Carl Adolf Otth

Carl Adolf Otth , also Adolph and Karl , (born April 2, 1803 in Bern , † May 16, 1839 in Jerusalem ) was a Swiss doctor and naturalist . His brother Gustav Heinrich Otth was a mycologist (1806–1874).

In 1822 he first studied medicine in Bern, then took lessons in natural history with Augustin-Pyrame de Candolle and Nicolas Charles Seringe . In 1825 he continued his medical studies in Kiel and in 1826 in Berlin and obtained his doctorate in 1828 . After spending six months in Paris , he returned to his hometown to practice there.

In 1836 he undertook several natural research trips, the first to France in the Dauphiné and Provence , then to the Mediterranean , particularly to the Balearic Islands , and finally to Algeria . From this trip he brought back a large collection of newly discovered reptiles , amphibians and insects . Furthermore, in 1837 he was the first to describe the frog genus Discoglossus on the basis of the painted disc tongue .

In 1838 a book with 30 lithographs was published by Johann Friedrich Wagner in Bern , which Otth made in Algeria. The work is entitled Esquisses africaines, dessinées pendant un voyage 'a Alger et lithographiées par Adolphe Otth (German “African sketches, drawn during a trip to Algiers and lithographs by Adolphe Otth”).

In 1839 he made one last trip to the Middle East . In May 1839 he died of the plague in Jerusalem and his collections, manuscripts and drawings were lost. The biological author abbreviation Otth refers to his name.

literature

• Jean Chrétien Ferdinand Hoefer: Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, avec les renseignements bibliographiques et l'indication des sources à consulter Paris, Firmin Didot frères, 1852–1883.