Max Wetschky

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Max Wetschky (* 1844 in Gnadenfeld ; † January 26, 1927 there ) was a German pharmacist and botanist in Gnadenfeld; today a district of Pawłowiczki.

Life and work

The pharmacist Max Wetschky was one of the most avid researchers of the Silesian flora in the 19th and 20th centuries. He was born in the settlement of the Moravian Brothers , in Gnadenfeld , southwest of Cosel (Polish: Koźle ) . The family had owned the pharmacy here since 1800. Grandfather and father were already well-known as part-time botanists and researchers in their region. This passion carried over to the son as well. Unfortunately, not much has been communicated about his private life. His exact date of birth was already unknown in G. Eisenreich's obituary in 1927, with a tribute to his life's work.

The rural settlement Gnadenfeld soon grew together with the neighboring village of Pawlowitzke . As a unit with the Moravian Brethren, a flourishing, exemplary community and spiritual center of the region developed here, which theologians and natural scientists also produced or served as a place of activity.

This environment influenced Wetschky to work part-time with the flowering plants of his homeland. Even as a student he reported on new discoveries while researching the Silesian flora. As a pharmacist, he had all the necessary basic knowledge in the botanical field as well as the ability to create a herbarium according to scientific criteria when collecting and identifying plants . In particular, the floristic research of the botanical environment, begun by FW Kölbing and written down in the work “Flora Gnadenfeldensis”, was a suggestion that also inspired his father and that was also taken up by him. This resulted in an extensive collection of herbarium arches, which unfortunately was lost after his death due to the later war events. To this day one can find a large number of individual references with reference to Max Wetschky in the specialist botanical literature. For example, he was the first to discover the rare peat violet ( Viola epipsila Ledebour ) in Silesia in 1876 on boggy meadows near Wiegschütz .

Extensive travels took him to Norway and Sicily (including the Etna region ), the Crimea , the steppe areas in southern Russia , the Balkans and the Carpathians . Further journeys are documented by references in the specialist literature. Wetschky did not shy away from strenuous high alpine tours , e.g. B. he climbed the Lommnitz peak several times in the Tatra Mountains . During these trips he collected evidence, found new locations and even discovered new species. A species of common flax he discovered in the Crimea was given the Latin name Linum wetschkyanum Fiek after him in 1895 . From the trip to Crimea alone, which took place together with AS Callier , around 260 species were brought back, half of which were collected with 15 specimens each.

He exchanged research results and knowledge with well-known botanists (including F. Pax , A. Engler , H. Göppert , Th. Schube ). He worked in several botanical societies and also took part in botanical congresses. As a member of the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture , the numerous individual results of his research work were regularly noted in the annual reports. He was considered one of the best experts on the flora of Silesia. The huge herbarium of the society that existed at that time was enriched by its collection results. As a naturalist, he was never interested in just one side throughout his life. So he informed z. B. also about a natural event he observed near Gnadenfeld. He continued his scientific work, combined with arduous travel and impassable hikes to the plant locations, until 1925 when he was old.

Publications (selection)

literature

Web links

  • Wetschky, Max . Kulturportal West-Ost, Ostdeutsche Biographie, accessed on October 30, 2016
  • Zielnik z Pawłowiczek? . Etnobotaniczie, March 3, 2013, accessed on November 3, 2016, (Polish), (translated title: Herbarium von Pawłowiczki? )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Name of a settlement of the Moravian Brethren in Upper Silesia
  2. ↑ G. Eisenreich: The memory of three naturalists and nature lovers who died in Upper Silesia . In: The Upper Silesian. 9th year, June 1927, p. 378.
  3. ^ From an administrative point of view , however, a merger was only completed in 1938.
  4. ^ Find of Prunella alba Palsas near Borislawitz . In: 46th annual report of the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture. 1848, p. 103.
  5. ↑ P. Gebauer, HW Otto: Friedrich Wilhelm Kölbing a botanist and natural scientist of the Moravian Brethren . In: Reports of the natural research society of Upper Lusatia. Volume 11, 2004, ISSN  0941-0627 .
  6. ↑ H. Grabowski: Flora of Upper Silesia and the Gesenke . Preface VII, Breslau 1843.
  7. ^ W. Bau: The home parlor in Gnadenfeld . In: Coseler home calendar. 1942, p. 92.
  8. ^ Negotiations of the Brno Scientific Society. Meeting on December 14, 1881. p. 42.
  9. ↑ C. Schubert: The flora of Gnadenfeld . Der Oberschlesier , (special issue), Jhrg. 14, No. 6, 1932, p. 353, last paragraph
  10. ↑ see under publications , article in: Magyar Botanikai Lapok . IV. Vol., 1905, No. 12; (concerns: Wetschky's excursions in Bosnia , near the city of Jajzce )
  11. ↑ 1896: Turkey , Greece , Syria, Palestine , Egypt , ( Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift . 1897, No. 9, p.336) ; 1889: Banat , (E. Fiek: Eine botanische Fahrt . Allg. Botanische Zeitschrift . 1895, Nr.4, pp 79-81); 1903 Krain , (L. Dergane: Supplement ... . . Other Botanical Magazine .., 1904, No. 3/4, pages 44-47, S. 45 and S. 47 below ); Notes on trips to the eastern Alpine region : A. Engler : Das Pflanzenreich . 1905, pp. 131,138,194,228, Leipzig
  12. ^ Negotiations of the Brno Scientific Society. Meeting on December 14, 1881 , p. 43.
  13. ↑ E. Fiek: About a new Linum oriental flora. In: Botanical journal for systematics, floristry , plant geography , etc. 1st Jhg., No. 12, 1895, pp. 232–233.
  14. ↑ Botanical institutions, associations, barter clubs, Exsiccatenwerke, traveling, etc . In: General Botanical Journal. 1st year, No. 7/8, 1895, p. 168
  15. ↑ Wetschky. in the III. Directory of congress participants. In: Negotiations of the International Botanical Congress in Vienna 1905. Fischer, Jena 1906, p. 19.
  16. ↑ Th. Schube: Report on the herbarium of the society. In: 87th annual report of the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture. 1909, p. 14.
  17. ^ F. Cohn: Activity of the Botanical Section. In: 50th annual report of the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture. 1872, p. 71.
  18. ↑ G. Eisenreich: The memory of three naturalists and nature lovers who died in Upper Silesia . In: The Upper Silesian. 9th year, June 1927, p. 378.
personal data
SURNAME Wetschky, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pharmacist and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Gnadenfeld
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 1927
Place of death Gnadenfeld