Ludwig Wilhelm Schaufuss

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Ludwig Wilhelm Schaufuss

Ludwig Wilhelm Schaufuss (born August 24, 1833 in Greiz ; † July 16, 1890 in Dresden ) was a self-taught German scientist . He worked as a researcher mainly in zoology ( entomology ) and discovered, among other things, unknown insects. He mastered taxidermy and, with his wife, sold animal preparations and teaching aids worldwide.

Life and research

His father, Karl Friedrich Schaufuss, born on July 13, 1802, a wealthy manufacturer , lost his fortune as a result of unsuccessful American business and then took commercial positions first in Leipzig and then in Dresden. Ludwig Wilhelm Schaufuß attended the First Citizens' School in Leipzig and, after completing school, was apprenticed to Christian Abecken's paint and drug store in Dresden. He learned the Latin , French , Italian and Spanish languages and spoke them excellently. His interest in Conchylia led Schaufuss together with the taxidermist Oskar Klocke, who owned a " natural produce store" in Dresden's Moritzstrasse, where the Abeckensche drugstore was also located . H. traded in insects , snails , mussels and other preserved animals, stones and ethnographic objects. The friendship with Klocke led to Schaufuss joining the business as a partner in 1857 against payment of 1,600 thalers. When Klocke died that same year, Schaufuss acquired Saxon citizenship and continued the business alone under the company name “LW Schaufuss otherwise E. Klocke”.

Schaufuss became very successful as a dealer and supplied universities as well as zoologists and private collectors from all over the world, who could get everything they were looking for from him, from flea shrimp to stuffed manatees and from the tiniest beetle to the skeleton of elephants. The Leipzig professor Rudolf Leuckart coined the sentence: "If Schaufuss can't get it, then it can't be got."

On behalf of the Saxon Ministry of Culture, in 1873 he put together three collections of teaching materials that were later awarded prizes for the Vienna World Exhibition .

In addition to trading, Schaufuß also worked as a researcher and was actively involved in the Dresden “ Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Isis ”, which flourished in the late 1950s and early 1960s under Ludwig Reichenbach , and undertook several (research) trips .

On these trips he discovered previously unknown cave beetles of the genus Anophthalmus , Sporen , Bathyscien, the tiny cave snail Zospeum schaufussi and others. In addition to an ornithological work, the first entomological work was done in 1861 .

The monograph of the ground beetle genus Sphodrus , which Schaufuss published in 1864, involved him in disagreements about the concept of species with the Berlin university professor Hermann Rudolf Schaum . He then published a polemical open letter to all entomologists: Dictator foam , which made him known among entomologists. The violent feud between him and foam continued for years and was supported on both sides by other specialist authors.

The confrontation with foam and the resulting formation of deposits led to Schaufuss becoming one of the focal points of the coleopterological circles. In 1865 he became a member of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists , in whose files his second extensive work, the monograph of the Scydmaenids of Central and South Africa , appeared in 1866 , which also earned him the Brazilian Order of the Rose Knights. In 1866 Schaufuss received the academic degree of Doctor philosophiae et magister lib from Leipzig University . art. , although he had neither graduated nor studied.

This was followed by a series of primarily insect studies, some of which appeared in the journal Nunquam otiosus published by Schaufuss, but mainly in the publications of scientific societies. Nunquam otiosus initially had Schaufuss printed with a hand press in his house by a book printer who was interested in botanicals and employed by him. In total, three volumes were published: 1870, 1872/1873, 1879/1889.

The second volume of the Nunquam contains the first description of exotic Pselaphinae . Schaufuss' Molluscorum systema (1869) became the basis of many collections.

Another area of ​​activity Schaufuss' was the old Italian painting , especially that of Correggio and Giorgione .

Museum "Ludwig Salvator"

Schaufussstrasse in Dresden, named after Ludwig Wilhelm Schaufuss, founder of the "Ludwig Salvatore" museum

From the beginning, Schaufuß pursued the idea of making his collections accessible to the public as a museum . As early as 1861 he offered all of his material (60–80,000 objects, including 50–70,000 insects , 2,000 birds from all regions, 100 skeletons and skulls , 400 amphibians in alcohol and so on) to the princess-regent Caroline Reuss Ä. L. on the condition indicates that a suitable building will be made available or constructed.

In return, he demanded interest on the value of his collection during his and his wife's lifetimes (800 to 1000 Reichstaler per year), the collection to remain under his management in return for cheap remuneration and employment of a curator (200-300 Reichstaler per year). In return, he undertook to devote himself to the collection on site for ten months a year. But because of these high manufacturing and maintenance costs, it didn't happen.

Schaufuss later planned to realize the museum in America together with his Californian friend and travel companion Sam H. Branan . This plan also failed. Finally, he built a building at his own expense in Oberblasewitz near Dresden according to plans by the Dresden building councilor Ernst Giese , which he named “Museum Ludwig Salvator” in honor of the Balearic researcher Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria . In addition to natural history and ethnographic objects, the museum also included an extensive collection of paintings. However, Schaufuss had overestimated his financial resources and the Tolkewitz cemetery was blocking all access roads. Repeated attempts to relocate the museum failed. Schaufuss lost most of his fortune when the museum was built. Disappointed and also ill, he handed over the natural produce business, which was continued next to the museum, to his son Camillo (born February 22, 1862) in 1884.

With the revival of the "LW Schaufuss" company, his entomological activity began again. From the rest of his fortune, he bought a vineyard in the Spaarberge ( Meißen ) and devoted himself to coleopterology . He witnessed the fact that his son, who had meanwhile relocated the natural produce dealership to Meißen, also rebuilt the Ludwig Salvator Museum there in urban areas, at least partially. In December 1889, he was hit by the prevailing flu epidemic. He died on July 16, 1890 in the hospital in Dresden and was buried in Dresden.

Services

Schaufuss was an autodidact who switched from a practical occupation to scientific life and gained national recognition among the experts of his time - sometimes only after his death. The "Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift" published the following sentence in its 36th volume, p. 213 as an introduction to a necrology for Schaufuss: If the Berlin Entomological Association offers its members the picture and a sketch of the life of the deceased zoologist Schaufuss, it should give the dead one To be satisfied; the satisfaction that his services to our specialist science are recognized from the point which, as is well known, caused him many difficult hours in earlier years. On numerous trips, including international ones, he studied collections, met well-known entomologists and became a member of numerous entomological societies.

In the yield of his trip to Portugal and the Balearic Islands in 1872 alone, he discovered and classified 125 previously unknown beetles , a new ant , a new cockroach , 4 crustaceans , 3 molluscs and 36 arachnids . Within the entomological world, to which for him not only beetles but other orders belonged, he is said to have introduced more than 1000 species to science as new.

Schaufuss' work was not limited to entomology. He wrote several times about birds, described a new variety of chimpanzees and several mussels , he also occupied himself with excavations of prehistoric remains and wrote about them. He also took on the processing of finds from his colleagues. Edmund Reitter sent him a number of amber beetle inclusions from the Helm collection in the Danzig Provincial Museum . The two resulting monographs of the amber pselaphids and cydmaenids, as well as various other articles, were highly praised.

In 1884 Schaufuß founded the "Insect Exchange", an advertising paper for entomologists that was widely distributed. Since Schaufuss took over the editing himself, he found an opportunity to effectively counter attacks by his opponents. His son later developed the “Entomologische Wochenblatt” from the paper, which in turn was converted into the “Entomologische Rundschau” and continued by Adalbert Seitz .

In bourgeois life, Schaufuss was a member of the administrative board of the Dresden Trade Association for 25 years and directed its large exhibition lotteries in 1871 and 1875; he vigorously advocated urban affairs and participated in press disputes.

Namesake

Numerous beetles and a number of other insects are reminiscent of the scholar in their species names: Aphaenogaster schaufussi and Crematogaster schaufussi among the ants , Meta schaufussi among the spiders , Helix schaufussi and Zospeum schaufussi among the snails . Even one of his opponents named a genus of the Pselaphiden or tactile beetle Schaufussia .

His wife Clara Isidore b. Kämmel (born August 29, 1835 in Chemnitz as the daughter of an art and music dealer ) immortalized Schaufuss in two beetle names : Machaerites clarae and Bryaxis isidorae .

Honors and memberships

Document 1877
  • Medal of Merit Vienna World Exhibition 1873 and other awards at national and international exhibitions
  • Dr. phil. 1866 without examination or study
  • Member of the Leopoldina (Zoology) 1865
  • Brazilian Order of the Knights of Roses 1866 (appointed knight)
  • Member of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors
    • of the international scientific societies for natural scientists Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg
    • the Society of Natural Scientists Görlitz
    • of the Society of Botany and Zoology Dresden

Fonts (selection)

  • Monograph of the genus Machaerites (cave beetles) 1863.
  • Monograph of the ground beetle genus 1864.
  • Open letter to all entomologists 1864.
  • Monograph of the Scydmaenids of Central and South Africa 1866. doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.5538
  • Advertising paper of the insect exchange 1884.
  • Nunquam otiosus. Zoological communications . Journal, own publishing house, Dresden 1870–1877.
  • Monographs of the amber Pselaphiden 1870–1889.
  • To judge Giorgione’s paintings . Verlag C. Weiske, Dresden 1874. New edition: Nabu Press, September 30, 2011, ISBN 978-1-247-15148-9 .
  • Monograph of the Scydmaenids . New edition: Bibliobazaar, June 4, 2009, ISBN 978-1-110-87600-6 .
  • Monograph of the Scydmaenids of Central and South America . New edition: Book on Demand, January 1, 1865, Let Me Print, March 2012, ISBN 978-5-87322-350-3 .
  • Dictator Foam: An Open Letter to All Entomologists . H. Klemm, 1863, 11 pages.
  • Molluscorum Systema et Catalogus. System and enumerations of all conchylia . O. Weiske, Dresden 1869, doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.11873 , new edition: Nabu Press, September 2011, ISBN 978-1-179-33029-7 .
  • German entomological journal (ed.).

literature

  • Nonveiller, G. 1999: The Pioneers of the research on the Insects of Dalmatia . Zagreb, Hrvatski Pridodoslovni Muzej: pp. 1–390, 65 Fig.
  • Musgrave, A. 1932: Bibliography of Australian Entomology. 1775-1930 . Sydney
  • Schaufuss, LW 1871: [Schaufuss, LW] Nunquam Otiosus . Buenos Aires 1
  • Anonymous 1890: [Schaufuss, LW] Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (6) . Bull., Paris 10
  • Anonymous 1890: [Schaufuss, LW] Entomologist's Monthly Magazine (3) . London 26
  • Anonymous 1890: [Schaufuss, LW] Insect Exchange . Leipzig 7 (15)
  • Anonymous 1890: [Schaufuss, LW] Leopoldina . 26th
  • Reitter, E. 1890: [Schaufuss, LW] Vienna. ent. issue 9
  • Anonymous 1891: [Schaufuss, LW] Berl. Ent. Ztschr. Berlin 35
  • Krancher 1892: [Schaufuss, LW] Ent. Year . Leipzig 1
  • Otto, A. 1926: [Schaufuss, LW] Abh. Ber. Ver. Natural fr. Greiz . Greiz 7
  • Estate archive city of Meissen
  • Thorsten Heese: “… a local for art and antiquity” - the institutionalization of collecting using the example of Osnabrück's museum history . Dissertation to obtain the academic degree Doctor philosophiae (Dr. phil.) Submitted to the Philosophical Faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Defended July 4, 2002.
  • Thomas Schaufuß: Traces of known and unknown show feet: A journey through time through several centuries . Cardamina Verlag, November 2014, ISBN 978-3-86424-201-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Festschrift to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Association of Friends of Nature in Greiz - At the same time Volume VII of the treatises and reports of April 11, 1926 (by A. Otto).
  2. ↑ Brochure on the opening of the Ludwig Salvator Museum in Ober-Blasewitz / Dresden, Royal Library Dresden, December 29, 1879.
  3. ↑ Misrepresentation in Thorsten Heese's dissertation (see literature), Chapter 4.4.3.2., P. 436 ff.
  4. ^ Meißner Tageblatt of July 17, 1890.
  5. ↑ Highest honor: Meta schaufussi, Hans Ruben, SV Verlag Dresden, 4/2004.
  6. ↑ a b c d e bequests in the Meißner and Greizer city archives.
  7. ↑ Private archive: Thomas Schaufuß 2013.
  8. ^ Member entry by Ludwig Wilhelm Schaufuss at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on October 19, 2015.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schaufuss, Ludwig Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German natural scientist
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Greiz
DATE OF DEATH July 16, 1890
Place of death Dresden