Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

, herpetologist and

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of O ...

Early life and education

Schlegel was born at

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history. The discovery, by chance, of a buzzard's nest led him to the study of birds, and a meeting with

Christian Ludwig Brehm Christian Ludwig Brehm (24 January 1787 – 23 June 1864) was a German pastor and ornithologist. He was the father of the zoologist Alfred Brehm. Life Brehm was born in Schönau near Gotha on 24 January 1787. He was educated at Univers ...

. Schlegel started to work for his father, but soon tired of it. He travelled to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1824, where, at the university, he attended the lectures of

Leopold Fitzinger Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (13 April 1802 – 20 September 1884) was an Austrian zoologist. Fitzinger was born in Vienna and studied botany at the University of Vienna under Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. He worked at the Vienna Natur ...

and Johann Jacob Heckel. A letter of introduction from Brehm to gained him a position at the Naturhistorisches Museum.

Ornithological career

One year after his arrival, the director of this natural history museum, Carl Franz Anton Ritter von Schreibers, recommended him to

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch aristocrat, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob Temmi ...

, director of the natural history museum of Leiden, who was seeking an assistant. At first Schlegel worked mainly on the

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalia ...

collection and wrote ''Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpens'' (1837), but soon his field of activity extended to other zoological groups. It had been intended that Schlegel be sent to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

to join the Natural History Commission, but the untimely death of Temminck's intended successor,

Heinrich Boie Heinrich Boie (4 May 1794, Meldorf, Holstein – 4 September 1827, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia) was a German zoologist. He was the brother of Friedrich Boie. In the field of herpetology they described 49 new species of reptiles and severa ...

, prevented the realization of this project. It was at this time that Schlegel met

Philipp Franz von Siebold Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora and fauna and the introduction of Western medicine in Japan. He w ...

. They became firm friends and collaborated on ''Fauna Japonica'' (1845-1850). In 1847 he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands, when that became the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1851 he became member. Schlegel considered

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

as fixed, and consequently from the publication of ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...

'' until his death was strongly opposed to Darwin's theory. The English naturalist

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

knew of Schlegel's opinions on species and evolution from remarks by his close friend, the British

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and explorer Joseph Dalton Hooker: ‘I talked much with Schlegel, he is strongly in favour of a multiple creation & against migration’.Hooker, J .D. 1845. Letter to C.R. Darwin, 23 March 1845. Darwin Correspondence Project, Letter no. 844.
/ref>

Director of the natural history museum

When Temminck died at the beginning of 1858, Schlegel succeeded him as director of the natural history museum, after having spent 33 years under his direction. Schlegel was particularly interested in Southeast Asia, and in 1857 sent his son Gustav to collect birds in China. Gustav arrived to find that

Robert Swinhoe Robert Swinhoe FRS (1 September 1836 – 28 October 1877) was an English diplomat and naturalist who worked as a Consul in Formosa. He catalogued many Southeast Asian birds, and several, such as Swinhoe's pheasant, are named after him. Biogr ...

had gotten there first. In 1859, Schlegel sent

Heinrich Agathon Bernstein Heinrich Agathon Bernstein (22 September 1828 – 19 April 1865) was a German naturalist, zoologist and explorer from Breslau (Wrocław). Biography Early years Heinrich Agathon Bernstein was born on 22 September 1828 in Breslau (modern-d ...

to collect birds in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

. After the death of Bernstein in 1865, he was succeeded by Hermann von Rosenberg. Schlegel took on a young assistant, Otto Finsch. At the same time, he started to publish a scientific magazine, ''Notes from the Leyden Museum'', as well as a vast work of 14 volumes, '' Muséum d'histoire naturelle des Pays-Bas'' (1862-1880). He employed three talented illustrators: John Gerrard Keulemans,

Joseph Smit Joseph Smit (18 July 1836 – 4 November 1929) was a Dutch zoological illustrator. L.B. Holthuis, Leiden, (1958, 1995) ''Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, 1820 - 1958''. page 47reprint manuscript, PDF Background Smit was born in Lisse. H ...

and Joseph Wolf. The end of Schlegel's life was difficult: his wife died in 1864, Finsch moved to the natural history museum at

Bremen Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state cons ...

, and the collections of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

started to eclipse those of Leiden. Schlegel died on 17 January 1884 in Leiden. His sons are the

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

and field naturalist Gustaaf Schlegel (1840-1903) and the

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Leander Schlegel (1844-1913).

Animal species named for Schlegel

In alphabetical order by common name: * Eyelash viper ''(Bothriechis schlegelii)'', a pit viperBeolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Schlegel", p. 235). *

False gharial The false gharial (''Tomistoma schlegelii''), also known by the names Malayan gharial, Sunda gharial and tomistoma is a freshwater crocodilian of the family Gavialidae native to Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and Java. It is listed as ...

''(Tomistoma schlegelii)'' , a crocodilian * The

Giant sharkminnow The giant sharkminnow (''Osteochilus schlegelii'') a species of cyprinid fish found in southeast Asia. The name honors Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) who was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist Ichthyo ...

''(Osteochilus schlegelii)'', a fish * Red-headed reed snake ''(

Calamaria schlegeli ''Calamaria schlegeli'' is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is known commonly as the red-headed reed snake, Iskandar D, Grismer L (2012)''Calamaria schlegeli''.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 18 Fe ...

)'', a nonvenomous snake * Royal Penguin ''( Eudyptes schlegeli)'', a crested penguin * Schlegel's adder ''( Aspidomorphus schlegelii)'', a venomous elapid snake * Schlegel's beaked blind snake ''( Afrotyphlops schlegelii)'', a nonvenomous burrowing snake * Schlegel's forest skink ''( Sphenomorphus schlegeli)'', a lizard * Schlegel's green tree frog ''( Rhacophorus schlegelii)'', a shrub frog

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlegel, Hermann 19th-century German zoologists 1804 births 1884 deaths German herpetologists German ornithologists German ichthyologists German taxonomists Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Altenburg People from Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg