Oscar Fraas

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Oscar Friedrich von Fraas

Oscar Friedrich von Fraas (born January 17, 1824 in Lorch in Württemberg , † November 22, 1897 in Stuttgart ) was a German pastor , naturalist and geologist .

Youth and Studies

Oscar Fraas was born on January 17, 1824 in Lorch am Hohenstaufen as the son of a pastor. After receiving the first lesson in his parents' house, he went to the Latin school in Göppingen . Although he had been drawn to the natural sciences from an early age, he decided, at his father's request, to take up the spiritual profession. After he had passed the state examination that is customary in Württemberg, he first attended the lower seminary in Blaubeuren and then the Evangelical monastery in Tübingen.

As a schoolboy and even more as a student, he devoted himself to his scientific hobbies in his free time. He collected plants and fossils. In Tübingen, in addition to his theological studies, he also heard Friedrich August von Quenstedt's lectures on mineralogy, geology and paleontology, who inspired him and made friends with these sciences. He was inspired by Quenstedt to carry out crystallographic investigations and to study the Swabian sedimentary formations and the fossils found in them. How quickly von Fraas got used to this topic is shown by the fact that in 1845 he received a prize from the philosophical faculty for a geognostic survey of the area around Tübingen. Particularly instructive for him were various larger excursions that he carried out with his teacher and that took him to the Alps, northern Italy and southern France.

theology

Center of Laufen with the neo-Gothic Gallus Church, built between 1873 and 1875

After he had passed the theological exam, he first worked as a vicar for his father, who was then dean in Balingen . In 1847 he stayed in Paris to attend the école des mines to continue his studies. He then went on a scientific hike through Normandy and southern England. As a result of this trip, his first literary work, an attempt to compare the German Jura with the French and English , appeared in the New Yearbook for Mineralogy, Geognosy, Geology and Petrefactology (Stuttgart 1850) .

From 1848 he worked as parish vicar in Leutkirch , from 1850 to 1854 as pastor in Laufen an der Eyach . There he started a household and soon had a large family.

geology

Since the surroundings of his place of residence are rich in fossils, he not only put together a valuable collection himself, but also taught his less well-to-do parishioners how to make bread from stones by showing them abundant localities and instructing them how to make them Could exploit fossils expediently. In order to utilize the collected items in the best possible way in the interests of his parishioners, he cleaned, determined and arranged them and set up a model warehouse in his spacious parsonage, which soon became a magnet for collectors and researchers from near and far and which even large public museums make theirs Required for Swabian Jurassic fossils for a moderate price. Through this non-profit and highly fruitful activity for science, the name of the Laufen priest soon became known not only in the circles of geologists, but also throughout Württemberg.

When the very modest position of scientific assistant for the geological, palaeontological and mineralogical departments in the Royal Natural History Cabinet in Stuttgart became vacant in 1854 , he was offered it. Since the prospect of living entirely according to his inclinations and being able to use his science far more intensely than before attracted him, he gladly followed the call and thus went from theologian to geologist. In his new sphere of activity he was active for a full 40 years. He quickly adapted to the new circumstances and, as a result of his excellent memory and his admirable workforce, gradually developed alongside Quenstedt to become the best and most thorough expert on the geological conditions in Württemberg.

In 1856 he was appointed curator and was awarded the title of professor. He paid special attention to the patriotic section of the museum. In order to bring them closer to the ideal of the greatest possible completeness, he wandered tirelessly around the country collecting, so that he soon became one of the most popular personalities in Swabia and was known under the name Steiner-Fraas or Höhlen-Fraas even in the most remote villages of the Rough Alb.

Paleontology and anthropology

Bear's cave in Hohlenstein in the Lone Valley , where Oscar Fraas carried out scientific excavations from 1860 onwards

His efforts were not limited to the geological area, but also extended to paleontological and anthropological studies. He searched numerous caves for bone fragments, many thousands of which he acquired for the museum and determined with a keen eye and increasing certainty. His specialties in this area were mammals from the Tertiary and Pleistocene , vertebrates from the Jurassic and reptiles from the Triassic . His excavations in 1860 at the Hohlenstein in the Lonetal and the excavations in the 1870s in the Hohlefels and the Ofnet caves in the Nördlinger Ries proved to be the most effective .

archeology

He also uncovered many prehistoric settlements and graves, for example a very interesting paleolithic settlement from the reindeer era at the Schussen spring in 1867 , later the old Germanic barrows in Ludwigsburg's Prince Hill and the old pagan sacrificial site on the Lochenstein . When he was digging at the Schussen spring, he recognized antler poles and flint tools that had been worked and decorated by humans. With this experience he researched again in the Lone Valley and now found traces of the Ice Age people there too. He also went on several study trips abroad, the results of which benefited not only the collection entrusted to him, but also science in general. In 1865 and 1866 he passed through Egypt , the Sinai Peninsula and Palestine . In 1875 he accepted an invitation from Rustem Pasha , the governor-general of Syria, to be the first European scholar to conduct a geological study of Lebanon, which was then almost unknown in this regard. On this occasion he discovered extremely remarkable prehistoric remains in the caves of Wadi Djauz and at Nahr el Kelb and reported on viticulture in Lebanon . In 1877/1878 he was one of the co-founders of the German Association for the Exploration of Palestine . In 1882 he traveled to southern France and Spain with his son Eberhard Fraas , who later became his successor in office. In 1891 he was appointed the first director of the Stuttgart Natural History Collection. Three years later, after celebrating his 70th birthday and 40 years of service, he took well-deserved retirement. He spent the rest of his life in peaceful tranquility in his country house near Stuttgart, which was embellished by nature and art. Here he suffered a gentle death on November 22nd, 1897.

Appreciation

In 1871 he was awarded the Order of Olga . In recognition of his versatile work, he was raised to the nobility on his retirement and the natural science faculty of the University of Tübingen appointed him an honorary doctorate .

Oscar von Fraas was an extremely versatile man of never tiring industry, unusual workforce, clear vision and sure judgment, always ready to put his knowledge and skills in the service of the general public. That is why he was frequently appointed to honorary positions and positions of trust. He worked for many years as a member of the commission for the production of a geognostic atlas of Württemberg, as an advisor to the committee for the management of the state collections of patriotic art and antiquity monuments, as a geognostic expert for the Württemberg railway construction administration and as a city councilor. Politically, he was close to the German party. Many scholarly and non-profit societies elected him to the board of directors or as an honorary member, such as the German anthropological society, the Leopoldino-Carolinische Akademie der Naturforscher , the Württemberg anthropological association, the association for patriotic natural history in Württemberg , the Württemberg viticulture association and the Stuttgart trade association. He also received many medals and other awards.

As a writer, he knew how to present the results of his studies in a generally understandable and tasteful form, without foregoing thoroughness.

Fonts

Water shortage and hygienic problems in the Alb: "Only those who have got used to the sight of this water from their youth can put the glass to their lips without disgust," wrote Fraas about this type of Alb water supply
Classification of the route network of the Royal Württemberg State Railways according to representation in Oscar Fraas: Württemberg's railways with the country and people on the railway. (1880)
Fraas called the Weinsberg tunnel a "dangerous, damaged structure [which] has gained a bad reputation"

The most important of his larger works deal with his home in Württemberg:

  • The usable minerals of Württemberg (1860)
  • The geognostic collection of Württemberg (1869)
  • The fauna of Steinheim (1870)
  • The Alb water supply in the Kingdom of Württemberg (1873)
  • Monograph on the armored bird lizard Aetosaurus ferratus (1877)
  • Württemberg's railways with country and people on the railroad (1880)
  • Geognostic description of Württemberg, Baden and Hohenzollern (1882)
  • Geognostic profiling of the Württemberg railway lines (1883–1885)

Partly alone, partly together with the officer, engineer-topographer and artist Carl Philipp Heinrich Bach (1812–1870) and the Württemberg industrialist Karl Deffner as well as the geognostic and Quenstedt student Jacob Hildenbrand (1826–1904) he worked on:

  • Sixteen sections of the geognostic special map of Württemberg on a scale of 1: 50000 including the accompanying words
  • The geognostic wall map of Württemberg, Baden and Hohenzollern in four sheets with a scale of 1: 280,000 (1882)
  • The geognostic section in the description and history of the Hohentwiel published by the Royal Statistical-Topographical Bureau (1879)

Some more of his writings deal with general geology:

  • Before the Deluge, A Popular History of the Primeval World (1864)
  • The geological wall panels (1871)

Three publications contain travel memories:

  • From the Orient ( I: 1867 , II: 1878)
  • 3 months in Lebanon (1876)
  • Travel letters from the south (1883)

Outside of his actual field of work, there is a historical study of the Nördlinger battle of 1634:

  • The Nördlingen battle on August 27, 1634.Beck , Nördlingen 1869

In addition to these larger works, since 1850 he published a large number of treatises on geological, paleontological and anthropological content in various specialist journals, namely in the New Yearbook for Mineralogy, in the journal of the German Geological Society, in the annual journals of the Verein für vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg, in the contributions to the natural history of the prehistoric world, in the archive for anthropology and in the correspondence sheet of the German Society for Anthropology.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oscar Fraas: Contributions to the cultural history of humans during the Ice Age. According to the finds at the Schussenquelle. - Archiv für Anthropologie 2, 1867, pp. 29–50.
  2. ↑ Court and State Manual of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1877, page 97
  3. ^ Honorary members of the Association for Patriotic Natural History in Württemberg

Web links

Wikisource: Oscar Friedrich von Fraas  - Sources and full texts


personal data
SURNAME Fraas, Oscar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fraas, Oscar Friedrich von; Fraas, Oskar; Steiner Fraas; Höhlen-Fraas; Fraas, Oskar von; Fraas, Oscar from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pastor, naturalist and geologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1824
PLACE OF BIRTH Lorch (Württemberg)
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 1897
Place of death Stuttgart