Pioneering Polymaths in Ecology, Biogeography, and Palaeoecology

1. Pioneering Polymaths in Ecology, Biogeography, and Palaeoecology John Birks The Past is a Foreign Country – David Lowenthal 1985

2. Polymath from Greek polymathes – ‘having learned so much’ ‘a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas’ First used in 17th century but related term polyhistor is an ancient term with similar meaning, as is phrase universal genius

3. First applied to great scholars and thinkers of the Renaissance who excelled at multiple fields of the arts and sciences Leonardo da Vinci Galileo Galilei Francis Bacon Leon Battista Alberti Michelangelo Nicolaus Copernicus Michael Servetus

4. “A man (sic) can do all things if he (sic) will” Concept built on basic tenet of Renaissance humanism – humans are empowered and limitless in their capacities for development. Led to notion that people should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible.

5. Renaissance ideal Renaissance period was a cultural movement in 14-17th centuries. Began in Italy in late Middle Ages and spread later to the rest of Europe. A gentleman expected to speak several languages, write poetry, play a musical instrument, etc. ‘Renaissance ideal’ University education was pivotal to achieving polymath ability. Trained students in science, philosophy, and theology. No specialisation.

6. The Renaissance ideal Baldassare Castiglione The Book of the Courtier discusses polymathic traits, ‘sprezzatura’ • detached, cool, nonchalant attitude • speaks well, sings, recites poetry • has proper hearing • is athletic • knows humanities and classics • paints and draws • not showy or boastful • many, many other skills • does or says things without effort Being an accomplished athlete is integral part of education and learning. Alberti was a Roman Catholic priest, architect, painter, poet, scientist, mathematician, inventor, and sculptor, as well as a skilled horseman and archer.

7. Contrast with Robert Heinlein (1973) Time Enough for Love “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, steer a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

8. Other terms related to polymath: Renaissance man (or woman) Homo Universalis Uomo Universale – Universal Genius Generalist – ‘Jack of all trades’ Multi-tasker (cf. Jack of all trades, master of none) Often quoted that men cannot multi-task – do not agree!

9. What has this to do with ecology, biogeography, and palaeoecology and the EECRG? Several connected ideas behind my interest in polymaths • Discussions about teaching and education, new courses, increasing or decreasing specialisations, etc. • Rare, endangered, and extinct species – is the polymath extinct? • Are we providing training and education for potential polymaths? • Increasing personal interest in history of my subjects of palaeoecology, biogeography, and ecology (symptom of old age!) • Has progress in these subjects been made by polymaths or specialists?

10. Who are the pioneering polymaths in our subjects? Charles Darwin (1809-1882) Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

11. My 16 candidates, 8 of whom* I have met Hewett Cottrell Watson (1804-1881) Edward Forbes (1815-1854) Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) Robert Lloyd Praeger (1865-1953) Francis Galton (1822-1911) *Henry Gleason (1882-1975) *Robert H Whittaker (1920-1980) *G Evelyn Hutchinson (1903-1991) Clement Reid (1853-1916) Alfred Gabriel Nathorst (1850-1921) Maria Stopes (1880-1958) *G Frank Mitchell (1912-1997) *Nicholas J Shackleton (1937-2006) *John Imbrie (1925-) *Derek Ratcliffe (1929-2005) *Daniel Simberloff (1942-)

12. Between them, my 16 have made contributions not only to ecology, biogeography, palaeoecology or Quaternary science, but also to Deep-Time palaeobotany

13. Other obvious candidates: *Stephen J Gould (1941-2002) Edward O Wilson (1929-) *Robert P McIntosh (?) *Cajo ter Braak (1954-) *Edward S Deevey (1914-1988) *Michael CF Proctor (1929-) *Robert M May (1938-) George Sugihara (1950-) *Mark Hill (1943-) *Frank Oldfield (1936-) Victor E Shelford (1877-1968) Have made major contributions to many fields including philosophy of science, mathematics, statistics, limnology, archaeology, world economic theory, bryophyte physiology, taxonomy, and literature as well as ecology, palaeoecology, quantitative ecology, or evolutionary ecology.

14. Plan to discuss my 16 pioneering polymaths in a talk once a semester to try to answer for each • who were they? • what was their background/education? • what were their major achievements? • why should they be considered polymaths? • why are many of their contributions forgotten or ignored today? • how did they become polymaths?

15. Some talks will be about one ‘mega’ polymath (e.g. Humboldt, Ratcliffe), while others about two super polymaths in related topics (e.g. Gleason & Whittaker; Imbrie & Shackleton; Hutchinson & Simberloff). Alternate ecology and biogeography (autumn) with palaeoecology and environmental history (spring). I hope to learn a lot in my reading and research – a journey through the history and development of our subject.

16. Why discuss pioneering polymaths? “The past is essential – and inescapable. Without we would lack any identity, nothing would be familiar, and the present would make no sense. Yet the past is also a weighty burden that cripples innovation and forecloses the future. ... Growing awareness of an ever-expanding past coincides with modern efforts to destroy, to forget, and to make obsolete the legacy of all pasts.” David Lowenthal (1985)The Past is a Foreign Country

17. Hewett Cottrell Watson Life and Relationships 1804-1881 Born in Firbeck near Rotherham, Yorkshire 9 May 1804 Died at Thames Ditton, Surrey (having lived there for 40 years) 27 July 1881 Contributed to phrenology botany plant geography* evolutionary theory 1839

18. Transformed Victorian wild-flower collecting in the 1830s into systematic botanical recording. Started the great tradition of such recording in Britain and Ireland that led to the Atlas of the British Flora (Perring & Walters 1962) and New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora (Preston et al. 2002), as well as of just about all living organisms in Britain and Ireland, all at 10 km grid square scale – bryophytes, lichens, fungi, butterflies, moths, gastropods, fish, amphibians and reptiles, mammals, birds, woodlice, centipedes, etc.!

19. 1846 1871

20. No ordinary sedate Victorian botanist! Noted for his intellectual brilliance and cantankerous and difficult personality. Led an isolated and restricted life – never married and travelled only once outside of Britain to the Azores in 1842. “a turbulent figure, a born controversialist, a pungent critic, and a most enthusiastic disturber of the peace” Meikle (1949)

21. Given his personality, not surprising he never received the academic recognition he deserved. Applied unsuccessfully or withdrew his applications for senior academic positions in London (Kings College 1842), Belfast, and Dublin (1846) and a senior position at Kew (1848). Yet Watson was the widely acknowledged authority on British botany and on the distribution of plant species in the British Isles.

22. Despite his social isolation, had great command of the scientific questions of the day, including the importance of statistical methods in science, the asymmetric lateralisation of brain function and the transmutation of species in evolutionary theory. 1836 – published ‘What is the use of the double brain?’ which speculated about the differential development of the two human cerebral hemispheres 1844 – AL Wigan published his influential The Duality of Mind and ignored Watson’s work (Watson had clashed with Wigan!)

23. Watson published 11 botanical books (1832-1874)totalling over 4930 pages 29 papers on phrenology (1829-1840) 310 papers* on botany (1830-1881) 17 papers on climatology (1833-1839) 6 papers on ecology (1833-1847) 5 papers on plant evolution (1834-1847) 4 papers on evolutionary (1845-1846)theory * includes many starting “Correction of a mistake in ...” Prolific, wide-ranging scholar but a difficult person

24. Eldest son of Holland Watson Justice of the Peace, lawyer, and Mayor of Congleton in Cheshire. Mother Harriet Watson(née Powell) died when HCW was 15. Had 7 older sisters and 2 younger brothers. Terrible relationship with his father who was a reactionary, right-wing conservative and upstanding religious member of a fairly wealthy conservative society. Anti-trade unions – formed Stockport Volunteer Corps to break up meetings of workers!

25. Watson was specially favoured in the family financially as he was the first son in a family that followed primogeniture, i.e. he inherited enough money to lead an independent life. He should have been happy; instead he was the unhappiest family member. He hated his father and felt totally out of harmony with his siblings – had almost no contact with them. “I never knew an individual towards whom I felt such a permanent and bitter antipathy as to my own father. We were totally unsuited to each other. My mother, a widely different character, died when I was fifteen, just when my fear of my father was changing into dislike and hatred. Ever since I have felt that my own mind and of course my life were very injuriously affected by him.” Watson (1848)

26. Watson was the complete opposite to his father in politics and thirst for new knowledge. Mixed relationships with his mother – did not trust her as she ‘sneaked’ on him to his strict disciplinarian father. Watson’s only companions in his youth were their family gardener and Rev Dr Edward Stanley, rector of the neighbouring parish of Alderley (later Bishop of Norwich and President of the Linnean Society of London). Stanley was a substitute father figure for Watson.

27. Wrote of his friendship with the gardener “this relationship probably contributed, in connection with my mother’s taste for floriculture, to give me a partiality for flowers; as a child at home, and subsequently as a schoolboy, was the chief amusement of my youth.” Watson (1883) And of Edward Stanley “During my schooldays a boyish fancy for plants and floriculture, which I had early inherited, attracted the favourable notice of Dr Stanley, whose opportune instruction and encouragement gave a scientific direction to the taste. ... The direction once given was never wholly lost, though discouraged in my own home.” Watson (1883)

28. Watson’s hope of becoming a botanist active in the field were dashed when he was 15. He was hit on his right knee by a cricket bat and his knee joint was crushed. Never fully recovered full knee movement. Saved him from being sent as an Army Officer to the East India Company’s Regiment – his father’s sole ambition for him. This disability never really prevented HCW hiking or climbing mountains in Scotland or Mount Pico in the Azores. Probably main impact was emotional rather than physical.

29. Refused to go to Oxford to study classics and theology • Forced by his father to train to be a lawyer in Manchester in 1821 • Quit and moved to Liverpool in 1823 • Became interested in phrenology • Went to Edinburgh University in 1828 to study medicine • Became friendly with Robert Graham (1786-1845), Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from 1820. Major impact on Watson and on Scottish botany and horticulture • Entered an annual essay competition in 1831 with his entry ‘Geographical Distribution of Plants’ (discussed later)

30. Also became friends with George Combe and joined the Edinburgh Phrenological Society George Combe (1788-1858)

31. Watson inherited an estate in Derbyshire in 1828. Then moved in 1833 south to Thames Ditton on the railway near Kingston in Surrey, south of the River Thames and not far from Kew in central London. Lived there until his death in July 1881. Visited his three sisters occasionally in London. Joined the Linnean Society in 1834, but rarely attended meetings. Social recluse.

32. HC Watson and Phrenology 1833-1840 Phrenology – pseudoscience focused primarily on measurements of the human skull –based on concept that the brain is the organ of the mind and that certain brain areas have localised specific functions or modules Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828). Very popular in 19th century 1810-1840 Main centre in Britain was Edinburgh. Edinburgh Phrenological Society founded in 1820

33. Gall 1805 Combe 1853 Fowler c. 1865

34. Now regarded as an obsolete mix of primitive neuro-anatomy and moral philosophy. Phrenology was very influential in 19th century psychiatry and continues to some extent in modern neuroscience and neuro-psychology. The Edinburgh Phrenological Society in 1826 had 120 members, over 30% with a medical background. By 1840, 28 phrenological societies in London with over 1000 members – medical doctors, social and asylum reformers, intellectuals (astronomers, politicians, authors, evolutionary biologists, geologists), etc., including HC Watson.

35. Phrenology involves observing and/or feeling the skull to determine an individual’s psychological attributes. The founder Gall believed that the brain was made up of 27 ‘individual organs’ that determined personality, with the first 19 ‘organs’ believed to exist in other animals. Phrenologists would run their fingertips and palms over the skulls of their patients to feel for enlargements or indentations. May take measurements with a tape measure or a craniometer (special type of caliper). According to Gall, an enlarged organ meant that it was used extensively by the patient. 27 areas varied in function – sense of colour, likelihood of being religious, or destructive, or combative. Could allegedly judge a person’s personality and abilities!

37. Combe wrote The Constitution of Man considered in relation to external objects (1828) – 19th century bible of naturalism. One of the best-selling books of the century. Played a major part in 19th century British cultural history.

38. Sales of Constitution of Man (1828), Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844), and On the Origin of Species (1859) Combe’s Constitution was published 31 years before Darwin’s Origin. Generated huge controversy in Victorian society, just as Darwin’s Origin did 30 years later.

39. The Church of England considered the book heretical and demanded its removal from libraries. Combe was considered an infidel.

40. HC Watson became Combe’s disciple when he went to Edinburgh in 1828 to study medicine. Phrenology not taught at Edinburgh University or its medical school, but joined the Edinburgh Phrenological Society in 1829. Did well in his course but quit medical school because of poor health one semester before completing his degree in 1832. Decided that he would never practice medicine, even though he had been elected Senior President of the Royal Medical Society.

41. Watson began in 1829 to publish in The Phrenological Journal (29 publications in total). After leaving Edinburgh in 1832, ceased to write scientific articles on phrenology but remained a staunch advocate. In 1836 published a major review of phrenology in British Isles

42. In 1837 became editor of The Phrenological Journal hoping to raise its scientific standards. Wrote lofty and very critical editorials (a blog of the 1830s!), but his criticism and ridicule of articles submitted simply aroused anger in the authors and in 1840 he resigned as editor. Watson wrote in his resignation letter (9 August 1840) to the new editor Robert Cox that “circulation will increase more in your hands because you will give less offence.”

43. Watson abandoned phrenology in 1840 and criticised it fiercely as pseudo-science or not even any type of science in correspondence with Combe until 1858 when Combe died. Also wrote to Darwin about it. “I have undertaken to assassinate phrenology” Last serious attempt to defend phrenology was W Mathieu Williams’s 1894 A Vindication of Phrenology

44. Most interesting phrenological paper by Watson is 1833 ‘On the relation between cerebral development and the tendency of particular pursuits; and on the heads of botanists’ (Phrenological Journal 8: 97-108) Watson wanted to contribute to the development of phrenology as an aid in choosing a profession. He ‘discovered’ that botanists who “confined themselves to the relatively simple tasks of collecting, identifying and classifying plants” have well-developed ‘organs’ for individuality size language locality number i.e. systematists!

45. Plant physiologists have large ‘organs’ for causality wit Ecologists – not a known word then, but Watson recognised a third (and highest) type of botanist that knew about environment, plant societies, and plant growth – have large ‘organs’ for comparison ideality or imagination Watson considered some botanists (and he named them) had particular brain ‘organs’ too small for the projects they attempted and their publications are correspondingly flawed!

46. In his own autobiographical sketch (1883), Watson’s cranial characteristics showed he belonged to the ‘environment’ or ecology category. Should not look too closely at Watson (1833). Only had 12 botanists heads, but he concluded that “the average of botanical heads is smaller than would be found in those of several other sciences, as Geology, Moral Philosophy, Natural Philosophy or Political Economy.” Basic data of Watson (1833) when analysed by Marti Anderson’s non-parametric MANOVA show no significant difference between sciences!

47. Also investigated in 1831-32 brain ‘organs’ of vegetarians, ‘super-vegetarians’ (Victorian term for vegans), and non-vegetarians at the time before the creation of the Vegetarian Society in 1847. Concluded some differences and generated much controversy as the vegetarian movement was still developing at that time. The ‘organs’ that Watson thought werewell-developed (sensu Combe 1851) in vegetarians were 2007 secretiveness individuality cautiousness causality combativeness

48. Phrenology in one form or another has never really died out • used to explain so-called superiority of certain races • used as an obstacle to anti-slavery movement in southern USA • is a personal service today in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and subject to sales tax (MVA)! But Watson left it all behind in 1840 and concentrated on botany instead

49. HC Watson and Botany 1830-1881 In 1831 won Gold Prize for his essay on ‘Geographical distribution of plants’ awarded by Robert Graham in Edinburgh. Amazing essay by a 27-year-old who had never studied botany seriously. Greatly influenced by Humboldt’s (1816) ‘Prolegomena’ in Nova genera et species plantarum and John Linley’s (1830) Introduction to the natural system of botany. Humboldt provided general laws; Linley provided geographical ranges and the extent of each plant family within a region. Watson brought them together for the first time.

50. Watson’s essay is in two parts (copy at RBGE) Divided world’s flora into six latitudinal zones and described the now well-known parallel between latitudinal andelevational ranges of species. • Arctic species of different continents more similar than temperate species. • Temperate species have a more northern distribution on western oceanic coasts than on eastern continental coasts due to differences in temperature. • Flora of eastern Asia resembles flora of eastern North America. • Flora of western Europe resembles flora of western North America.