Robert Edmond Grant

Robert Edmond Grant at the age of about 59.

Robert Edmond Grant (born November 11, 1793 in Edinburgh , † August 23, 1874 in London ) was a Scottish zoologist and comparative anatomist . After graduating as a doctor of medicine, Grant went on an extensive study trip through Europe, during which he met Georges Cuvier , Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck , whose ideas had a lasting influence on him. While teaching in Edinburgh, he inspired Charles Darwin to study invertebrates and introduced him to Lamarck's thoughts on changing species.

From 1827 Grant was the first professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at the newly founded University College London , where he taught until his death. In London during the 1830s and 1840s, Grant was the main proponent of an evolutionary idea based on Lamarck's views and a major supporter of the radical political movement within the medical community.

Live and act

education

Robert Edmond Grant was the seventh son of a total of 14 children by Alexander Grant († 1808). His first training came from the family's private tutor. From 1803 on he studied for four years at the Royal High School in Edinburgh, where he was initially taught English, Latin, Greek, geography and history. Mathematics and French were added later. Alexander Tweedie (1794-1884) was one of his classmates at this time. A few months after his father's death in 1808, he took the literature class at Edinburgh University . The following year he attended the chemistry lectures from Thomas Charles Hope and the anatomy lectures from Alexander Monro III. (1773-1859). In the four years that followed, Grant concentrated on studying medicine. John Thomson (1765-1846) instructed him in surgery and John Gordon (1786-1818) in anatomy and physiology. In 1810 Grant became a student at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, where he attended summer lectures by Robert Jameson on natural history. A year later he became a member of the Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Society (President 1812) and the Royal Medical Society in Edinburgh (President 1814). On May 3, 1814, Grant received a diploma in surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and on June 24 of the same year he graduated from the University of Edinburgh as a doctor of medicine with a thesis on blood circulation in the fetus .

Studies in Europe

After completing his studies, Grant decided to perfect his knowledge by spending a longer period in Europe. Via London he traveled to Paris , where he spent the winter of 1815/16. At the Jardin des Plantes Grant heard lectures on comparative anatomy by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville , on geology by Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond , on mineralogy by René-Just Haüy , at the École de Médecine by André Marie Constant Duméril , Anthelme Louis Claude Marie Marie , Baron von Richerand (1779–1840) and lectures by Georges Cuvier at the Institut de France . During this time he first came into contact with Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and Pierre André Latreille . Thomas Addison was one of his fellow students .

After winter, Grant traveled to France and stayed in Rome for nine months to learn the Italian language. In Rome he attended lectures in comparative anatomy by Luigi Metaxa (1778–1842) at the University of La Sapienza and others at the Spedale dello Santo Spirito . Another nine months of his trip to Italy took him through Florence , where he stayed for three months, Pisa , Padua and Pavia . He examined marine animals on the Mediterranean coast near Livorno , Genoa and Venice . Grant returned to Paris via Geneva at the end of 1817.

Once there, Grant decided to go to Dresden soon afterwards to learn the German language. He arrived in Dresden at the end of January 1818 and stayed in Germany for 14 months . In March 1819 he left Saxony , stayed briefly in Prague and over two months in Vienna . After spending a month in Munich , Grant wandered for three months through Tyrol and Switzerland and finally reached the south of France via Grenoble and Avignon , where he reached Montpellier at the end of October 1819 . During his hikes, Grant studied the natural history collections in the places he visited and was a listener at local universities.

From Montpellier, Grant returned to Paris, which he also visited regularly in later years. He spent the winter of 1820 in London, where, with Jameson's assistance, he was accepted into the Linnean Society of London . Grant finally returned to his hometown of Edinburgh at the end of the year.

Scientific recognition

Pontobdella muricata

After his return, Grant first practiced as a doctor, as he later wanted to work as a lecturer in comparative anatomy. In 1821 he was one of the co-founders of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh and was licensed from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (to whose Fellow he was elected in February 1827).

Impressed by Cuvier's work, Grant turned to invertebrate anatomy , which he found abundant in close proximity in the Firth of Forth . In 1822 Grant had completed a translation of Cuvier's Le Règne Animal for his personal use and, on the advice of Jamesson, began a translation of Johann Friedrich Meckel's work System der Comparative Anatomy . 1824 asked John Barclay (1758-1826), the January Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Grant, in his held at the university about course to take over the lectures on the structure of invertebrates. Regularly in autumn Grant carried out zoological and zootomic studies on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland and their neighboring islands , which from 1825 onwards led to numerous publications in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal and in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal on sponges . Some of this work gained recognition in Europe and was translated into French.

In November 1826 Grant was elected to the council of the Wernerian Natural History Society . Around this time Charles Darwin , who was studying in Edinburgh, went on excursions to the Firth of Forth with Grant. Darwin made Grant aware of his observations on the "eggs" of Pontobdella muricata , which Grant published and named Darwin's authorship.

When the Chair of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at the newly formed University of London was to be awarded, Robert Jamesson, David Brewster , Alexander Monro, and others recommended Grant for the position. Lord Brougham then officially nominated Grant for this post.

Professor at University College London

The London University around 1827/28 on a drawing by Thomas H. Shepherd .

In June 1827 Grant was appointed to the chair of zoology and comparative anatomy. He moved to London and founded the University's Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy , designed as a teaching collection . In his inaugural lecture on October 23, 1828, he gave a lecture on the animal kingdom . In the first lecture year, which lasted until the end of July 1829, Grant gave 158 lectures. In the following years the number of lectures he held rose to well over 200 a year.

In November 1828 Grant became a member of the Zoological Society of London and in May 1830 a member of the Geological Society of London . In 1829 the Linnean Society elected him to their council. In 1832 he was first elected to the Council of the Geological Society. Since the university did not yet have a chair in geology at the university, Grant initiated lectures on the connection between geology and fossil studies. Edward Turner lectured on stratigraphy , John Lindley on fossil plants and he himself on fossil animals.

In addition to his university duties, Grant gave numerous lectures. On January 15, 1833, he began a 40-lecture course on the structure and classification of animals in front of the members of the Zoological Society. In the same year he was elected to the Council of the Zoological Society. The conduct of other council members led Grant to temporarily stop writing articles for the Society's Proceedings , but rather to publish his 60-part series of Lectures on Comparative Anatomy and Animal Physiology in The Lancet . From April to June 1834 he lectured at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on the subject of On the Structure, Classification, and History of the Invertebrated Classes of the Animal Kingdom . In early 1834 and February 1835 he gave courses on human physiology , in which he included galvanic experiments and microscopic observations.

In 1835 Grant joined the Entomological Society of London . On February 4, 1836 he was inducted into the Royal Society . From 1837 to 1840 Grant held three courses on the nutritional , motor and sensory functions of animals as a Fuller Professor of Physiology and Comparative Anatomy at the Royal Institution of Great Britain . At the British and Foreign Institute , he gave two courses on radiation animals (Radiata) published in the first volume of the Society's Transactions . In 1842, Grant identified and cataloged the remains of mastodons found in North America a few years earlier . His over 200-page manuscript was not published due to its size. Grant was one of the first members of the Philological Society of London, founded in 1842 . Throughout his life he was interested in other languages such as French, Italian and German. In the 1840s he was still learning the Dutch language .

Grant spent most of the lecture-free time in summer and autumn abroad. He was often a guest of the collections and institutions in Paris. In 1831 he spent a few weeks there with Richard Owen and in 1845 with his Indian student Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty . In 1846 Grant stayed with Chuckerbutty in Berlin and toured Germany with him the following year. He was often in the Netherlands and Belgium: in 1844 in Brussels and Antwerp , in 1848 in Leiden and Utrecht , in 1849 at the Belgian universities in Ghent , Brussels, Leuven and Liège and in 1850 again in Holland.

In 1847 Grant was appointed dean of the university's medical school. From 1853 to 1857 he was Swiney lecturer (founded by George Swiney (1786? –1844)) for geology at the British Museum .

Robert Edmond Grant died in 1874 after a two-week illness and was buried in Highgate Cemetery , London. He was not married and left his extensive library and private collections to the University of London.

Dedication names

In 1828 John Fleming named Robert Edmond Grant in honor of the lime sponges Grantia .

Honorary memberships

Grant was an honorary member of the following societies:

Fonts (selection)

Books

Dissertatio physiologica inauguralis, de circuitu sanguinis in foetu . Edinburgh: Ballantyne 1814
An essay on the animal kingdom being an introductory lecture delivered in the University of London, on the 23rd of October, 1828 . J. Taylor, London 1828; 2nd edition 1829
Outline of a course of lectures on the structure and classification of animals, to be delivered to the members of the Zoological Society of London, in their museum, to commence on Tuesday the 15th of January, 1833, and to continue on the succeeding Tuesdays and Thursdays, at half-past seven o'clock pm Mills, Jowett & Mills, London 1833
Lectures on Comparative Anatomy . London 1834; digitized version
On the study of medicine: being an introductory address delivered at the opening of the medical school of the University of London, October 1st, 1833 . Taylor, London 1833
On the present state of the medical profession in England; being the annual oration delivered before the members of the British Medical Association, on October 21st, 1841 . H. Renshaw, London 814
Outlines of comparative anatomy: Designed to Serve as an Introduction to Animal Physiology, and to the Principles of Classification in Zoology . H. Bailliere, 1841; digitized version ; - German translation by Carl Christian Schmidt: Outlines of comparative anatomy . O. Wigand, Leipzig 1842

Magazine articles

Observations and experiments on the structure and functions of the sponge . In: The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal . Volume 13, pp. 94-107 , pp. 333-346
On the structure and nature of the Spongilla friabilis . In: The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal Volume 14, 1826, pp. 270-284
Observations and experiments on the structure and functions of the sponge . In: The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal . Volume 14, pp. 113-124 , pp. 336-341
Notice regarding the ova of the Pontobdella muricata, Lam . in: The Edinburgh Journal of Science Volume 7, 1827, pp. 160-161 - with the assistance of Charles Darwin
Baron Cuvier . In: Foreign Review and Continental Miscellany . Volume 5, 1830, pp. 342-380 - published anonymously
On the structure and history of the mastodontoid animals of North America . In: Proceedings of the Geological Society . Volume 3, 1842, pp. 770-771

proof

literature

[Anonymous]: Biographical sketch of Robert Edmond Grant, MD, FRSL & E. & c. In: The Lancet . Volume 56, No. 1425, December 21, 1850, pp. 686-695, doi: 10.1016 / S0140-6736 (02) 65092-5 .

[Anonymous]: Robert Edmond Grant, MD, FRS . In: Nature . Volume 10, September 3, 1874, pp. 355-356, doi: 10.1038 / 010355e0 .

Adrian J. Desmond: Designing the Dinosaur: Richard Owen's Response to Robert Edmond Grant . In: Isis . Volume 70, No. 2, 1979, pp. 224-234, JSTOR 230789 .

Adrian J. Desmond: Robert E. Grant: The social predicament of a pre-Darwinian transmutationist . In: Journal of the History of Biology . Volume 17, No. 2, 1984, pp. 189-223, doi: 10.1007 / BF00143732 .

Adrian Desmond: The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London . University of Chicago Press, 1992, ISBN 0-226-14374-0

Adrian Desmond, Sarah E. Parker: The Bibliography of Robert Edmond Grant (1793–1874): Illustrated with a previously unpublished photograph . In: Archives of Natural History Volume 33, No. 2, 2006, pp. 202-213, doi: 10.3366 / anh . 2006.33.2.202 .

James A. Secord: Edinburgh Lamarckians: Robert Jameson and Robert E. Grant . In: Journal of the History of Biology . Volume 24, No. 1, 1991, pp. 1-18, doi: 10.1007 / BF00130472 .

Individual evidence

↑ Desmond: The Politics of Evolution. P. 57.
↑ PC Sen Gupta: Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty: The first Indian Contributor to Modern Medical Science. In: Medical History. Volume 14, No. 2, April 1970, pp. 183–191, PMC 1034039 (free full text)

Web links

Entry to grant; Robert Edmond (1793–1874) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
Correspondence with Charles Darwin
Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy

personal data
SURNAME	Grant, Robert Edmond
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Scottish zoologist and comparative anatomist
DATE OF BIRTH	November 11, 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH	Edinburgh
DATE OF DEATH	August 23, 1874
Place of death	London

[1] Desmond: The Politics of Evolution. P. 57.

[2] PC Sen Gupta: Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty: The first Indian Contributor to Modern Medical Science. In: Medical History. Volume 14, No. 2, April 1970, pp. 183–191, PMC 1034039 (free full text)