Useful Natural History? Pest Control in the Focus of the Economic Society of Bern
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USEFUL NATURAL HISTORY? PEST CONTROL IN THE FOCUS OF THE ECONOMIC SOCIETY OF BERN Martin Stuber and Regula Wyss Many scientific disciplines in the eighteenth century were increasingly oriented towards the needs of practice. This new understanding of sci- ence was linked to a utilitarian concept of nature, economic ideas about raising productivity, and political ideas focused on increasing prosper- ity and promoting “common weal” [Glückseligkeit]. The economic and patriotic societies that arose throughout Europe primarily in the second half of the eighteenth century emerged from this fundamental process of transformation into modernity, of which they were simultaneously the driving force.1 The Economic Society of Bern [Oekonomische Gesellschaft Bern], founded in 1759, was one of the most important of these societies, not least because of its dual-language publication organ, which was read The present article was written at the Institute of History of the University of Bern, in the context of a research project entitled “Useful Science, Nature Appropriation and Politics. The Economic Society of Bern in the European Context, 1750–1850” (headed by André Holenstein and Christian Pfister). This project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Albrecht von Haller Foundation of the Burgergemeinde Bern, and the University of Bern Research Foundation. Some of the material used here was first pre- sented in a lecture by Martin Stuber at the Göttinger Umwelthistorisches Kolloquium (13 April 2005, moderated by Bernd Herrmann). Other parts are based on a lecture held by the authors as part of the lecture cycle of the Historical Society of the Canton of Bern (30 October 2009). 1 André Holenstein, Martin Stuber and Gerrendina Gerber-Visser (eds.), Nützliche Wissenschaft und Ökonomie im Ancien Régime. Akteure, Themen, Kommunikationsfor- men (Heidelberg 2007); regarding the European movement, see Marcus Popplow (ed.), Landschaften agrarisch-ökonomischen Wissens. Strategien innovativer Ressourcennutzung in Zeitschriften und Sozietäten des 18. Jahrhunderts (Münster 2010); Torsten Meyer and Marcus Popplow, ‘“To Employ Each of Nature’s Products in the Most Favourable Way Possible”—Nature as a Commodity in Eighteenth-Century German Economic Discourse’, Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung 29 (2004), 4–40; Rudolf Schlögl, ‘Die patriotisch-gemeinnützigen Gesellschaften. Organisation, Sozialstruktur, Tätigkeitsfelder’, in Helmut Reinalter (ed.), Aufklärungsgesellschaften (Frankfurt/M. 1993), 61–81; Henry E. Lowood, Patriotism, Profit and the Promotion of Science in the German Enlightenment. The Economic Scientific Societies 1760–1815 (New York and London 1991); see also the contribu- tion by Holger Böning in this volume. © Martin Stuber and Regula Wyss, 2013 | doi:10.1163/9789004243910_039 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-NDMartin Stuber4.0 license. and Regula Wyss - 9789004243910 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 06:24:38AM via free access 892 martin stuber and regula wyss throughout Europe.2 Its typical actor was the learned magistrate who was simultaneously a technical expert, a political reformer, and an adminis- trator with executive responsibilities. In the period up to 1800, approxi- mately two-thirds of a total of 120 regular members and 67 subscribers of the society gained a seat in the Great Council of Bern and were thus political decision-makers.3 A second key actor group consisted of clerics, who dominated the affiliated societies [Zweiggesellschaften] scattered throughout the entire territory of Bern with a total of 228 members, and also served as local representatives of the parent society.4 A total of 192 honorary members comprised a third actor group, consisting of interna- tionally prominent personalities as well as meritorious members of the affiliated societies. Natural History of the “Useful” and the “Harmful” In his synthetic study of economic and patriotic societies in Germany, Henry E. Lowood emphasised that the focus of their work from the 1770s began to be dominated by natural history. The principal reason he cited was that these societies realised that economic development would not be achieved without better knowledge of natural history.5 The study of natural history had been a priority of the Economic Society of Bern since its founding. As part of its comprehensive programme of work in support of agriculture, forestry, commerce and trade (1762), the Society devoted approximately 80 studies to questions concerning “the natural 2 Martin Stuber et al. (ed.), Kartoffeln, Klee und kluge Köpfe. Die Oekonomische und Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft des Kantons Bern OGG (1759–2009) (Bern 2009); Daniel Salz- mann, Dynamik und Krise des ökonomischen Patriotismus. Das Tätigkeitsprofil der Oekono- mischen Gesellschaft Bern 1759–1797 (Nordhausen 2009); Conrad Bäschlin, Die Blütezeit der Ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Bern 1759–1766 (Laupen 1917). 3 On the group of members who were magistrates, see Regula Wyss and Martin Stuber, ‘Paternalism and Agricultural Reform: The Economic Society of Bern in the Eighteenth- Century’, in Koen Stapelbroek and Jani Marjanen (eds.), The Rise of Economic Societies in the Eighteenth Century: Patriotic Reform in Europe and North America (Basingstoke 2012), 157–181. 4 On the group of members who were clergymen, see Regula Wyss and Gerrendina Gerber-Visser, ‘Formen der Generierung und Verbreitung nützlichen Wissens. Pfarrherren als lokale Mitarbeiter der Oekonomischen Gesellschaft Bern’, in Holenstein et al. 2007 (note 1), 41–64; Regula Wyss, Pfarrer als Vermittler ökonomischen Wissens? Die Rolle der Pfarrer in der Oekonomischen Gesellschaft Bern im 18. Jahrhundert (Nordhausen 2007). 5 Lowood 1991 (note 1), 279–281. Martin Stuber and Regula Wyss - 9789004243910 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 06:24:38AM via free access useful natural history? 893 history of the internal and external fruits of the land and the animals that it nourishes.”6 The Economic Society implemented this comprehensive plan at several levels. Topographic descriptions captured information on current condi- tions and available development potential for specific districts or regions; in addition to economic and ethnographic information, they also con- tained findings from the realm of natural history concerning climate and wind conditions, rocks and minerals, large and small fauna, weeds, and pests.7 Moreover, the Economic Society compiled systematic catalogues of specific categories of local raw materials. One example was the cata- logue of mineral resources in the territory of Bern, published by the clerk [Landschreiber] Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner.8 The major output, however, was an inventory of current and potential plant resources that comprised eleven systematic catalogues listing a total of 650 species of “useful” wild and cultivated plants. Based on scientifically systematised nomenclature, this inventory contained native species or varieties as well as foreign ones with a potential for ecesis.9 Albrecht von Haller, who was president of the Society for several years, played a key role in this major undertaking.10 The universal scholar was committed not only to the search for the “useful”, however, but also sought to combat what was “harmful”. Dur- ing a European-wide livestock epidemic, Haller published a strategy for controlling the epidemic in the publication organ of the Society; he then 6 ‘Entwurf der vornehmsten Gegenstände der Untersuchungen, zur Aufnahme des Feldbaues, des Nahrungsstandes und der Handlung’, Abhandlungen und Beobachtungen gesammelt durch die oekonomische Gesellschaft zu Bern [hereafter AB] (1762), no. 1, 1–54: 7–16. 7 Gerrendina Gerber-Visser, Der ökonomisch-patriotische Blick. Statistik und Volk- saufklärung in den Topographischen Beschreibungen der Oekonomischen Gesellschaft Bern, dissertation, University of Bern (Bern 2009). 8 Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner, ‘Anzeige der bishiehin in der Landschaft Bern entdeckten Mineralien’, AB (1767), no. 1, 165–254; see Alex Cooper, ‘“The Possibilities of the Land”: The Inventory of “Natural Riches” in the Early Modern German Territories’, in Margaret Schabas and Neil de Marchi (eds.), Oeconomies in the Age of Newton (Durham and London 2003), 129–153. 9 Martin Stuber and Luc Lienhard, ‘Nützliche Pflanzen. Systematische Verzeichnisse von Wild- und Kulturpflanzen im Umfeld der Oekonomischen Gesellschaft Bern’, in Hol- enstein et al. 2007 (note 1), 65–106; Martin Stuber, ‘Kulturpflanzentransfer im Netz der Oekonomischen Gesellschaft Bern’, in Regina Dauser et al. (eds.), Wissen im Netz. Botanik und Pflanzentransfer in europäischen Korrespondenznetzen des 18. Jahrhunderts (Augsburg 2008), 229–269. 10 Martin Stuber and Regula Wyss, ‘Der Magistrat und ökonomische Patriot’, in Hubert Steinke, Urs Boschung and Wolfgang Proß (eds.), Albrecht von Haller. Leben—Werk— Epoche (Bern 2008), 347–380: 362–368. Martin Stuber and Regula Wyss - 9789004243910 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 06:24:38AM via free access 894 martin stuber and regula wyss successfully implemented the strategy in his role as health councillor [Sanitätsrat].11 Just how closely economic and patriotic natural history was, overall, linked with the “useful/harmful” dichotomy was illustrated by a lecture on the status of this science delivered by the pastor and scholar Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach on 25 March 1781 at a gathering of the Economic Society of Bern.12 Natural history, according to Wyttenbach, teaches us to distinguish the entire “inventory