Jacob Theodor Klein | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Jacob Theodor Klein by Jacob Wessel (1759) | |
| Born | 15 August 1685 |
| Died | 27 February 1759(1759-02-27) (aged 73) |
Jacob Theodor Klein (nicknamePlinius Gedanensium; 15 August 1685 – 27 February 1759) was aGermanjurist,historian,botanist,zoologist,mathematician anddiplomat in service of Polish KingAugust II the Strong. He established a botanical garden and menagerie inDanzig apart from setting up a cabinet of natural history known as theMuseum Kleinianum which he filled with specimens collected through a wide network.
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Klein was born in a family of lawyers on 15 August 1685 inKönigsberg,Duchy of Prussia (nowKaliningrad,Russia).[1] He studied law at theUniversity of Königsberg while also attending lectures on natural history, music, and history. Between 1706 and 1712, Klein travelled through England, theHoly Roman Empire, and theDutch Republic in an educational journey, before returning to Königsberg.[2] He was present in England during the first parliament of 1707. He was unable to go through France possibly due to the Spanish War of Succession. He moved toDanzig after the death of his father, where he was elected city secretary in 1713 in the service ofAugustus II, Elector of Saxony. Between 1714 and 1716 he served as the city's representative, or “resident secretary at court,” (residierender Sekretär) in Dresden and then Warsaw.[3] He accompanied Peter the Great who was visiting Germany and represented Danzig at the marriage of the daughter ofAugustus III and the King of Sicily in 1737.[4]
Klein began his scientific works in 1713 and began publishing his findings by 1722, as a member of theInstitute of Sciences in Bologna. Influenced byJohann 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 abotanical garden there (now calledOgród Botaniczny w Oliwie).[1][3]
For his work in the natural sciences, Klein had been rewarded with membership of several scientific societies, including theRoyal Society in London, the Academy of in St. Petersburg, theDeutsche Gesellschaft in Jena, and theDanzig Research Society.[2][3] He was a founding member of the Natural History Society of Danzig in 1742.[4]
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.[2]
Klein died on 27 February 1759 in Danzig.[5]
Using his position as secretary ofDanzig 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.[6][7] The garden was expanded to include live animals, zoological, fossil and amber collections, the shell collection of the mayor of AmsterdamNicolaus Witsen, as well as a greenhouse which he used for experimentation with exotic plants including coffee trees which he tried to introduce. The collection became known as the Museum Kleinianum. It was sold toMargrave Friedrich of Brandenburg-Kulmbach in 1740.[2][1] After the Margrave's death in 1763, the collection was donated to theFriedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).[8] It was praised by prominent Swiss mathematicianJohann Bernoulli, who visited the museum in 1777 or 1778.
Inspired byJohann Phillipp Breyne, Klein developed an interest in science as early as 1713 and began publishing in 1722.[2] He was especially interested in the systematic classification of living organisms, but excluded insects from his classifications.[3] 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 ofCarl von Linné, of whom he was critical,[9] 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 echinoderms.[10][6] His work on sea urchins was the most prominent source of information on the species at the time.[6] His essayTentamen Herpetologiae (1755) featured the first mention of the termherpetology - 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.[citation needed] 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.[3]
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Klein publishedHistoriae Piscium Naturalis, in Danzig, in five parts from 1740 to 1749. The first part (1740), dedicated to theRoyal Society, focused on understanding the auditory capacity of cartilaginous and spinose fishes. According to John Eames (1742), 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.[11] In the Preface, Klein cites the work ofGiulio 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 titledDe 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. Now known asotoliths, he notes that they scale proportional to the size of the fish, and are most easily discovered in the heads of bony fish. Klein identifies three otoliths to correspond to the Incus,Malleus andStapes 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 also suggested that one could determine the age of fish by analysing the number and thickness of the Laminae and fibres of these bones. Otoliths are now known to acquires a growth ring every day for at least the first six months of its life.[12] 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 cetaceans are different from those of cartilaginous and bony fishes. He adds that water does not act as an impediment to hearing, but rather is the “intermedium” by which sound is communicated.[13][14]
Klein had been awarded the membership of several scientific societies, including theRoyal Society in London, theSt. Petersburg Academy, and theDanzig Research Society.[2] The name of the genusKleinia was given to the plant family of Compositae (Asteraceae) by Linnaeus in honour of Klein's works.[15][16] He was described as the most important natural philosopher of his century by ProfessorJohann Daniel Titius.[3]
Although well respected by his colleagues,[2] 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 asSir Charles Wager, to further his claim.[17]
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