Johann Caspar Scheuchzer

Decorative sheet of the History of Japan published by Scheuchzer, 1727

First city map of Edo (Tokyo) in Europe. Developed by Scheuchzer on the basis of a Japanese wood block print. History of Japan, 1727, tab XXX

Mortality table from Scheuchzer's "An account of the success of inoculating the small-pox in Great Britain, for the years 1727 and 1728" (1729)

Johann Caspar Scheuchzer , (born January 26, 1702 in Zurich , † April 21, 1729 in London ; also Hans Kaspar or Jean Gaspard ) was a Swiss naturalist, doctor and Japanese scholar.

Life

Johann Caspar Scheuchzer, the third child of the universal scholar Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733) and his wife Susanna, grew up in a stimulating environment. His father enjoyed a great reputation as a physics theologist , popular educator, polyhistor, natural scientist and founder of the science of the Alps. And in the spirit of the latter, Johann Caspar chose the geological flood theory ( Diluvianism ) as the subject of his inaugural dissertation in 1722 . Then he went to London. Here he first came to the doctor and naturalist John Woodward (1665-1728), with whom he soon fell out. Eventually the personal physician of the English king and scholar Hans Sloane took him in and commissioned him to catalog his immense library. Thanks to Sloane's mediation, he was accepted into the Royal Society in 1728 , where he took care of research abroad as "Assistant Secretary for Foreign Correspondence", on which he reported in the Philosophical Transactions . Scheuchzer's medical studies, which he conducted - again with Sloane's energetic support - made good progress and were honored with a doctorate in Cambridge. Scheuchzer made lasting merits in this field, particularly through the continuation of the studies of the doctor James Jurin (1684–1750) on the number of deaths in vaccinated and non-vaccinated smallpox patients. Scheuchzer's work An account of the success of inoculating the small-pox in Great Britain for the years 1727 and 1728 contributed greatly to the success of the quantifying method started by Jurin. At the same time, Scheuchzer translated and edited the manuscript "Today's Japan" acquired by Sloane from the estate of the pioneer of Japanese research Engelbert Kaempfer (1651–1716), which appeared in two splendid folio volumes in 1727 and was to shape the European image of Japan in the 18th century:

"The History of Japan: giving an account of the ancient and present state and government of that empire; of its temples, palaces, castles and other buildings; Of Its Metals, Minerals, Trees, Plants, Animals, Birds and Fishes; Of The Chronology and Succession of the Emperors, Ecclesiastical and Secular; Of The Original Descent, Religions, Customs, and Manufactures of the Natives, and of their Trade and Commerce with the Dutch and Chinese. Together with a Description of the Kingdom of Siam. Written in High-Dutch by Engelbertus Kaempfer, MD Physician to the Dutch Embassy to the Emperor's Court; and translated from his Original Manuscript, never before printed, by JG Scheuchzer, FRS and a Member of the College of Physicians, London. With the Life of the Author, and an Introduction. Illustrated with many copper plates. London: Printed for the Translator, MDCCXXVII. "

It is unclear whether this exhausting undertaking contributed to Scheuchzer's illness, as is the exact cause of death. Scheuchzer died in Sloane's house in the spring of 1729 and was buried in Chelsea churchyard on April 24th.

Scheuchzer's edition of the "History of Japan"

Kaempfer had left behind a voluminous, in many places not very elaborate and stylistically improved manuscript, as well as a series of more or less elaborated sketches, in which it was only clear in a few cases whether and how they should serve to illustrate the text. Since Scheuchzer was not familiar with the subject, he had to use the rich Japanese materials in Sloane's library to familiarize himself with the history of research and the current state of knowledge within a short period of time, translate Kaempfer's German text, which was difficult in terms of both style and content, and select and process suitable images. His paraphrasing when translating and various misunderstandings when editing the image material have been sharply criticized in recent research, but regardless of these, in some cases inevitable, weaknesses, Scheuchzer's edition surpassed all Japanese works printed to date in terms of content and quality. Not only the other translations into French and Dutch, but also the German edition published by Christian Wilhelm Dohm on the basis of a decade later found in Lemgo, the second, incomplete manuscript (“History and Description of Japan”, 1777–79) followed up to the retention of the Scheuchzer designed the appendix and his "Copper and Charts" based on the "History of Japan".

At the same time, it should not be overlooked that thanks to his studies in Kaempfer's estate and Sloane's collections, Scheuchzer had matured to become Kaempfer's first biographer and probably the most profound expert on Japan of his time.

Works

• Theses de diluvio publico & placido eruditorum examini subjicient Præses Johannes Jacobus Scheuchzerus Med. Doct. Math. Prof. [...] atque Joh. Casparus Scheuchzerus, JJF [...] author et respondens. MDCCXXII [...] Tiguri, Ex Typographeo Bodmeriano.
• John Gasper Scheuchzer: An account of the success of inoculating the small-pox in Great Britain, for the years 1727 and 1728. With a comparison between the mortality of the natural small-pox, and the miscarriages in that practice; as also some general remarks on its progress and success, since its first introduction. To which are subjoined, I. An account of the success of inoculation in foreign parts. II. A relation of the like method of giving the small-pox, as it is practiced in the kingdoms of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers. London, J. Peele, 1729.

literature

• Wolfgang Michel: Johann Caspar Scheuchzer (1702–1729) and the publication of the History of Japan. In: Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques, 64, 1, 2010 Zurich Open Repository and Archive ZORA pp. 101–137
• Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey: Kaempfer Restor'd. In: Monumenta Nipponica, 43, 1, 1988, pp. 1-33
• HCG Matthew & B. Harrison, eds .: Oxford dictionary of national biography, in association with the British Academy, from the earliest times to the year 2000. Vol. 49, Oxford University Press , Oxford / Tokyo 2004, pp. 215f.

Remarks

1. ↑ More about the mother and siblings at Michel (2010)
2. ↑ Like many contemporaries, Scheuchzer's father Johann Jakob considered fossils to be random games of nature ( lusus naturae ) as a result of a mysterious creative force ( vis plastica ). The English scholar John Woodward, however, declared in 1695 in an "Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth" that they were the remains of living beings that perished in the Flood and discussed their position and condition in the ground. Johann Jakob Scheuchzer was fascinated by this view of the coexistence of divine omnipotence and the laws of nature. In 1704 he published a Latin translation of Woodward's essay in Zurich. Own studies on fossils, the flood and stratification theory as well as a three-volume natural history of the Schweitzerland followed. His attempt to reconcile faith and science culminated in the monumental "Copper Bible" ( Physica Sacra, or Hallowed Natural Science , 1731–1735).
3. ^ After his death, Sloane's collection formed the basis of the British Museum, which was founded especially for this purpose . The books and manuscripts became part of the British Library as the Sloane Collection .
4. ↑ A list of these reports can be found in Michel (2010)
5. ↑ Thanks to this publication, Scheuchzer earned a place in the Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences des arts et des métiers under the heading "inoculation" (Diderot / D'Alembert, Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences des arts et des métiers, Tome 18, 1782: 761).
6. ↑ Kaempfer's original manuscript was first published in 2001 as part of the critical edition of Kaempfer's works
7. ↑ di Zurich

Web links

• Entry for Scheuchzer, John Gaspar (1702-1729) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London