orchids and orchidology in central america. 500 ... - lankesteriana.org

The German-Belgian connection
ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America
“To the combined action of forces, to the influence
of inanimate creation on the animated world of
animals and plants, to this harmony will I always
turn my eyes”.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859),
in the journal of his voyage to America,
June 15 th , 1799
The botanical explorations of Cuming, Skinner,
Hartweg, Hinds and Seemann originated in the spirit
of imperialist expansion which characterized the
Victorian era. Cuming and Skinner were true examples
of the English attempts to dominate world trade.
Hartweg was one of many instruments used by the
English upper classes to satisfy their enthusiasm for
orchids as decorative subjects and Hinds and Seemann
represented the scientific interests of a Great Britain
that had achieved complete control of the oceans.
A current of ‘liberalism’ developed in the rest
of Europe after 1830 that intellectually defended
freedom of thought and praised technology and the
natural sciences. The liberals inherited the ideals of
Enlightenment and the French Revolution and where
therefore often subject to a fierce political repression.
It was so that a very different group of European
adventurers, naturalists and scientists began arriving in
Central America shortly after independence. They were
individuals whose countries of origin had no practical
interest in the new republics: merchants, scientists and
political expatriates who in only a few years made great
contributions to the knowledge of the orchids in Central
America. With their English colleagues they had in
common their ‘Orchidomania’, both in the horticultural
and the scientific meaning of the word. Why did
Germany, and above all Belgium contribute with so
many illustrious names to the history of orchidology
during the first half of the XIX century? For Germany
the answer lies perhaps in a long botanical tradition
and the influence of Humboldt on the romantic-liberal
movement of the epoch. In the case of the Belgians, it
may have been the nationalistic euphoria after the birth
of Belgium as an independent nation.
Let us remember that, as a result of the Congress
of Vienna, the Prince of Orange had been proclaimed
King of the United Low Countries in 1815. In 1830, the
French speaking regions of the Low Countries gained
their independence, forming the Kingdom of Belgium.
King Leopold I ascended to the Belgian throne in July,
1831.
William Bullock (ca. 1773—1849) was en English
traveler, naturalist and antiquarian. Bullock began as a
goldsmith and jeweler in Sheefiled. He used his wealth
to accumulate a large collection of artifacts, antiquities
and stuffed animals. In the late 1790s Bullock founded
a Museum of Natural Curiosities in the city, which
moved to Liverpool in 1801. In 1808 he published
a descriptive catalogue of the works of art, armory,
objects of natural history, and other curiosities in the
collection, some of which had been brought back
by members of James Cook’s expeditions. In 1809,
Bullock moved to London and the collection was
housed in the newly built Piccadilly Egyptian Hall.
The collection, which included over 32,000 items, was
disposed of by auction in 1819.In 1822, Bullock went
to Mexico [becoming so the first European to set foot in
this country after Thomas Gage in 1625] and brought
back many artifacts and specimens which in 1824
formed a new exhibition in the Egyptian Hall, entitled
Ancient and modern Mexico. This exhibition was the
first exhibit in Europe of Mexico’s natural history and
ancient culture after the country’s independence from
Spain. Included among the curiosities exhibited by
Bullock were a few birds mounted on artificial palms
and cacti, and picturesquely arranged around them
some Mexican mammals (Stresemann, 1954: 86).
A second visit to Mexico, and to the USA, took place
in 1827. Bullock’s publications include A concise and
easy method of preserving subjects of natural history
(1817), Six months residence and travels in Mexico
(1824), and Sketch of a journey through the western
states of North America (1827).
“In Germany, the news of mysterious Mexico
having become accessible even to the ordinary traveler
excited the curiosity of a wealthy nobleman, the Count
of Sack, chamberlain to the King of Prussia. He had
recently returned from a voyage to Egypt and Cyprus
where he had made a small collection of birds and he at
once felt inclined to visit Mexico, provided that there
was a collecting naturalist of good reputation to go with
him. A gardener [...] by the name of Ferdinand Deppe,
was recommended for this task by Professor Hinrich
Lichtenstein, director of the Zoological Museum of
Berlin University (Streseman, 1954: 86).
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
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