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Jacob Theodor Klein (nickname ''Plinius Gedanensium''; 15 August 1685 – 27 February 1759) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
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,
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
,
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 ...
,
zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...
,
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...
and
diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...
in service of Polish King
August II the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...
.


Life

Klein was born on 15 August 1685 in
Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was ...
,
Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...
(now
Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
). He studied natural history and history at the
University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...
. Between 1706 and 1712, Klein travelled through England, Germany, Holland and Austria in an educational journey, before returning to Königsberg. He moved to Danzig after the death of his father, where he was elected city secretary in 1713. Between 1714 and 1716 he served as the city's representative, or “resident secretary at court,” (''residierender Sekretär'') in Dresden and then Warsaw. Klein began his scientific works in 1713 and began publishing his findings by 1722, as a member of the Institute of Sciences in Bologna. Influenced by Johann Philipp Breyne, his works dealt with matters of zoological nomenclature, and he set up his own system of classification of animals, which was based on the number, shape, and position of the limbs. He used his position as secretary to found a
botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
there (now called ''Ogród Botaniczny w Oliwie).'' For his work in the natural sciences, Klein had been rewarded with membership of several scientific societies, including the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in London, the Academy of in St. Petersburg, the ''Deutsche Gesellschaft'' in Jena, and the Danzig Research Society. One of Klein's daughters, Dorothea Juliane Klein, married physicist Darniel Gralath, who would become mayor of Danzig. Gralath inherited Klein's library, which was praised by Swiss mathematician Jogann Bernoulli. Klein died on 27 February 1759 in Danzig.


Botanical garden and "Museum Kleinianum"

Using his position as secretary of Danzig and with the help of other scholars, Klein set up a botanical garden in 1718, which was one of, if not the largest of its time. The garden was expanded to include live animals, zoological, fossil and amber collections, the shell collection of the mayor of Amsterdam Nicolaus Witsen, as well as a greenhouse which he used for experimentation with exotic plants. The collection became known as the Museum Kleinianum. It was sold to Margrave Friedrich of Brandenburg-Kulmbach in 1740. After the Margrave's death in 1763, the collection was donated to the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). It was praised by prominent Swiss mathematician
Johann Bernoulli Johann Bernoulli (also known as Jean or John; – 1 January 1748) was a Swiss mathematician and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He is known for his contributions to infinitesimal calculus and educating Le ...
, who visited the museum in 1777 or 1778.


Scientific works


System of classification

Inspired by Johann Phillipp Breyne, Klein developed an interest in science as early as 1713 and began publishing in 1722. He was especially interested in the systematic classification of living organisms, but excluded insects from his classifications. His system was based on external, easily identifiable traits, such as the number, shape and position of limbs. This put his work in opposition with that of
Carl von Linné Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
, of whom he was critical, and whose work has since garnered more widespread recognition, though some of Klein's classifications are still in use, for example, in the naming of echidnoderms. His work on sea urchins was the most prominent source of information on the species at the time. His essay ''Tentamen Herpetologiae (1755)'' featured the first mention of the term
herpetology Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians ( gymnophiona)) and ...
- the study of amphibians. However, his system of classification meant that species such as frogs and lizards, which belong to amphibians and reptiles respectively, were not distinguished as belonging to separate classes. Klein was critical of Linnaeus' system of classification, believing only easily recognisable features could be used to classify animals, as Adam had done when naming animals according to the Biblical story of creation.


''Historiae Piscium Naturalis''

Klein published ''Historiae Piscium Naturalis promovendae Missus primus Gedani'' in 1744. The publication, dedicated to the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, focused on understanding the auditory capacity of cartilaginous and spinose fishes. According to John Eames, until the publication of the work, it was believed to have been understood that only cetaceous fish were known to have auditory passages, or ear holes, and that the question of whether fish could hear was still not understood. Aristotle claimed, in his ''"History of Animals,"'' that fishes possessed no evident auditory organs, but believed that nonetheless they must hear. In the Preface, Klein cites the work of Giulio Casare Casseri, who discovered bones in the heads of Pike or Jack fish, which he understood to be their organs of hearing, though he did not discover any manifest external auditory passages. In section of the essay titled ''De Lapillis, eorumque Numero in Craniis Piscium'' (roughly translated as “The bones, their number in the skull of Fish”) Klein considers what parts of the head of fish serve as the organ of hearing, and by what passages the sensation of sound is communicated to them. He refers to these bones as Ossicula – little bones – and considers them essential parts of the head, generated with the brain itself. He notes that the bones scale proportional to the size of the fish, and are most easily discovered in the heads of Spinose fish. Klein identifies three pairs of bones to which he attributes the sense of hearing, and he takes to correspond to the Incus,
Malleus The malleus, or hammer, is a hammer-shaped small bone or ossicle of the middle ear. It connects with the incus, and is attached to the inner surface of the eardrum. The word is Latin for 'hammer' or 'mallet'. It transmits the sound vibrations f ...
and
Stapes The ''stapes'' or stirrup is a bone in the middle ear of humans and other animals which is involved in the conduction of sound vibrations to the inner ear. This bone is connected to the oval window by its annular ligament, which allows the foo ...
of other animals. The first are the two largest, which he explains are easily found; the other two pairs, he explains, are small, difficult to find, enveloped in distinct fine membranes. Klein believed one could determine the age of fish by analysing the number and thickness of the Laminae and fibres of these bones. The bone to which Klein was referring, now called the otolith, acquires a growth ring every day for at least the first six months of its life. Klein inquiries into the nature of the passages by which vibrations produce a sense of hearing. He inspects the head of a Pike fish and observes several holes with bristles which lead to the auditory bones. He later dissected a Sturgeon fish and traced the auditory duct to the membrane in which the three bones are placed. Klein concludes that fishes do indeed have hearing organs and passages, communicated to through slight vibrations, though these passages are not easily demonstrable in many species. He observes that the auditory organs of cetaceous, cartilaginous and spinose fish differ from one another in structure and substance. The auditory organs of cetaceous fish are bony, while they are more fragile for cartilaginous fishes, he explains. He adds that water does not act as an impediment to hearing, but rather is the “intermedium” by which sound is communicated.


Honours

Klein had been awarded the membership of several scientific societies, including the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in London, the St. Petersburg Academy, and the Danzig Research Society. The name of the genus
Kleinia ''Kleinia'' is a genus of African flowering plants in the sunflower family. ''Kleinia'' contains around 50 species and is distributed from the Canary Islands, throughout Tropical Africa to India and Arabia. It is closely related to the genus ' ...
was given to the plant family of Compositae (Asteraceae) by Linnaeus in honour of Klein's works. He was described as the most important natural philosopher of his century by Professor
Johann Daniel Titius Johann Daniel Titius (born Johann Daniel Tietz(e), 2 January 1729 – 16 December 1796) was a German astronomer and a professor at Wittenberg.
.


Criticism

Although well respected by his colleagues, Klein was nonetheless accused by some contemporaries of being unscientific, alleging that he based his beliefs on the hearsay and the claims of ‘credulous’ people. The 1760 edition of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London published a letter by 18th Century botanist and Fellow of the Royal Society,
Peter Collinson, criticizing Klein for his belief that swallows (sand martins) are not migratory birds, and instead ‘retire under water’ during winters. Collinson accused Klein's assertion as being “contrary to nature and reason,” and provided observations of Marine officers, such as Sir Charles Wager, to further his claim.


List of works

* ''Natürliche Ordnung und vermehrte Historie der vierfüssigen Thiere.'' Schuster, Danzig 1760 *
Verbesserte und vollständigere Historie der Vögel
' Schmidt, Leipzig, Lübeck 1760
''Stemmata avium.'' Holle, Leipzig 1759

''Tentamen herpetologiae.'' Luzac jun., Leiden, Göttingen 1755
* ''Doutes ou observations de M. Klein, sur la revûe des animaux, faite par le premier homme, sur quelques animaux des classes des quadrupedes & amphibies du systême de la nature, de M. Linnaeus.'' Bauche, Paris 1754
''Ordre naturel des oursins de mer et fossiles, avec des observations sur les piquans des oursins de mer, et quelques remarques sur les bélemnites ...'' Bauche, Paris 1754

''Tentamen methodi ostracologicæ  sive  Dispositio naturalis cochlidum et concharum in suas classes, genera et species.'' Wishoff, Leiden 1753

''Quadrupedum dispositio brevisque historia naturalis.'' Schmidt, Leipzig 1751

''Historiae avium prodromus.'' Schmidt, Lübeck 1750

''Mantissa ichtyologica de sono et auditu piscium  sive  Disquisitio rationum, quibus autor epistolae in Bibliotheca Gallica de auditu piscium, omnes pisces mutos surdosque esse, contendit.'' Leipzig 1746

''Historiæ piscium naturlais promovendæ missus quartus de piscibus per branchias apertas spirantibus ad justum numerum et ordinem redigendis.'' Gleditsch & Schreiber, Leipzig, Danzig 1744
* ''Summa dubiorum circa classes quadrupedum et amphibiorum in celebris domini Caroli Linnaei systemate naturae.'' Leipzig, Danzig 1743
''Naturalis dispositio echinodermatum.'' Schreiber, Danzig 1734

''Descriptiones tubulorum marinorum.'' Knoch, Danzig 1731
* ''An Tithymaloides.'' Schreiber, Danzig 1730 *''Petri Artedi operum brevis recensio,'' 1738, British Library, Sloane MS 4020, ff. 194–197; Theodore W. Pietsch & Hans Aili, "Jacob Theodor Klein's critique of Peter Artedi's ''Ichthyologia'' (1738), ''Svenska Linnésällskapets Årsskrift'' Årgång 2014, p. 39–84.


See also

* :Taxa named by Jacob Theodor Klein


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Jacob Theodor 18th-century German botanists 18th-century German zoologists German entomologists German diplomats 18th-century German historians 18th-century German lawyers 18th-century German mathematicians Diplomats of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Fellows of the Royal Society People from Royal Prussia Scientists from Gdańsk 1685 births 1759 deaths German male non-fiction writers 18th-century German male writers