The scientific career of the zoologist Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (1852—1937)

22 Pages·1993·11.9 MB·English

by  Pieters, Florence F J M

Bijdragentot de Dierkunde,62 (4) 193-214 (1993)
SPBAcademie Publishingbv, The Hague
The scientific career of the zoologist Max Wilhelm Carl Weber
(1852—1937)
Florence F.J.M. Pieters & Jaap de Visser
1Faculty of BiologyLibrary, ArtisLibrary, University ofAmsterdam, Plantage Middenlaan45,
1018DC Amsterdam, TheNetherlands; 2Research Group inEcological Morphology, Zoological
Laboratory, Leiden University, P.O. Box9516, 2300 RA Leiden, TheNetherlands
Keywords: M.W.C. Weber, A.A. Weber-van Bosse, naturalists, Netherlands, biography, history of
biology, Siboga Expedition
Abstract Avantsondépartpourl’ExpéditionSiboga,Weber avait été
nommé Professeur Extraordinaire de Zoologie Spéciale à
It is shown that thepinnacleofMax Weber’s scientific career Amsterdam. Cecilui avait donné letemps nécessaire autravail
wastheorganizationandleadershipoftheSibogaExpeditionto d’édition des résultats de l’Expédition Siboga ainsi qu’à des
the formerNetherlands EastIndies (nowIndonesia)inthe years recherches taxonomiques,surtoutsurlespoissons del’archipel
1899—1900. Beforethattime,as Professorofboth General and Indo-Australien. Cependant,il avait gardébeaucoupd’intérêt
Special Zoology at the University ofAmsterdam, he had de- pourla zoologiegénérale,lerésultat étant saconsidérable con-
voted his research mainlytothe anatomy ofmammals,which tribution aumanuel moderne Lehrbuch derBiologiefürHoch-
resulted inthe fundamentalreference workDie Säugetierepub- schulenpubliéencollaboration avecMoritzNussbaum etGeorg
lished in first edition in 1904. Karsten (1èreédition: 1911).
Justbefore his departurewith the SibogaExpeditionWeber Weberestsortiàlaretraite en1921.Al’époquedesamort (en
wasappointed Extraordinary Professor ofSpecialZoology in 1937) approximativement 95% des résultats scientifiques de
Amsterdam. This gavehim moretime to edit theresults ofthe l’Expédition Siboga avaient été publiés - une réalisation re-
SibogaExpeditionand for taxonomic studies,especiallyonthe marquable.
fishes oftheIndo-Australian Archipelago.Nevertheless hekept
akeeninterest ingeneralzoology,whichresulted inhisextensive
contribution tothe moderntextbookLehrbuch derBiologiefür
Introduction
Hochschulen co-authored by Moritz Nussbaum and Georg
Karsten,publishedin first edition in 1911.
Weber retired in 1921 and bythe time hedied in 1937 about Only rarelyahistoricallandmarkcoincideswiththe
95% ofthe scientificresults ofthe SibogaExpeditionhad been turn of a century. Nevertheless, in the history of
published- anoutstandingachievement.
naturalhistory theyear 1900is marked by two im-
portant events: Firstly, therediscovery ofMendel's
laws by Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns, and Erich
Résumé
Tschermakshouldbe mentioned; subsequently, the
On montre que le sommet de l’activité scientifique de Max Amsterdam Professor of Botany Hugo de Vries
Weberestreprésentéparl’organisationetla direction del’Expé- (1848-1935) developed themutationtheory, there-
ditionSibogaauxIndes Orientales Néerlandaises (actuellement bylayingoneofthefoundationsofmodernbiology
Indonésie),en 1899—1900.Avantcettepériodeil s’étaitdédié- (Van derPas, 1976).
commeProfesseurdeZoologieGénérale etSpécialeàl’Univer-
Secondly, theturn ofthe lastcentury is marked
sitéd’Amsterdam- à desrecherches surl’anatomie desmammi-
fères,recherches devantaboutir àlapublication(1èreédition en by the Siboga Expedition to the NetherlandsEast
1904)deson solide ouvrage de référence DieSäugetiere. Indies (now Indonesia). This famous marine bio-
*Paper presentedby the first author atthe International Conference "Landmarks in Natural History"organizedby the Society for
the History of NaturalHistory, held atthe Natural History Museum,London,25-27 April 1990.
194 F.F.J.M. Pieters & J. de Visser - The scientific career of Max Weber
Fig. 1. Max and Anna Weber about 1890 (photo: Wegner& Mottu,Amsterdam).
logical expedition was led by a colleague of Hugo seasin theyears 1899and 1900bythe Dutch steamshipSiboga.
de Vries: the Amsterdam Professor of Zoology Thestatelyseries ofreportsonthisexpedition,which have been
Max WilhelmCarl Weber, born 1852.These were appearingunder his editorshipsince 1902,form acontribution
golden times for theUniversity of Amsterdam, es- tothe science ofthe seascarcely surpassedin importancesave
by those ofthe Challengerexpedition.Dealingwith only are-
pecially inthe Faculty of Science, as the physicist
stricted areaofthe ocean,butpayingfarmore attentiontothe
Pieter Zeeman(1865-1943) was honouredwiththe fauna and flora ofthe shallower waters than the naturalists of
Nobel prize in 1902, simultaneously with his col- the Challengerwereableto do,it isnottoomuch tosaythatthe
league fromLeiden, AntoonLorentz(1853-1928). Sibogaexpeditionhas givena new aspect tomanyproblems of
Max WilhelmCarl Weber published mostof his the distribution ofmarine animals in tropicalseas."
more than 150scientific writings simply underthe In the following we shall give a short survey of
name Max Weber, thushe shouldnot be confused Weber'slifeandscientific work, culminating inthe
with the, also German-born, Max Weber (1864— landmark of his personal scientific career: the
1930), now renownedas thefounderofsociology. Siboga Expedition.
To returnto theSibogaExpedition as alandmark
in natural history, we quote from a short notice
published on the occasion of the celebrationof Biography up to 1900
Weber's70thbirthday inNature,9 December 1922,
by William Thomas Caiman:
The main references for this section include:
"An enterpriseofavery different kind carriedoutunder Max Thompson (1938), De Beaufort (1937) and an un-
Weber's personalleadershipwastheexplorationoftheMalayan published biography up to 1898by Anna Weber-
Bijdragen tot deDierkunde, 62 (4) - 1993 195
Fig.2.Ananatomical lesson.GroupportraitofProfessor MaxWeberandsomeofhispupils;oilpaintingbyLouis Stracké, 1886.From
left toright,standing:laboratoryassistant Sleking,JacobusMarinus Janse(1860-1938),JohannesTheodorus Oudemans(1862-1934),
Weber,Friedrich AugustFerdinand Christian Went(1863-1935),the musician De Josselin de Jong(accordingtoMrs.AnnaWeber),
and Sleking’sson.On the foregroundaperson known as“the last whaler”,probablya member ofthe crew ofthe Willem Barents,
partakingwithWeberintheexpeditiontoNovaZemblain 1881.Actualcanvassize: 240 x 117cm.Donation ofAnna Weber-vanBosse
to the University of Amsterdam,now present in the hall of building II at the Biological Centre Anna’s Hoeve, Kruislaan 320,
Amsterdam. (Cf. Scheller, 1985.)
196 F.F.J.M. Pieters & J. de Visser - The scientific careerof Max Weber
Fig. 3. Projectedtrackfor Weber’s marine researches in the Moluccan Archipelago(Weber, 1898a: map).Forthe actual itinerary of
theSibogaExpedition,seeFig. 12.
van Bosse in the archives of the Artis Library, dealer)was German.Unfortunately, hisfatherdied
University ofAmsterdam.Forother shortbiogra- just before he was two years old and Professor
phies, see Pieters & De Visser, 1985. Clemens TheodorPerthès, a friend ofhis father,
Max Weber was born in Bonn, December 5, actedas guardian to thechild. At theage of nine,
1852. His mother, Wilhelminavan derKolk, was Perthèssent himtoaboarding school atOberstein
Dutch and his father, Hermann Weber (an art anderNahe,andthereheinstalledhis first museum
Bijdragen tot deDierkunde, 62 (4) - 1993 197
Utrecht, to become "Lector" in Anatomy under
ProfessorKoster. In 1883, Koster's healthfailing,
theordinary professorship in Anatomy was about
tobeofferedto Weber, whenanofferreached him
fromAmsterdam to becomeProfessor-Extraordi-
narius of Zoology, Comparative Anatomy and
Comparative Physiology. The temptations of
Amsterdam, especially the famous zoological
garden of the Royal Zoological Society Natura
Artis Magistra with all its promise of anatomical
work, carried the day. Thus, at the age of 30 he
became a professor.
Fig. 4.The steamship Siboga.(Fordescriptionofthe ship and
appliancesused forscientificexploration,seeTydeman, 1902b.) In 1883, Webertook outpapersofnaturalization
(the actual record of naturalizationwas registered
in a cupboard, as many boy-naturalists do. He 27 December 1887; Pieters & De Visser, 1985) and
passed onto theProgymnasium atNeuwied, where married Anne Antoinette van Bosse, a wealthy
under the guidance of Dr. Eben, a dedicated widow of his own age (Anna for call-name, born
teacherinwhosehousetheboywas boarded, hebe- 27 March 1852inAmsterdam; Fig. 1). During her
came a field botanist. Next he attendedthe Gym- brief widowhoodshe had been a diligent pupil of
nasium in Bonn. After having passed his final Hugo de Vries and was on her way to become a
skilfulandlearnedbotanist, specializing in marine
examinations he paid a visit to his relatives in
Algae. Sheproved herselfthe perfectwifeandhelp-
Holland.
mate as well, and she accompanied him during
Weberwas bilingual: hespoke bothGermanand
all his travels and expeditions after their wedding
Dutch fluently. Nevertheless, his entire scientific
(Koster & Van Benthem Jutting, 1942).
education took place in Germany. In 1873 he
In1881,Weberhadmadea voyageto theBarents
entered the University of Bonn, and attendedthe
Sea in a small schooner 75 feet (23 m) long, the
lectures in natural history of Franz Hermann
WillemBarents. She was built with private funds
Troschel, A. delaValetteSt. George, andespecial-
forthisexpedition andwas mannedbyDutchNaval
lyFranzLeydig, whoseassistant he became andto
officers and namedafterWillem Barentswho dis-
whom he owed his lifelong love of comparative
covered Spitsbergen at the endofthe 16thcentury.
anatomy. During the winter of 1875-76 Weber
The Challenger had not been home long when
studied in Berlin under the zoologist Eduard von Weber, like many another young naturalist, was
Martens, who had travelled and collected in the
longing to fish inunexplored seas with dredge and
East. This teacher inspired Weber with the ambi-
trawl (as a matter of fact, he took theinitiative to
tion to travelandto explore. During these yearsin offer himself both as naturalist and as medical
Bonnand Berlin Weber was a medical student as officerfortheWillemBarentsExpedition of 1881).
well as a studentof naturalhistory, and hetook a He collectedas much as he could fromaboard so
medical degree, as the naturalists of those days smalla ship, apart from taking thewatchwith the
usually did. Hereturnedto Bonnin 1877and there otherofficersandacting as doctor to thecrew. He
took hisPh.D. with athesis on themusculatureof had a good reputation inthe Dutch Navy and his
the eye and its innervation in native Lacertidae. standing with the Navy was later shown by the
After his medical qualifying examination on 25 Siboga Expedition under Naval Commander
January 1878, he didhis year of military service, G.F. Tydeman. After their marriage the Webers
acting both as medicalofficer and hussar. spent three summer holidays in northernNorway,
In1879,ProfessorMaxFiirbringerofAmsterdam he mostlyto dissect whales, sheto studycalcareous
invited him to become his Prosector in Anatomy Algae, on which she was even then already be-
and one year later another invitation came from coming the chief authority.
198 F.F.J.M. Pieters & J. de Visser - Thescientific career ofMax Weber
Fig. 5.View on deck ofthe Siboga with part ofthe dredgingapparatus. Atthe leftthe spiral ofthe accumulator,in front ofwhich
the dredgerope isrunninghorizontallyover two steel blocks. The dynamometeris attached totheright steel block. Attherightthe
entrance to the laboratory.(Cf. Weber-vanBosse, 1904:plate facingp. 2 and Tydeman, 1902b: pls. I—III.)
In 1884, Weber had been appointed Ordinary Weber's great experience in the comparative
ProfessorofZoology, Comparative Anatomy and anatomy of mammals is recorded in his Studiën
Comparative Physiology in Amsterdam. The dis- iiberSaugethiere, ofwhich the first part was pub-
sectionshemadeofallkindsofanimals, explaining lishedin 1885.Inthiswork, heappliedcomparative
all the while to the students what they saw and anatomyto whales. According to thecetaceologist
oughtto know, excited theadmirationofhispupils Everhard Johannes Slijper (1936: 3), Weber, to-
who became devoted to him. On a large painting gether withWillyKükenthalandhisschool, maybe
"An anatomical lesson" by Louis Stracké, dated calledthefounderofthecomparative anatomy of
1886(Fig. 2),we seeWeberdissectingalioness, sur- Cetacea. At theendofhis bookWebercame to the
rounded by some of his most talented pupils: following conclusion about the origin ofCetacea:
Jacobus Marinus Janse (later Professor ofBotany they possess characters relating them not only to
at Leiden), Johannes TheodorusOudemans(later Carnívora, especially Pinnipedia, but also to
UniversityLecturerofEntomology inAmsterdam), Ungulata. SoWeberwasaDarwinist; inhislectures
and Friedrich August Ferdinand Christian Went on adaptation, he sometimes seemed to be a
(later ProfessorofBotany inUtrecht) (cf. Scheller, Lamarckian. Typically, he was aman ofthe facts
1985). and he refrainedfrom theorizing.
Bijdragen tot deDierkunde, 62 (4) - 1993 199
Fig. 6. Part ofthe scientific staff ofthe SibogaExpedition, workingin the laboratory ofthe ship: from leftto right J. Versluys
(1stassistant), M.W.C.Weber (leaderoftheexpedition),J.W. Huysmans (artist), and H.F. Nierstrasz (2ndassistant).
ThesecondpartofStudiënüberSàugethiere was trary, he published on nearlyevery animalgroup,
published in 1898.Thisworkwas overshadowedby including Porifera, Coelenterata, Platyhelminthes,
his handbook on mammals Die Sàugetiere pub- Arthropoda, Mollusca, and all five classes of ver-
lishedin 1904,ofwhich the secondedition, written tebrates.Though anatomyandsystematics werethe
incollaborationwith H.M. deBurletandO. Abel, principal topics, zoogeography, ecology, physiolo-
is still a much consulted reference work (Weber, gy, and even ethnography claimed his attention.
1927-28; facsimilereprintpublished 1967; Russian His interest in zoogeography was aroused by a
translationofthepartonprimates published 1936). voyage to the Netherlands East Indies (Sumatra,
Above all, he owed his knowledge of the anatomy Java,Celebes, andFlores) in 1888.After hisreturn
of rare animals to the specimens that died in homeWeberpublished theresultsofthisexpedition
the Amsterdam zoological garden Natura Artis in Zoologische Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nieder-
Magistra. These animals were immediately dis- làndisch Ost-Indien (Weber, 1890-1907). In the
sectedby him with greatskill and prepared for the preface to thiswork, Webertellsus what he aimed
Zoological Museum, ofwhich he was appointed in at during this voyage. Inthe first placethe study of
1892as the first Director(De Meijere, 1932: 515; the freshwater faunawas undertaken, which had
Sunier, 1949: 11). untilthenbeen ratherneglected. Heconcludedthat
Weber was a many-sided man and every branch a carefulstudy ofthisfauna mightthrow newlight
ofnatural history claimedhis attention. Thus, his on the difficult problem of the distribution of
interestwas notrestrictedtomammals.On thecon- animals in the Indo-Australian Archipelago and
200 F.F.J.M. Pieters& J. de Visser - The scientific career of Max Weber
Fig. 7.Pagefrom Weber’s diaryofthe SibogaExpedition,inwhich he describes ethnographicalmaterial fromLirungonSalebabu,
dated 25 July 1899.Thekite used forfishing, drawn atthe foot, isdescribed byWeber-van Bosse aswell (1904: 127-130).For trans-
lation,seeAppendix.
Bijdragen tot deDierkunde, 62 (4) - 1993 201
Hottentots for ethnographic items, exchanging
tobaccoandcalicoforanyanimaltheymightbring.
It was their wish to return once again to South
Africa, but that desire was never fulfilled. The
results of this expedition were published in the
Zoologische Jahrbücher.
TheSiboga Expedition
Weber'slastand mostimportant travelventure was
the Siboga Expedition. He had been one of the
initiators of the Society for the Advancement of
Scientific Researchinthe Netherlands'Coloniesin
1889. One of the most important initiatives taken
by this Society (now called Treub Maatschappij,
afterthe botanist Melchior Treub) was theorgani-
zationoftheSibogaExpedition. Consequently, the
early historyofthisexpedition canbededucedfrom
theprinted minutesofthemeetings ofthis Society,
Notulen Maatschappij ter Bevordering van het
Natuurkundig OnderzoekderNederlandscheKolo-
niën.
Avagueproject forresearchofthemarinefauna
of theMalayan Archipelago was launchedin May
1896. At a meeting on 19 September of the same
year Weber declared himself willing to accept the
leadership ofanexpedition withtheobject to study
themarinefloraandfaunaofthearchipelago, espe-
cially of its deep basins (Sluiter, 1897; Weber,
Fig. 8. Gustaaf Frederik Tydeman, commander ofthe Siboga
Expedition. 1897). This proposition was accepted. In April
1898,Weber sent an explanatory statement to the
MinisterofColonialAffairsin whichhepleaded in
their relation to either the Indian continent or favouroftheavailabilityofasteamship ratherthan
Australia.TheZoologische Ergebnisse appeared in a little schooner (Weber, 1898a). This memoran-
fourvolumesandcontainedseveralpapersby Max dumwas accompanied by a map(Fig. 3) in which
Weber and a number of other scientists, among theprojected track oftheexpedition was indicated.
whom his old master Eduard von Martens. Theitinerarycouldbeexecuted inthreestages,each
Lecturing,sectioning, and workingoutthebooty ofaboutthreemonths - provided a steamship was
ofthe Indo-Australianvoyage filledtheyears from used. Thereply was favourable, as the Dutch East
1889upto 1894whentheWebersleft fora voyage Indian Government put the steamship Siboga at
to SouthAfrica. Themainobjectofthis voyagewas Weber's disposal, according to a decreeof21 May
again the freshwater fauna, but the time oftheir 1898(Weber, 1902: 7).
visit proved to be most unfavourablebecause the The Siboga (Fig. 4) was a brand-new gunboat
rainshadnot yet comeandmanyrivers carriedlittle with two screw propellers, destined for military
waterorhadcompletelyrun dry. Nevertheless, they purposesintheDutchEastIndies.Shehadbeenput
enjoyed the trip, bargaining with Bushmen and onthestocks in Amsterdamon 14August 1897and
202 F.F.J.M. Pieters& J. de Visser - Thescientific career ofMax Weber
Fig. 9.Groupphotographofthe crew ofthe SibogaExpedition.
was launchedon28 April 1898.Theship was about the dredging apparatus and the entrance to the
170feetlong (50.6 m)andof810tons displacement laboratory. Fig. 6 shows thescientificstaffworking
(Tydeman, 1902b: 1; for comparison: the Willem in the lab (except Mrs. Weber and the physician
Barentswas 75feetlong, theBeagle 90feet,andthe Dr. A.H. Schmidt): Dr. J. Versluys, 1st assistant
Challenger 200 feet - the latterof 2300 tons dis- (laterProfessorinVienna), Professor MaxWeber,
placement; cf. Thompson, 1938: 348, Moorehead, leader of the expedition, Mr. J.W. Huysmans,
1969: 38, and Linklater, 1972: 15, respectively). artist, andMr. H.F. Nierstrasz, 2ndassistant (later
The Siboga had an engine of about 1400 horse- Professor in Utrecht).
power(for comparison, the Challenger had an en- Inhisintroductionand description ofthe Siboga
gineofabout 1200horse-power, butwas stillessen- Expedition, Weber (1902: 9) acknowledges the in-
tially a sailing-ship). defatigable helpand wiseadvice of Mr. J. van der
It was extremely fortunatethat the Siboga was Struyff who, as engineer of the Dutch Navy, was
nearly seaworthy when the decision cameto make charged with the constructionofthe ship. Heeven
heravailablefor this expedition, becauseit was still accompanied Weber to Hamburg, in order to see
possible to introducecertainchanges. Forinstance, the installations of the Valdivia, where Professor
two sounding machines with enormous steam- Carl Chun showed them all the instruments.
driven winches were installed onthebridge instead Weber'snarrative, thefirst monograph inthe series
ofguns(Tydeman, 1902b). Ofcourse, alaboratory Siboga Expeditie, published in January 1902, is
hadtobe installedas well.On Fig. 5 we seepartof writteninFrenchandisthereforeaccessible to most