Jan Versluys (zoologist)

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Jan Versluys Janszoon [fɛr'slɔɪs] (born September 1, 1873 in Groningen , † January 22, 1939 in Vienna ) was a Dutch, German and Austrian (?) Zoologist and anatomist.

Life

In Amsterdam (1886–1907)

Jan Versluys (right) with Max Weber (2nd from right) in September 1899 in the laboratory during the Siboga expedition

The son of a teacher came in 1886 to an Amsterdam "Higher Citizens School" which was roughly equivalent to a secondary school . From 1891 he studied biology at the Universiteit van Amsterdam , namely botany with Hugo de Vries and zoology with Max Wilhelm Carl Weber ; but also geological-paleontological lectures (by Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff , 1860–1942) fascinated him. During his studies he was able (1895–96) to take part in a research trip (on the yacht “Chazalie”) by the French zoo (especially ornitho), ethnologist (etc.) Raymond Comte de Dalmas (1862–1930) to the Caribbean and dealt there mainly with "lower" marine animals. When he returned to Amsterdam he wrote his dissertation on the ear sphere of lizards, but then went to Giessen , where he received his doctorate in 1898 from Johann Wilhelm Spengel (1852–1921). 1899–1900 he took part in the famous Siboga expedition to Insulinde under the direction of Max Weber. In 1901 he completed his habilitation in Amsterdam at CP Sluiter, first reading about zoo systematics ( protozoa , coelenterates ) and veterinary science for medical professionals.

In 1903 he married Maria Hülsmann, daughter of the Amsterdam commercial school director. The marriage had two sons and a daughter.

In Giessen (1907-1919)

After a trip to the USA (studies of fossil reptiles - curiosity about the dinosaurs) in 1907 he returned to Gießen and was appointed lecturer here, and in 1911 he was appointed associate professor. During his habilitation in Giessen, he defended four theses that nicely prove his wealth of knowledge: about (1) the anatomy of the urodeles , (2) the distribution of deep-sea animals, (3) the masticatory muscles of reptiles, and (4) the salamanders as "primitive “Tetrapods. Spengel then made him his main assistant (Ankel 1957). In 1907 Versluys also won the Prix de Guèrne, which was awarded by the Societé Zoologique de France (without submission!) For outstanding publications - probably also in recognition of the illustrations that Versluys always knew how to produce himself with great talent (van Bemmelen 1939).

Interlude in Ghent (1916-18)

When the war broke out - which, however, threw him completely off course, as his biographer van Bemmelen writes - he was immediately transferred to the hygiene institute of his university to prevent epidemics, but in 1915 he volunteered (and although still a Dutch citizen ) as a trooper joined the German Army, where he was transferred to the press staff in 1916 (at the age of 43). In the same year he became a full professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at the Flemish University of Ghent, which was sponsored by the Germans . The title of his inaugural lecture was "De verandering van levenswijze en de afstamming van de degenkrab ( Limulus )". For his so to speak "Rembrandt German" inclinations he was sentenced to death in 1918 in liberated ("victorious") Belgium as a collaborateur (in absence). He had already signed the Berlin Manifesto of October 23, 1914, according to which German scientists could not be distinguished from the rest of the people in their patriotism (e.g. through internationalism). On July 20, 1920, the judgment was changed, again in absentia , by the East Flemish Assize (oath) court in Ghent to “12 years of forced labor”. SJ Hickson's obituary in Nature 143 (from March 4, 1939; p. 365) testifies that Versluys was probably not a simple Pan-Germanic chauvinist .

In October 1918 Versluys returned to Giessen, but he did not stay there for long: the German Republic refused to appoint him as Prof. Spengel's successor, as the Giessen faculty would have wanted: Versluys had sat between all stools. So he retired to Hilversum as a privateer in 1919-25 . In 1923 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Amsterdam. At this time he wrote most of a “ Vergelijkende ontleedkunde van de vertebraten ”, namely about the skeleton (together with Hugo F. Nierstrasz [1872–1937; Utrecht]), nerves and muscles (while the other organ systems by Johan EW Ihle [1879– 1956; Amsterdam] and Pieter N. van Kampen [1878–1937; Leiden] were edited; several new editions). This 900-page work was immediately translated into German: the textbook on the “ Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates ” (Berlin 1927) soon to be known as “the Versluys” .

In Vienna (1925–1939)

In 1925 Versluys was appointed professor of zoology and palaeontology (as successor to Carl Grobben ) at the University of Vienna and appointed director of the 2nd Zoological Institute. (At the same time an appointment was made from the University of Amsterdam, but reached it too late. Since the 1st Institute in Vienna - contrary to the promises of the government - then remained without a director for a long time, Versluys had to bear a double administrative burden - he has his promise to Vienna anyway. He liked Vienna, says van Bemmelen, also out of spite of the disempowerment of this former imperial city.) Here he was finally able to profitably apply and further develop his extensive knowledge from many areas of biology, e. B. also in personal contact with the Viennese palaeontologist ( "paleobiologist" ) Othenio Abel . He soon tried to increasingly use this knowledge to elucidate the problem of human evolution ( anthropogenesis ), although he did not want to be a strict (neo) Darwinist: He was less concerned with the selection mechanisms than with the phenomena of emergence , how to today says, probably also of orthogenesis . Well-known students like Konrad Lorenz , Helmut Hofer and Wilhelm Marinelli developed these ideas further in their own way. - Versluys (usually wrongly pronounced [v-] in Vienna) supervised around 50 dissertations in the 14 years in Vienna, some of which were very tight (he apparently did not want to keep prospective high school teachers from their jobs and wages for too long; there was a teacher shortage anyway) . He himself was only able to summarize an (important) part of his findings in the morphological field in the chapter "Cranium and Visceral Skeleton of Reptiles" of the Handbook of Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates (1936).

In 1927 he was elected as a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences , in 1929 of the Zoological Society of London . In 1929 he was President of the German Zoological Society ( DZG ). In 1930 he made a trip to South Africa (at the invitation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science) and in March 1936 a guided tour to the island of Zakynthos (then Zante), from which many were still impressed decades later, e.g. B. the ecologist Wilhelm Kühnelt . In 1933, friends published a commemorative publication for his 60th birthday in the Biologia generalis (Vol. 9 (2), 356 pp.) , Which he founded and published . - His lectures were popular and “always a pleasure”. Everyone was impressed by the character and the drive of the institute's board: Jan Versluys had overcome many difficulties of the economic downturn that seemed insurmountable due to his open and always confident nature, and he also served as president of the Vienna Zoological-Botanical Society in a precarious position (from 1928) very fruitful (Schnarf 1941). - He was undoubtedly satisfied with the "annexation" of Austria to the German Reich, but soon afterwards he died (after a long, insidious illness, a "gallbladder disease" - nevertheless surprisingly) in January 1939.

meaning

Versluys died shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War - without having fully grasped or even reflected on the scope of his thoughts. The obituaries faded away in the noise of war, and afterwards anatomy as a morphological science (like so many others) had already been drawn too much into American (reductionist) waters for this "biological thinking" to gain much influence. Only Helmut Hofer (then a brain researcher) - almost forty years after Versluys' death! - In 1977 a commemorative obituary pointed out what should still be linked here. Shortly before his death, Rupert Riedl (2006) also rediscovered “morphological thinking” and complained about its loss.

Sphenodon has no eardrum - the columella ends inside the quadratum

The list of publications gives a rough outline of Versluys' development of ideas (van Bemmelen 1939). Already in his dissertation (1898) he found great differences in the construction of the sound-absorbing ear mechanism of Sphenodon to the other lizards, but assessed them morphologically as "minor and solely due to the burrowing way of life of the bridge lizard". At that time, that was a completely new style of argumentation for idealistic morphologists: An ecological perspective was used to assess anatomical findings. Some ( Carl Gegenbaur's pupil ) refused, others, more open-minded towards new things like Spengel, were fascinated. The difference was particularly evident when it came to fossils, as Abel (1939) explains at the beginning: Many zoologists at the time did not want to know anything about paleontology - out of fear of failing to interpret the often really “adventurous” animal forms. They were fine if they could simply leave these fossils, almost regarded as lusus naturae , with the geologists (as their “lead forms” for dating). Othenio Abel, on the other hand (inspired by Louis Dollos Iguanodon reconstructions) aimed for a "paleobiology" expressly under the principle of topicality ; H. Even the most adventurous forms were to be thought of under exactly the same influencing factors as those living today and thus investigatable. These "factors" were, of course, those that Darwin had brought into play. But it was still unclear whether there might not also be “inner drives” of evolution ( Lamarckism ), i. H. whether earlier living beings were not perhaps “less” or not “adapted” at all ( dystelia ), so that the selection (also) would have had the task of eradicating these adventurous forms, which possibly were hardly viable anyway. On the other hand, there are also recently adventurous creatures, of which it was not even clear what they should be adapted to, e.g. B. in the deep sea. One of the greatest anatomists of the 19th century, Richard Owen , had written (1854) that one could look at such a skull for days, weeks, even months without discovering what requirements it could meet (Owen spoke of the fish skull, but of the Saurian skulls, which soon caused a stir, it was also true). So you have to laboriously feel your way into the functionality of morphological structures and familiarize yourself with them before their “meaning” slowly takes shape so that you can then judge their selection value. Abel and Versluys had already come to this conclusion independently of one another when they met in Vienna. Both of them worked especially on reptile skeletons at the time; Versluys is particularly well-known for his clarifications in the area of ​​streptostyly [Stannius'] - i.e. the fact that the two lower jaw joints in many fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds can be moved transversely or parasagittally - Versluys 1910, 1912, 1922. But both gave the “functional anatomy” (ie the idea that the function of an anatomical structure is indispensable for understanding and deriving it) is not yet a theoretical expression; This was then done by Versluys 'student Wilhelm Marinelli (in his cave bear skull analysis 1929 and especially following Versluys' manual chapter on the reptile skull, in the contribution "Cranium and Visceral Skeleton of Birds" from 1937). All three named were and remained, however, as already indicated (to a decreasing extent according to their lifetime) despite everything still “a little” Lamarckists.

The bridge lizard has no external ear

As can be seen from the list of publications, Versluys (1919-23) also dealt with the horseshoe crab Limulus , which is related to the Paleozoic sea ​​scorpions . The relationship is correctly recognized, but the derivation from land animals was probably incorrect. It was strange that Versluys - like again and again one or the other vertebrate anatomy up to the present day - retained doubts about Reichert's theory of the ossicles of mammals.

Publications

A leather coral (Alcyonaria) from Komodo National Park
Chrysogorgia
Horseshoe Crab
A Devonian sea scorpion (Gigantostrake)
Axolotl
Carettochelys
" Trachodon " (and Thespesius ) are duck-billed dinosaurs (Hadrosauridae) with a now complex taxonomy
At least closely related to Machaeroprosopus , crocodile-like predator from the Tertiary ( Rutiodon )
  • 1898. De drumholte van de Lacertilia en Rhynchocephalia (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 5) .- The middle and outer ear sphere of the lacertilia and Rhynchocephalia (Inaugural-Diss. Gießen, 248 pp. + 8 T .; Zool. Jahrb. Anat. 12)
  • 1899. Hydraires calyptoblastes recueillis dans la mer des Antilles pendant l'une des croissières accomplies par le comte R. de Dalmas sur son yacht Chazalie. (Mém. Soc. Zool. France 1899)
  • 1901. Parasites in Diepzee Gorgoniids. (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2)
  • 1902. Over the seed slope van den tongbeenboog met de Columella auris bij Lacertilia en Sphenodon . (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 8)
  • 1902. Over de Chrysogorgiidae. (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 8)
  • 1902. The Gorgoniids of the Siboga Expedition. I. The Chrysogorgiidae. (In: Uitkomsten Siboga Exped. Monograph 13)
  • 1903. Columella auris of Lacertilia. (Tijdschr. Nederl. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 8)
  • 1903. Over the connection of Quadratum and Schedel bij de Lacertilia. (Tijdschr. Neder. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 8)
  • 1903. Development of the Columella auris in Lacertilians. (Zool. Jahrb. Anat. 19)
  • 1904. About the masticatory muscles in Lacertilia. ( Anatomical indicator 24)
  • 1905. Fertilization at Infusoria. (Handel. 10de Nederl. Natuur- en Geneesk. Congress te Arnhem 1905)
  • 1905. Iets about zoographie naar aanleiding van de marine fauna van the East Indian archipelago. (Handel. 10de Nederl. Natuur- en Geneesk. Congress te Arnhem 1905)
  • 1905. Over de Primnoidae van de Siboga Expeditie. (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 9)
  • 1906. Over the geographic spread of the Primnoidae. (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 10)
  • 1906. The Gorgoniids of the Siboga-Exp. II. The Primnoidae. (In: Uitkomsten Siboga Exp., Monogr. 13 a)
  • 1906. Twee nieuwe Alcyonaria from the Siboga Collectie. (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 10)
  • 1906. About the conjugation of the infusoria. (Biol. Centralbl. 20)
  • 1906. Bathyalcyon robustum nov. gen., nov. spec. A new Alcyonarian in the Siboga collection. (Zool. No. 30)
  • 1907. Het Parasphenoid van Dermochelys . (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 10)
  • 1907. De Onderkaak van Varanus en van de Mosasauria. (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2. vol. 10)
  • 1907. The Alcyonids of the Siboga Expedition. II. Pseudocladochonus hicksoni ng, n. Sp. (In: Uitkomsten Siboga Exped. 13 c)
  • 1909. The salamanders and the most primitive four-legged land vertebrates. (Naturw. Weekly NF 8)
  • 1909. A large parasphenoid in Dermatochelys coriacea Lin. (Zool. Jb. Anat. 28)
  • 1910. Streptostyly in dinosaurs with remarks on the relationship between birds and dinosaurs. (Zool. Jb. Anat. 30)
  • 1910. Comments on the parasphenoid by Dermatochelys . (Anat. No. 36)
  • 1910. Were the sauropod dinosaurs herbivores? (Zool. Jahrb. Anat. 29)
  • 1911. Correction to Fuchs' essay: “Remarks on Monimostyly and Streptostyly”. (Anat. No. 38)
  • 1912. The streptostyly problem and the movements in the skull in sauropsids. (Zool. Jb. Suppl. Vol. 15: Festschr. For JW Spengel, Vol. 2)
  • 1912. On streptostyly and similar conditions in sauropsids in connection with movements in the skull. (Relationship 8th intern, Zool. Kongr. Graz)
  • 1912. Amphibia. (Concise words, natural science, vol. 1)
  • 1914. On the phylogeny of the carapace and on the affinities of the leathery turtle, Dermatochelys coriacea . (Rept. On the state of science, Brit. Assoc., Sect. D, Birmingham 1913)
  • 1914. About the phylogeny of the shell of the turtle and the relationship of the leatherback turtle ( Dermatochelys coriacea ). (Palaeont. Line 1)
  • 1915. On the spread of epidemics by insects in war. (Zentralbl. Inn. Med. 36)
  • 1915. The spread of epidemics by insects and other arthropods during war. (Ber. Oberhess. Ges. Giessen, Nat. Dept. 6)
  • 1915. About lice and war epidemics. (Naturwiss. Illustr. Bi-monthly, edited by Prof. Dr. B. Schmid and Dr. C. Thesing)
  • 1916. On annexation policy: the war aims of our enemies. (87 pp.)
  • 1919. The gills of Limulus and the lungs of the arachnids. (Bijdrag Dierk. 21)
  • 1920. About the phylogeny of the temporal pits and the zygomatic arches in reptiles. (Registered office of Heidelberg Academy, math.-naturw. Class, B 1919)
  • 1920. (Together with R. Demoll) De Verwandschap der Merostomata met de Arachnida en met de other classes of Arthropoda. I. en II. Mededeeling. (Kon. Nederl Akad. Wet. Amsterdam Afd. 35. vol. 29)
  • 1921. (Together with R. Demoll) The relationship of the Merostomata with the Arachnida and the other departments of the Arthropoda. (Proceedings Kon. Nederl. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam 23)
  • 1921. Het Limulus-probleem en de verandschap van de largest affairs of arthropods. (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2. vol. 18)
  • 1922. Kauwbewegung bij Trachodon . (Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Ver., Ser. 2, vol. 18)
  • 1922. Trachodon chewing movements . (Paleontol. Line 4)
  • 1922. A living anosteiride, Carettochelys insculpta Ramsay. (Paleont. Line 5)
  • 1922. (Together with R. Demolì) The Limulus Problem. (Results and progress. Zool. 5)
  • 1922. About the regression of the gill arch in the Selachii. (Bijdr. Dierk. 22. Fixed number for Max Weber)
  • 1922. Origin and differentiation of the Gigantostraken. (Paleontol. Line 5)
  • 1923. The skull of Trachodon annectens in the Senckenberg Museum. (Senckenbergiana 38)
  • 1923. Over bouw en waterleven the salamander. (Vakblad voor biologen 4, No. 6)
  • 1923. The descent and differentiation of the Gigantostraken. With discussion Pompeckj. (Paleont. Line 5)
  • 1923. Permanent larvale toestanden (neotenie) bij Salamanders. (Handel. 19th Nederl. Natuur- en Geneesk. Congr. Maastricht 1923)
  • 1925. On the thyroid glands and on the phylogeny of the Perennibranchiata and dermotremous Salamanders. (Proc. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam 28, No. 8, 9)
  • 1927. (Together with JEW Ihle, HF Nierstrasz and PN van Kampen) Comparative anatomy of vertebrates. (Berlin, Springer)
  • 1927. Critical remarks on the resonance theory of motor nerve activity on the basis of coordinated end organs by Paul Weiß. (Biologia gen. 3)
  • 1928. Further critical remarks on the resonance theory by Paul Weiß. (Biologia gen. 4)
  • 1929. About the origin of the upright gait and the structure of the foot in humans. (Mitt. Anthropol. Ges. Wien 59)
  • 1930. Comments on the statements of Prof. Dr. J. Boeke regarding my alleged views on nerve regeneration. (Biol. Ccntralbl. 50)
  • 1931. Amphibians. (Short dictionary of natural science. 2nd ed.)
  • 1932. Periodic cell division and its importance for the emergence of new forms in the animal kingdom. (Schr. Ver. Cons. Natural science knowledge Vienna 72)
  • 1935. Vertebrata (vertebrate animals). (Short dictionary of natural science. 2nd ed.)
  • 1936. Cranium and visceral skeleton of the Sauropsids. I. reptiles. (Bolk-Göppert-Kallius-Lubosch: Handb. Cf. Anat. Wirbelt. IV, 699–808.)
  • 1938. About the relationship between the semicircular canals and head movements in the parasuric Machairoprosopus . (Palaeobiologica 6)
  • 1939. Brain size and hormonal events in the incarnation. A lecture on the investigations of E. Dubois and L. Bolk and their significance. With explanations by Otto Poetzl and Konrad Lorenz. (Vienna, W. Maudrich.) Dedicated to J. Versluys † (with portrait). 28 pp.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Jan Versluys Willemszoon (1845–1920) was a mathematician and didactic (especially mathematics: he wrote books on perspective, conic sections, spherical triangle calculations, monetary systems, which were reprinted for a long time); he was friends with Multatuli and wrote two books about them. - “Jan Versluys” is a quite common Dutch name, so that during the morphologist's lifetime there was also a well-known name bearer in Delft (supposedly his brother, 1880–1935, despite having the same name?) And a doctor.
  2. ↑ In Amsterdam that was not possible, apparently because he had not had a valid high school career - he could only get a master's degree there. The “all-round” zoologist Spengel was so impressed by Versluys that he made it possible for him to do his doctorate in Giessen.
  3. ^ The word coined Multatulis for the Dutch East Indies, roughly equivalent to today's Indonesia .
  4. ↑ Andreas Anderhub: The Antoniterkreuz in Essen: On the history of the University of Giessen during the First World War. Giessen, 1979, p. 8.
  5. ↑ For more details on this "adventure" see Daniël Vanacker (2006): Het activistische avontuur . Versluys' goal was always to promote his "Dutch tribe" (people), as he put it - he couldn't choose the circumstances. - On the francophone hegemony in Belgium and the refusal of a Vlaamse Universiteit [until 1930] cf. Kristoffer Nyrop (1917): The inprisonment of the Ghent professors (Nyrop was a Dane and would have preferred an English rather than a German “sponsorship”).
  6. ^ Declaration by the university teachers of the German Reich - Berlin October 23, 1914 ( Memento from June 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ Walter Thys: "Educated Vagant". Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2000, ISBN 978-3-934-56511-1 , p. 399 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  8. ↑ The eminent Dutch zoologist,… Jan Versluys was a fine, tall man, with a fluent command of English, German and French, and was well known to, and highly respected by, many British zoologists who met him either abroad or in Great Britain on the occasions when he attended the meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science ...
  9. ↑ Shortly before, he had not really meant that he wanted to accept the “first” offer.

Web links

Wikisource: Jan Versluys  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Versluys, Jan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Versluys Janszoon, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Dutch zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 1, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Groningen
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1939
Place of death Vienna