THE STORY of ALCYONIUM: from HALCYON BIRDS to ZOOPHYTES E Robson
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THE STORY OF ALCYONIUM: FROM HALCYON BIRDS TO ZOOPHYTES E Robson To cite this version: E Robson. THE STORY OF ALCYONIUM: FROM HALCYON BIRDS TO ZOOPHYTES. Vie et Milieu / Life & Environment, Observatoire Océanologique - Laboratoire Arago, 2002, pp.217-222. hal-03198950 HAL Id: hal-03198950 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03198950 Submitted on 15 Apr 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. VIE MILIEU, 2002, 52 (4) : 217-222 From Marine Ecology to Developmental Biology In Honour of Pierre Tardent (1927-1997) THE STORY OF ALCYONIUM: FROM HALCYON BIRDS TO ZOOPHYTES E.A. ROBSON School of Animal & Microbial Sciences, The University of Reading, P.O. Box 228, Reading RG6 6AJ, UK ALCYONIUM ABSTRACT. - The name of the soft coral Alcyonium is derived from the ancient ALCYONARIA Greek myth of Ceyx and Alcyone. They were transformed into halcyon birds whose HALCYONS floating nests, empty after the young hatched, were mistakenly identified with Me- ZOOPHYTE MYTHOLOGY diterranean flotsam including the remains of sessile colonies or seaweeds detached HISTORY by wave action and so variously referred to as alcyoniums. During the eighteenth century ground-breaking research on Hydra by Trembley (1744) was followed by précise descriptions of hydroids and of Alcyonium digitatum (L.) (de Jussieu 1742 and especially Ellis 1755) and the récognition that ail "zoophytes" were animais. Subclass Alcyonaria and related taxonomic terms were derived later from the name Alcyonium. ALCYONIUM RÉSUMÉ. - Le nom du polypier charnu Alcyonium provient de l'ancien mythe grec ALCYONARIA de Ceyx et Alcyone. Ils furent transformés en alcyons, dont les nids flottants, vides ALCYONS après Péclosion des jeunes, furent identifiés par erreur parmi les débris flottants de ZOOPHYTE MYTHOLOGIE Méditerranée où se trouvaient les déchets de colonies sessiles ou d'algues déta- e HISTOIRE chées par les vagues, et donc de soi-disant alcyoniums divers. Pendant le XVIII siècle les recherches révolutionnaires sur Y Hydra de Trembley (1744) furent sui- vies par les descriptions exactes d'Hydroïdes et à'Alcyonium digitatum (L.) (de Jus- sieu 1742 et surtout Ellis 1755), et la perception de tous "zoophytes" comme animaux véritables. La sous-classe Alcyonaria (= Octocorallia) et les noms de pro- ches sous-groupements taxonomiques furent dérivés ensuite du nom Alcyonium. The influence of Greek mythology upon biologi- Glancing back 50 years we see the post-war cal nomenclature is considérable (Thompson 1895, 1950's as trailblazing years for modem physiology, 1947) though nowadays often forgotten. As the an- for medicine and for the future molecular biology cient origins of names recède into the mists of time and genetics. Powerful computers were being de- the names become detached from them. Freed from veloped and chess players felt challenged. The the- their original context many names in use since the ory of plate tectonics was still dormant and its im- eighteenth century or earlier have survived far- plications were not generally recognized. On the reaching changes in the perspectives of science. other hand the centenary of "The Origin of Spe- The history of the name Alcyonium, briefly pre- cies" was about to be celebrated. sented here, is an example which illustrâtes how Stepping a hundred years thence to the 1850's nomenclature may evolve from myth and poetry as one finds horsepower coexisting with steam as rail- well as science. I hope Pierre Tardent would have ways and factories developed. Darwin's séminal liked this story, for he appreciated the resources of influence was as dawn still below the horizon. But history and would never underestimate what earlier new precepts of comparative anatomy and physiol- authors had discovered (Tardent 1987, 1993). ogy were already being adopted, the cell theory had The story runs from antiquity to the eighteenth gained ground and génération and development and nineteenth centuries and is set in scientific per- were beginning to be understood. Scientific knowl- spectives earlier than our own. Before telling it, an edge was increasingly enriched by travel and ex- attempt is made to recapture thèse perspectives and ploration. Scientists communicated through letters to bring less familiar modes of thought into the pic- and meetings, and published thanks to a growing ture. This account begins with thumbnail sketches number of scientific societies and journals. Their which recède century by century from modem early éducation at this time might include Latin if times to the Renaissance (Singer 1931, 1959, not Greek. Singer & Underwood 1962, Bodenheimer 1958, The century before this differed even more from Petit & Théodoridès 1962, and also Roger 1997, our own. In the 1750's Linnaeus' work shone like a Jahn 1998). beacon. It may be recalled that at this time Aris- 218 ROBSON EA totle's "Ladder of Nature" still spanned the living version of the myth is the best introduction to other world (Singer 1931, 1959) and fossils remained sources (e.g. Graves 1992, Forey 2002). puzzling. Many fine naturalists turned their atten- Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus god of the winds tion to animais and plants, sometimes minerais; and of Anarete was the wife of Ceyx, son of Luci- and they created or enriched muséums and wrote fer. They were king and queen of Trachis. Ceyx books. By 1750 microscopy had become an impor- and Alcyone found perfect happiness together but tant tool. Leeuwenhoek's sophisticated use of sim- tragedy befell them. Ceyx decided to consult an or- ple lenses for high magnification had been unique, acle and despite Alcyone's pleadings, he set sail, but for other researchers even low magnifications promising to return. His ship was wrecked in a were far better than none. The observant naturalists storm and Ceyx was drowned. Alcyone, anxious who transcribed what they saw were often pioneers with waiting, prayed for his safe return until Juno, (Trembley 1744). To an enthusiastic contemporary weary of pétitions, sent her messenger to the god of the century was remarkable for the discoveries of sleep, who dispatched Morpheus to appear in the electricity and of Hydra spp. (Le Cat 1754). At the form of Ceyx in Alcyone's dream. Alcyone sees frontiers of science knowledge was communicated her drowned husband only too clearly and awakes really fast through correspondence and meetings. It in anguish, crying out and too distraught to take was an exhilarating period even if those interested comfort. She throws herself into the sea to join him in new ideas were sometimes held back by the in- and as she does so she is transformed. Jupiter takes fluences of legend and history. Within medicine we pity on the bereft lovers and Alcyone and Ceyx are would recognize the basis of anatomy and of some turned into halcyon birds. aspects of physiology and pharmacy, although in 1750 much still lay ahead: most of the basis of Halcyons are kingfishers, but to relate the myth modem chemistry, the contributions to physiology as transcribed to détails of the birds known to Aris- of von Haller and J Mûller, and advances in the un- totle or other ancient observers is not straightfor- derstanding of disease due to Jenner, Pasteur and ward. One might think of terns or gulls or else gan- Lister. Latin served as a lingua franca for spécial nets but the halcyon had a tapered beak and was texts, and was an accessible médium. brightly coloured, with blue head and back and a reddish breast (Thompson 1895, 1910, Belon 1555: To step across another hundred years towards 218). None of the présent species of kingfisher cor- 1650 is to expérience in a différent era the full vig- responds to halcyons in nesting habits or distribu- our of scientific discovery and discussion. Charters tion. were granted to the Royal Society in 1662 and to the French Académie des Sciences in 1666. The gi- There is more to the myth. Halcyon birds make a ants on whose shoulders we stand include Newton, nest which floats unharmed upon a tranquil sea for Boyle, Hooke, Malpighi, Haies and many others seven days before and seven days after the winter whose achievements still influence today's young solstice. The winds drop as Aeolus restrains them. scientist. By 1650 entrainment in Latin and Greek The female lays her eggs and broods, the young scholarship had become less germane to science birds are hatched and they fly away as the calm and thus from the beginning, the Royal Society of halcyon days end. Then Aeolus releases the unruly London's Transactions, for example, were pub- winds. The substance of the nest is uncertain, in- lished in English. cluding sea foam and perhaps fishbones, but care- fully fashioned with the beak to be seamless and The records of yet earlier authors in the six- unbreakable (e.g. Aldrovandi 1603: 497). teenth century are of significant interest here as will be seen. Works on natural history, whether er- Sailors' legends follow: occasional sightings of udite compilations (e.g. Gesner 1555, Aldrovandi "halcyon birds" or calm midwinter spells in the 1603) or new (Belon 1555) provided detailed re- Gulf of Corinth confirm the myth. Halcyon birds in views of ancient literature, both Greek and Latin. flight are propitious as they bring good weather. A Scholars of ail persuasions used Latin themselves female flying alone is heard to call repeatedly, as if and were steeped in Homer and Ovid and so famil- in distress.