Carl Friedrich Bruch

Carl Friedrich Bruch (born March 11, 1789 in Zweibrücken , † December 21, 1857 in Mainz ) was a German ornithologist and notary in Mainz.

life and work

Hardwood gull

He was the son of a pharmacist in Zweibrücken and the younger brother of the bryologist Philipp Bruch . When his father died early, his study plans were dashed and he became an assistant to a notary in Mainz and after the conquest by the anti-Napoleonic forces in 1814 he started his own business there as a notary. He also held a number of public and municipal offices, for example as a member of the legal examination committee for Rheinhessen. In 1844 he suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right side, but continued to work as a notary. In 1855 he retired.

Bruch has been interested in birds since his youth and put on an extensive (striving for completeness) collection of European birds, some of which he prepared himself, in which he was considered a master. He received the copies through his relationships with numerous specialist colleagues, as he could hardly travel for professional reasons. His collection attracted colleagues from all over Europe and included at least 412 species, often with females, males and juveniles, and at least 832 specimens.

He held public lectures on ornithology and natural history and published in Isis and Journal of Ornithology (founded in 1853), but was from 1824 employees at the first ornithological journal Ornis of Christian Ludwig Brehm . Even then he had a reputation as an excellent ornithologist, but he was rather cautious in his publication activities and had to be urged to do so by Brehm, for example. Bruch was mainly interested in ornithological systematics. In 1828, in the context of a heated discussion about the terms species and subspecies, he advocated a ternary nomenclature as a refinement of Linné's binary nomenclature, which had little effect on his own ornithological work. The system was particularly taken up by Hermann Schlegel .

He published the report of the 20th Assembly of German Naturalists and Doctors and was its president.

In 1834 he initiated the founding of the Rheinische Naturforschende Gesellschaft and was its first president. She bought his bird collection in 1837 (later at the Natural History Museum in Mainz). It was lost in World War II. In 1845 he was one of those whom August Carl Eduard Baldamus invited to the first conference of German ornithologists in Koethen , but which he was unable to attend due to his health.

He first described the Dalmatian pelican , the hard- leaved gull , the rock gull and the Hemprich gull .

literature

• Victor Carus :  Bruch, Carl Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 375.
• Antonius Kunz: An overview of the ornithological work of the Mainz notary Carl Friedrich Bruch (1789–1857). In: Mainz Natural Science Archive. Volume 47, 2009, pp. 89-106 ( online ).
• Jean Cabanis : Biographical message about Carl Friedrich Bruch. In: Journal of Ornithology. Volume 6, 1858, pp. 331-336.
• Günther Niethammer : Letters from CL Brehm to CF Bruch, 1827–1857. In: Bonn zoological contributions. 17, 1966, pp. 87-134.
• Joachim Neumann: Ornithological letters from EF von Homeyer to CF Bruch. In: Bonn zoological contributions. 37, 1986, pp. 99-121.
• Ludwig Gebhardt: The ornithologists of Central Europe. A reference work. Volume 1. Brühl, Giessen 1964, DNB 456707603 .
• Rudolf Möller: On the biography of the ornithologist Karl Friedrich Bruch (1789-1857). In: Mauritiana. 19, 2005, pp. 327-357.

References and comments

1. ^ Antonius Kunz, 2009, p. 98, see literature
2. ↑ Antonius Kunz, 2009, p. 100f, see literature
3. ↑ John stronger as Carl Friedrich Bruch: Official report on the twentieth meeting of the Society of German Scientists and physicians to Mainz in September 1842. Mainz 1843
4. ↑ Rheinische Naturforschende Gesellschaft