George Shaw

George Shaw ( born December 10, 1751 near Bierton Aylesbury, central England, † July 22, 1813 in London ) was an English naturalist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " G.Shaw ," the author name for zoological taxa is " Shaw ".

Life

George Shaw was the son of Anglican parish priest ( vicar ) of Bierton, Timothy Shaw ( 1714-1786 ) and his wife Jane ( 1709-1782 ). He had a sister, Jane Shaw ( 1747-1785 ). His father was for many years director of a prestigious school in town, and when he was frail, George supported him for a long time until his death in the performance of his spiritual duties. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford University.

Shaw began his career as a general practitioner. 1786, he became a research assistant in botany at the University of Oxford. In 1788, he was co-founder and Vice President of the Linnean Society of London, the following year he became a member of the Royal Society. In 1791 he appeared as a successor to Edward Whitaker Gray ( 1748-1806 ) to a position as an assistant curator in the department of natural history in the British Museum in London. From 1807 until his death he worked as a curator. In this case, the poor condition of many of the collectors' pieces he noticed that Hans Sloane had left the museum. The anatomical and medical preparations were sent to the Royal College of Surgeons, but many of the stuffed animals were so decayed that they needed to be burned. Shaw's payment at the museum was not enough, so he had to spend with writing much of his time and could not take care of the maintenance of the collection. The German -born Charles Konig (actually Carl Dietrich Eberhard König, 1774-1851 ) was followed by Shaw in 1813 as curator.

Scientific achievements

Shaw was the first researcher to thoroughly dealt with the wildlife of Australia. In 1793 he published in his work Zoology of New Holland and the isles Adjacent; the zoological part ("New Holland" ( New Holland ) was the name for Australia in the 17th and 18th/19th century. ) one of the first scientific descriptions in English of some typical animals of Australia. Together with the botanist Sir James Edward Smith, the first president of the Linnean Society, Shaw published in 1794 the book Zoology and Botany of New Holland and the isles Adjacent. This is the first time the term " Australia " is used in the modern sense, no longer to refer to the entire South Pacific region as yet in which geographers Alexander Dalrymple:

"The vast Iceland, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland " ( translation proposal: " The vast island, or rather continent, Australia, Australasia or New Holland " )

Shaw cataloged the important private collection of Sir Ashton Lever and published descriptions of selected exhibits in the book " Museum Leverianum ". In particular, the opportunity offered him to investigate many non-European animals first, including budgie, Axolotl, American Bullfrog, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Nacktnasenwombat the genre of kiwis and many others. He published the descriptions in the issues of the monthly series " The Naturalist 's Miscellany ". The illustrations and engravings made ​​Frederick Polydore Nodder (c. 1767 to 1800) after his death, his son Richard P. Nodder this task. After Shaw's death, the periodical of Nodder and the English naturalist William Elford Leach (1790-1836) under the title The Zoological Miscellany was; being descriptions of new, or interesting Animals continued from 1814 to 1817.

George Shaw and the "first platypus "

Shaw was the first who received the opportunity to examine a platypus detail. Thus he was able in 1799 to publish the first scientific description of this animal.

1797 the platypus was discovered on the shore of a lake near the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales in 1798 probably sent John Hunter, the governor there, the dried skin of a not quite full-grown male, together with some drawings of the animal to the British Museum. Shaw came to the task of examining the animal in detail and to make the first scientific description. At the sight of an animal that resembles a mole, to which they had attached the tail of a beaver, and the beak of a duck, he began to wonder whether this is not a joke someone had allowed:

" ... Impossible not to entertain some doubts as to the genuine nature of the animal, and to surmise thatthere mighthave been practiced some arts of deception in its structure. " ( Translation suggestion: " ... impossible not to have some doubts as to the authenticity of the animal to cherish and to assume that there is a artfully executed deception could have been made ​​to its form. " )

Such a presumption was natural, since the bellows came from the Indo-Pacific area and the resident Chinese were known for their skills as a taxidermist, especially for people to come parts of different animals to create something new. To search for hidden seams, Shaw cut the fur on the beak neck with scissors, but found nothing suspicious. These cuts can still be seen today at this " first platypus ", the scientific comparison specimen or holotype in London's Natural History Museum. Shaw described the species under the two-part scientific names ( binomials ) Platypus anatinus and published the work in June 1799 as usual in The Naturalist 's Miscellany ( Volume 10 ). In Europe, the odd -looking platypus was once a sensation, even though it was not yet known at this time that there is an egg-laying mammal. This fact was not until 1884 with general approval, even in " Brehm's animal life " ( 1864-1869 ) relevant reports as " fables, which the reports of the natives owed ​​their origin to the parts " were dismissed. However, Shaw now saw himself on charges of forgery exposed.

The name " Platypus " was, however, already in 1793 used by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst for a genus of the beetle family Platypodidae. According to the rules of zoological nomenclature here was an illegal homonymy before, as both genera belong to the animal kingdom, so the name had to be changed. One year after Shaw's first description, in 1800, published the German anatomist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who had also received a bellows, a further description of the animal and called it Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. From Shaw's description ( the basionym ) remained, following the relevant in such cases, priority rule, the available Artepithet and maintained by Blumenbach's work, the available generic, then the since valid replacement name Ornithorhynchus revealed anatinus ( " duck -like bird 's beak" ). Since Shaw's original genus name thus lost its validity ( validity), takes place since then, as usual in such cases, the citation of author and year of first description in parentheses after the species name.

Due to the notoriety gained the animal very quickly, remained in the English language his original genus name " ( duck -billed ) platypus " received and became the everyday name ( common name ).

Significant Publications

• Zoology of New Holland and the isles Adjacent Originally published in parts together with: A specimen of the botany of New Holland by James Edward Smith. The title of the combined work is: Zoology and botany of New Holland and the isles Adjacent / the zoological part by George Shaw; the botanical part by James Edward Smith ( 1794)
• Museum Leverianum, Containing select specimens from the museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever ( 1792-6 )
• General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History ( 16 vol. ) ( 1809-1826 ) ( volumes IX to XVI by James Francis Stephens )
• The Naturalist 's Miscellany: Or, Coloured Figures Of Natural Objects; Drawn and Described Immediately From Nature (1789-1813) with Frederick Polydore Nodder ( artist and engraver )