Gerardus Troost (March 5, 1776 – August 14, 1850) was a Dutch- American medical doctor,

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

, and founding member and first president of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.; archive.org copie

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Biography

Troost was born in

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, to Anna Cornelia (Van Heeck) and Everardus Josephus Troost, and the older brother of

Benoist Troost Benoist Troost (born Benedictus Troost; also Benoît Troost, Benoit Troost; November 17, 1786 – February 8, 1859) was an Americanized Dutch geologist, physician, and American pioneer. He was one of the 14 founders of the American frontier town o ...

. He received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the

University of Leyden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

, and of Master in Pharmacy, in 1801, from the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. After a brief practice at Amsterdam and the Hague, he was enlisted in the army as a private soldier, and then as an officer of the first class in the medical department. During these periods of service, he was wounded in the thigh and in the head. In 1807, Troost went to Paris under the patronage of Louis Napoleon, King of Holland. There he studied at the School of Mines with renowned mineralogist

René Just Haüy René Just Haüy () FRS MWS FRSE (28 February 1743 – 1 June 1822) was a French priest and mineralogist, commonly styled the Abbé Haüy after he was made an honorary canon of Notre-Dame de Paris, Notre Dame. Due to his innovative work on cryst ...

. While in Paris, he translated into the Dutch language one of the earlier works of

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

, ''The Aspects of Nature''. This service brought him the cordial thanks of the author, with whom he maintained a friendly correspondence to the last. In 1810, he settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While there, he lectured on chemistry and mineralogy and made a geological survey of the area surrounding the city. Doctor Troost served five years as president of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. In 1816, Troost was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. In 1825, he joined the New Harmony experiment, in

New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana, Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana, Posey County, Indiana. It lies north of Mount Vernon, Indiana, Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of ...

, with

Thomas Say Thomas Say (June 27, 1787 – October 10, 1834) was an American entomologist, conchologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. His studies of insects and shells, numerous contributions to scientific journals, and scientific expeditions to Florida, Ge ...

. In 1827, he moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, where he became a professor of mineralogy and chemistry at the

University of Nashville University of Nashville was a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It was established in 1806 as Cumberland College. It existed as a distinct entity until 1909; operating at various times a medical school, a four-year military college, a ...

. From 1831 until 1850, he served as the State Geologist of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. While there he sent animal specimens to

John Edwards Holbrook John Edwards Holbrook (December 31, 1796 – September 8, 1871) was an American zoologist, herpetologist, physician, and naturalist, born in Beaufort, South Carolina, the son of Silas Holbrook, a teacher, and Mary Edwards. Although Holbrook's memo ...

. His most enduring contribution to science was his method of doing geological surveys, which was carried on by David Dale Owen, son of

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...

, who went on to do several surveys of the American northwest. Troost died in Nashville in August 1850 from

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

, which was epidemic in that city.

Work and legacy

Troost is credited with describing, as new

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, two North American reptiles: the alligator snapping turtle ('' Macrochelys temminckii)'' and the western cottonmouth ('' Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma''). He is honored by having a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

named after him, the Cumberland turtle ('' Trachemys scripta troostii)''. The reddish-colored crystals of a variety of '' willemite'' found in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

are known as ''troostite''. In 1866, Dr. Benjamin F. Shumard named a genus of fossil blastoids ''Troosticrinus'' in his honor. In 1909, Elvira Wood edited and published Troost's unpublished

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

on the

crinoid Crinoids are marine invertebrates that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that remain attached to the sea floor by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms, called feather stars or comatulids, are ...

s of

(1850). This brought Troost's previously unknown work back into geological and paleontological discourse.

References

External links

Gerard Troost Manuscript and Related Notes, Papers and Drawings, 1849-1904
from the

Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institution ...

Baptism of Gerardus Troost
{{DEFAULTSORT:Troost, Gerard 19th-century Dutch geologists 19th-century American geologists American mineralogists 1776 births 1850 deaths Leiden University alumni People from 's-Hertogenbosch People from New Harmony, Indiana University of Amsterdam alumni 19th-century Dutch physicians Deaths from cholera in the United States Dutch emigrants to the United States Members of the American Philosophical Society