Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799) was a German physician and
naturalist who is best known for his contribution to ichthyology through his multi-volume catalog of plates illustrating the fishes of the world. Brought up in a Hebrew-speaking Jewish family, he learned German and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
and studied
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...
before settling in Berlin as a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
. He amassed a large
natural history collection, particularly of fish specimens. He is generally considered one of the most important
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 ...
s of the 18th century, and wrote many papers on natural history, comparative anatomy, and physiology.
Life
Bloch was born at
Ansbach in 1723 where his father was a Torah writer and his mother owned a small shop. Educated at home in Hebrew literature he became a private tutor in Hamburg for a Jewish surgeon. Here he learned German, Latin and anatomy. He then studied medicine in Berlin and received a doctorate in 1762 from
Frankfort on the Oder with a treatise on skin disorders. He then became a general practitioner in Berlin and married Breinche, daughter of "
protected Jew" Ruben Joseph Rintel (1699–1765?) in 1765. This allowed him to settle in Berlin. Bloch helped found the Society of Friends of Natural Sciences in 1773 along with
Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the '' Haskalah'', or ...
serving also as Mendelssohn's physician. He began to establish a large natural history collection and a library. He also began to publish in journals. Breinche died in 1769 and their only son died aged 21 while on a trip to Paris to sell the book on fishes that his father had written. In 1774 he married Cheile, daughter of banker Joseph Veitel Ephraim (1775–1807) and they would have a daughter who married physician
Wolf Davidson (1772–1800). After the death of Cheile, he married Rahel, daughter of a Jewish social worker Jeremias Bendix (1735 -1790), and they had a son and two daughters.
Bloch became interested in fishes only in 1782 after finding fish that he could not find a name for in the works of Linnaeus. He then began to collect fishes and had fish specimens sent from around the world, including correspondents from as far as India like
Johann Gerhard König Johann Gerhard König (29 November 1728 – 26 June 1785) was a Baltic German botanist and physician who served in the Tranquebar Mission, India before joining service under the Nawab of Arcot, and then the English East India Company. He collected ...
and
Christoph Samuel John. The collection was of nearly 1400 specimens and about 800 are now in the Bloch Cabinet of the
Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. He began to catalog the fishes of Germany in publications from 1782 to 1784, and on fishes from abroad until 1795, printing the books with copper plate engravings made largely at his own expense. He later managed to get subscribers including the Queen and Prince of Prussia, the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, the royal families of Denmark, Sweden, Poland and the court banker Isaac Daniel Itzig. Bloch also published on medicine, writing on such topics as the waters of Pyrmont and on intestinal parasitic worms.
Bloch visited Paris in 1797 to examine the fish collections there and returned via Holland. His health became poor and he went to
Carlsbad where he died of a stroke.
He was buried in the Jewish cemetery at Lichtenstadt.
Works and legacy
Bloch is best known for his encyclopedic work in
ichthyology
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 Oct ...
. Between 1782 and 1795 he published his ''Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische'', a 12-volume, beautifully illustrated comprehensive work on
fish
Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...
es. The first three volumes describe fishes in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
and were entitled ''Oeconomische Naturgeschichte der Fische Deutschlands'', the remaining volumes (in 9 parts) dealt with fishes from other parts of the world and were entitled ''Naturgeschichte der ausländischen Fische''. A French translation “''Ichthyologie, ou histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des poissons''” was published in 12 volumes between 1785 and 1797. His ''Systema Ichthologia'' was published posthumously by
Johann G. Schneider. Bloch followed the fish systematics of
Peter Artedi and Carl Linnaeus although he added new systematic characters including the presence or absence of a fifth gill, gill structure, and bony arches. He described at least 267 new species and 19 genera and several of his binomial names are still in use. Bloch's collection of about 800 surviving specimens is preserved at the
Museum für Naturkunde of the
Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
.
References
External links
Bloch's works at the Biodiversity Heritage LibraryGallica''Illustrations de Ichtyologie ou histoire naturelle générale et particulière des Poissons'' text Marcus Elieser Bloch, Illustrations:Krüger, J. F. Hennig, Pater Plumier, Ludwig Schmidt, G. Bodenehr and J. F. Hennig Published 1795–1797 at the authors house in Berlin.In French
Bloch’s Fishes (1782-1795) revisited- eti.uva.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Marcus Elieser
1723 births
1799 deaths
18th-century German zoologists
Jewish biologists
German ichthyologists
German taxonomists
Jewish German scientists
People from Ansbach
People from the Principality of Ansbach
18th-century German writers
18th-century German male writers
18th-century Jewish physicians of Germany
Jewish physicians
Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities