Hermann von Ihering

Hermann Albrecht Friedrich von Ihering ( born October 9, 1850 in Kiel, † February 24, 1930 in Gießen ) was a German physician, zoologist and paleontologist.

Life

Hermann von Ihering was born in 1850 as the eldest son of the jurist Rudolf von Jhering, who was then a professor in Kiel. Later the family moved to Giessen and Hermann attended high school. When Rudolf was appointed by Jhering after 1868 Vienna, Hermann followed his father and began to study medicine. In the Franco-German War he enlisted in 1870 in Darmstadt and did his service as a doctor in the hospital.

From Jhering studied medicine in Gießen - there he joined the fraternity of Alemannia -, Leipzig, Berlin and Göttingen and received his PhD in 1873 in Göttingen as MD He then studied zoology and geology and a doctorate in 1876 for Dr. phil. During his studies he worked as an assistant at the Zoological Institute in Göttingen. After completing his doctorate, he habilitated in 1876 as a lecturer in zoology in Erlangen and in 1878 in Leipzig.

1880 was Hermann von Jhering to Brazil, where he was to spend the next 30 years of his life. He settled first in the German colony of Taquara in Brazil's southern province of Rio Grande do Sul east of São Leopoldo. From here, he collected rare birds for the British Museum in London and for the ornithologist Hans Hermann Carl Ludwig von Berlepsch, bird eggs for ornithologists Adolph Nehrkorn (1841-1916) and arachnids for the zoologist and paleontologist Alexander Graf Keyserling. Jhering also practiced for a year as a doctor and gave out a German -language magazine in Porto Alegre. Beginning in 1883, Jhering worked as an explorer for the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, but lived in the province of Rio Grande do Sul. 1887 Jhering went to São Paulo to take there the structure of the Pauli Staner State Museum (Museu Paulista ), whose director he was also from 1893 to 1916. Due to anti- German sentiment during the First World War, he was dismissed from this post.

1920 returned from Jhering back to Germany. He left in 1921 settled with his second wife Meta in Büdingen. Meta, a distant relative of Charlotte Kestner from Wetzlar, died 1928. His son was the Brazilian biologist Rodolpho of Jhering ( 1883-1939 ).

Work

In addition to his ornithological collecting activities Jhering was mainly known for his research on fossil snails and mussels. Jhering around the turn of the century one of the leading theorists of the relationship between evolution and palaeogeography was by comparing the fossil mollusks of South America with those of other southern continents. He led an extensive correspondence with Charles Darwin. The close relationship of different species of Africa and South America led to the view that a connection between the continents must have existed. What can today be explained by continental drift, then led to the land bridge hypothesis about now flooded land bridges between the continents. However, the pointed out by Jhering connection between the faunas of the southern continents was not recognized anywhere. His systematic classifications have often misunderstood, the age of the fossils was often misjudged.

Writings

• Comparative anatomy of the nervous system and phylogeny of mollusks. W. Engelmann, Leipzig 1877 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.13168
• The peripheral nervous system of vertebrates. Leipzig 1878.
• For knowledge of the Sacoglossen. Hall in 1892.
• Archhelenis and Archinotis. Collected contributions to the history of the Neotropical region.. Leipzig 1907 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.15767
• Phylogeny and system of the molluscs.. Frankfurt am Main, 1922 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.10350
• The history of the Atlantic Ocean. Jena 1927.
• The Nephropneusten in a systematic and phylogenetic aspects. Frankfurt am Main, 1929.