fig. 2), and MZPA-AN/1233 comprising the vertebral column (Fig. 3). The eyes and the digestive and reproductive organs, originally stored in liquid, are lost. The specimen was collected in the central Mediterranean Sea along the coast of northern Sicily (Palermo), southern Italy, in December 1882 and deposited at the Museum of Zoology “P. Doderlein” of the University of Palermo. Later Doderlein (1889) moved the species to the genus Epinephelus Bloch, 1793. About his new species, Doderlein (1882) wrote (translated from Italian): “Serranus Cernioides, Brito Capello, and Serranus Caninus, Val., are those most related to this … It should be established if its characters could allow it to be described as a new species or if they could be anomalies of one of the previously cited species. In order to highlight the peculiar characters, I tentatively decide to name it Serranus or Cerna Sicana, after the locality where it was caught”. Doderlein (1889) wrote about the new species to D.S. Jordan[1] then at the Indiana University of Bloomington (USA), who replied that he considered E. sicanus as a valid species, and that Jordan noted two other adults and a third young specimen collected in Brazil, in 1865, in the Louis Agassiz collection, preserved in the Museum of Cambridge (presently Museum of Comparative Zoology—MCZ, Harvard University, USA) that he considered as possibly conspecific with E. sicanus. According to A. Williston (MCZ curator, pers. comm.) two likely candidates for these Jordan-Doderlein specimens are still present in the museum (voucher codes MCZ 9787 and MCZ 9788), identified as “Epinephelus (allied to nigritus, perhaps new)”. Soon after, Jordan & Eigenmann (1890) synonymized Cerna sicana with Epinephelus merus (Poey, 1868). Subsequently, Boulenger (1895) synonymized Epinephelus merus and E. sicanus with Epinephelus nigritus (Holbrook, 1855), apparently without observing the holotype of C. sicana as argued by Tortonese (1956). [1] Jordan (1891) described Symphodus doderleini with the following etymology: “We have given to it the new name of Symphodus doderleini, in honor of our excellent friend Prof. Pietro Doderlein of the University of Palermo”; this is a proof of the esteem that he had for him.