Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent
Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (6 July 1778 – 22 December 1846) was a French naturalist. (His personal name is variously reported, including "Jean Baptiste Marcellin" and "Jean Baptiste George Marie".)
Biography
He was born at Agen. He was sent as naturalist with Captain Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australia in 1798, but left the vessel at Mauritius, and spent two years in exploring Réunion and other islands in the Indian Ocean. Joining the army on his return, he was present at the battle of Ulm and battle of Austerlitz, and in 1808 went to Spain with Marshal Soult. In 1815, he supported Napoleon and opposed the Bourbons. Consequently, he was proscribed after the Bourbon restoration. But after several years of exile, he was allowed to return quietly to Paris in 1820. In 1829 he headed a scientific expedition to the Peloponnese, and in 1839 he had charge of the exploration of Algeria.
He was editor of the Dictionnaire classique d'histoire naturelle (Classical Dictionary of Natural History). His own publications include Essais sur les Iles Fortunées (1802; Essays on the Fortunate Islands Canary Islands), Voyage dans les Iles d'Afrique (1803; Travels in the Islands of Africa), Voyage souterrain, ou description du plateau de Saint-Pierre de Maestricht et de ses vastes cryptes (1821; Travels Underground, or Description of St. Pietersberg in Maastricht and Its Great Caves), L'Homme, essai zoologique sur le genre humain (1827; Man: Zoological Essay on the Human Species), in which he adopted a polygenist perspective.[1] and Resume de la géographie de la Peninsule (1838; Summary of the Geography of the Iberian Peninsula).
Evolution
He was an proponent of transmutation of species and a supporter of Lamarckian evolution.[2][3] According to historian Adrian Desmond "Bory was a leading anti-Cuvierian materialist who blended the best of Lamarck's philosophy with Geoffroy's higher anatomy."[4]
From 1822, Bory edited the Dictionnaire classique d'histoire naturelle. This volume contained information about Lamarck and the species debate and is notable for having traveled with Charles Darwin on the Beagle.[2][5]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Ann Thomson, Issues at stake in eighteenth-century racial classification, Cromohs, 8 (2003): 1-20 (English)
- 1 2 Ferrière, Hervé. 2009. Bory de Saint-Vincent: L’évolution d’un voyageur naturaliste. Syllepse. ISBN 978-2849502433
- ↑ Second, James A. (2015). Visions of Science: Books and Readers at the Dawn of the Victorian Age. University Of Chicago Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0226203287
- ↑ Desmond, Adrian. (1992). The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London. University of Chicago Press. p. 289. ISBN 978-0226143460
- ↑ Fascolo, Aldo. (2011). The Theory of Evolution and Its Impact. Springer. p. 27. ISBN 978-8847055865
- ↑ "Author Query for 'Bory'". International Plant Names Index.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bory de Saint-Vincent, Jean Baptiste George Marie". Encyclopædia Britannica 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 276.
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