The Correspondence of Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt - DWC - KNAW

Van Heiningen / 28
On 10 July 1822, Van der Vinne informed Van Marum that Reinwardt – who
had left for the Netherlands meanwhile (he embarked on 26 June 1822 on the
‘Elisabeth’,under the command of captain Fakes) – was still suffering from catarrhal
pulmonary complaints (‘short-windedness’). Therefore his friends in Batavia had
decided – before he set out to the Netherlands – to have drawn up a notarial
protest, including an inventory of all his personal belongings. This document had
been added to this letter. Van der Vinne also observed that Reinwardt’s health had
not improved at the time when the vessel was passing through the ‘Sunda Strait’. By
drawing up this protest and by sending it to Holland, it would be possible to claim
Reinwardt’s possessions from captain Fakes,if their friend might die meanwhile.The
Indian government also sent a copy of this document to the Minister of Colonies
(The Hague), together with a copy of the inventory (although it was incomplete,
because a couple of living monkeys and living buffalos had not been mentioned)
in it. Van der Vinne hoped that Reinwardt would return to the Netherlands safely.
Furthermore he mentioned the fact that he had enclosed a bill of exchange, worth
10.000 guilders. [NA-RANH 519-20b, dated 10 July 1822]
Reinwardt’s contributions to various scientific societies
Reinwardt was a member of a number of scientific academies, among others of the
‘Academia Caesarea Leopoldini Carolini Naturae Curiosorum’,who honoured him
by giving him the epithet ‘Rumphius’ on its membership list. Furthermore he was
a member of the ‘Naturforschende Gesellschaft’ (Halle), of the ‘Zoological Society’
(London), of the ‘Linnean Society’ (London), of the ‘Rheinische Gesellschaft
der Naturwissenschaften’, of the ‘South-African Literary and Scientific Society’,
of the ‘Schlesische Gesellschaft für Vaterländische Kultur’, of the ‘Wetteravische
Gesellschaft für die gesammte Naturkunde’, of the ‘Garten-bauVerein’ (Berlin), of
the‘Société de Médecine et de Pharmacie de Bruxelles’,of the‘Société Philomatique’
(Paris) and of the ‘Koninklijke Academie van Wetenschappen’ (Antwerpen). From
1808 on, he was a member of the ‘Eerste Klasse’ of the ‘Koninklijk Nederlandsch
Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde en Schoone Kunsten’. In his service to
this institute he wrote the following treatises – mostly being the texts of speeches
delivered by him during the monthly meetings of the ‘Eerste Klasse’: