Andrew Smith (zoologist)

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Sir Andrew Smith (1797–1872)

Sir Andrew Smith (born December 3, 1797 in Hawick , Scotland , † August 11, 1872 in London ) was a British military doctor of surgery , zoologist and explorer.

Live and act

Smith studied at the University of Edinburgh and was from 1819 in the Army Medical Service. From 1821 Smith was stationed in South Africa as a military doctor for 16 years . At Fort Pitt , Chatham, Kent , he became medical director in 1837 and then deputy general inspector in 1845 . In 1853, Smith was appointed director general of the Royal Army Medical Department ( British Medical Services ) for five years . He was also involved in the organization of the health system in the Crimean War , the inefficiency of which brought him allegations by The Times , from which he was exonerated in a commission of inquiry. In 1858 he retired for health reasons. During that long tenure, Smith became an authority on South Africa's zoology. In 1857 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . For his services he was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1859.

Smith was the author of the monumental work Illustrations of the zoology of South Africa. (1838-49). In the chapter Hippopotamus he wrote about the retreat behavior of the hippopotamus amphibius ( Linnaeus 1758 ). In it he recognized that before the colonization of the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch, the hippos were found everywhere in all major rivers, whereas in 1849 all but a few had disappeared there. He also said that when they migrate, this species shows great acumen when there is threat from settlers with firearms. As massive as they are, they can nevertheless very quickly cover large distances overland from one pond to the next that has remained in the dry river bed; but they can move best in water, be it in rivers or on the seashore. Smith has also observed that in areas inhabited by humans, hippos eat only at night, mostly grass , but also scrub.

He first described 65 species of reptiles.

From 1825 he was the first director (superintendent) of the South African Museum of Natural History . In 1828 he went on a research trip to Namaqualand and published in 1831 on Bushmen . From 1834 to 1836 he led the first scientific expedition into the interior of South Africa.

Dedication names

Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte named a genus Smithiglaux for the Cape owl ( Glaucidium capense ( Smith, A , 1834)) in 1854 , the large part of the word standing for "glaux, glaukos γλαυξ, γλαυκος " for "owl". Already in 1850 he named the Karoo thrush ( Turdus smithi ) and the white-cheeked lark subspecies ( Eremopterix leucotis smithi ) after Smith. Louis Fraser honored him in 1843 in the Northern fiscal strangler subspecies ( Lanius humeralis smithii ) and in the Annobonparadise flycatcher ( Terpsiphone smithii ). Ernst Hartert named him the cape shovel ( Spatula smithii ) in 1891 . William Lutley Sclater honored him in 1922 in the Asio tingitanus andrewsmithi , a name that is now synonymous with the Cape Owl ( Asio capensis ).

Caprimulgus smithi Bonaparte , 1850 as a synonym for today nightjar ( Caprimulgus europaeus considered) Drymoica smithi Bonaparte , 1850 as a synonym for the Brown-headed cisticola subtype ( Cisticola fulvicapilla ruficapilla ) Procellaria smithi Schlegel , 1863 a synonym for the southern fulmar ( Fulmarus glacialoides ), Mirafra smithi Sharpe , 1909 a synonym for the steppe lark ( Mirafra africanoides ), Tchitrea suahelica smithi Roberts , 1936 a synonym for the gray-breasted paradise flycatcher subspecies ( Terpsiphone viridis granti ).

Works

  • Illustrations of the zoology of South Africa. 5 volumes, Smith, Elder & Co. , London 1838–49.

literature

  • Kirby, Percival Robson : Sir Andrew Smith, MD, KCB Balkema, Cape Town 1965.
  • Beolens, Grayson, Watkins: Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles, Johns Hopkins University Press 2011, p. 246
  • Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte : Conspectus generum avium . tape 1 . EJ Brill, Leiden 1850 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte: Tableau des oiseaux de proie . In: Revue et magasin de zoologie pure et appliquée (=  2 ). tape 2 , no. 263 , 1854, pp. 530-544 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Louis Fraser: Mr. Fraser laid before the Meeting eight new species of Birds from Western Africa, which he thus characterized as . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . tape 11 , 1843, p. 16-17 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Louis Fraser: Mr. Fraser characterized two new species of Birds collected in Western Africa . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . tape 11 , 1843, p. 34-35 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Ernst Hartert: Catalog of the bird collection in the museum of the Senckenberg Natural Research Society in Frankfurt am Main . Knauer Brothers, Frankfurt am Main 1891 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Austin Roberts: Some unpublished field notes made by Dr (Sir) Andrew Smith . In: Annals of the Transvaal Museum . tape 18 , 1936, pp. 271-323 .
  • Hermann Schlegel: Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle des Pay-Bas . tape 6 . EJ Brill, Leiden 1863 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • William Lutley Sclater: Notes on African birds . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 42 , no. 263 , 1922, pp. 22-25 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Richard Bowdler Sharpe: A hand-list of the genera and species of birds: nomenclator avium tum fossilium tum viventium . tape 5 . Order of the Trustees, London 1909 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

Web links

Commons : Andrew Smith (zoologist)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Uetz: The original descriptions of reptiles, Zootaxa, No. 2335, 2010, 59–68, pdf
  2. ^ Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1854), p. 544.
  3. ^ Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1850), p. 274.
  4. ^ Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1850), p. 512.
  5. ↑ Louis Fraser (1843), p. 16.
  6. ↑ Louis Fraser (1843), p. 34.
  7. ↑ Ernst Hartert (1891), p. 231.
  8. ^ William Lutley Sclater (1922), p. 24.
  9. ^ Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1850), p. 59.
  10. ^ Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1850), p. 283.
  11. ↑ Hermann Schlegel (1863), p. 22.
  12. ^ Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1909), p. 175.
  13. ^ Austin Roberts (1936), p. 304.
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Andrew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Sir Andrew
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British military surgeon and zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Hawick , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH August 11, 1872
Place of death London