SIR CHARLES LEWIS GIESECKE (1761-1833) AND : A RECENTLY DISCOVERED MINERAL COLLECTION IN TRINITY COLLEGE,

PATRICKN. WYSE JACKSON

(Received26 October 1996)

Abstract

Sir Charles Lewis Glesecke (1761-1833), who was born minGermany, became a mineralogistafter a diversity of careers He spent seven years minGreenland from 1806 and amassed large collections of minerals, including the rare species cryohliteand sapphirine.These collections were dispersedduring his hlifetimeand are now found min a numberof institutions minEurope. He donated a collection and catalogue to Trimnity College, Dublin, in 1824, but until recently this material remained unrecogmsed Rediscovery in 1994 of the catalogue, which lists 149 specimens from Greenlandand Norway, has led to the recogmnitionof nearly one-third of the material to date in the presentholdings of the Geological Museum in TrinityCollege.

Introduction describes the background to the acquisition, and the presentextent of the collection. CharlesLewis Giesecke (1761-1833) was an important mineralogist who assembled large Charles Lewis Giesecke (1761-1833) and unique collections of minerals from Greenland minthe early 1800s. The history of Sir Charles Lewis Giesecke (1761-1833) the dispersal of these collections is well was born minAugsburg, Bavaria, Germany, on 6 known, and the material can now be found in April 1761, the eldest son of George Melchior the Natural History Museum, London, the Metzler, a Protestant tailor, and Sibylla National Museum in Vienna, and in the Magadalena Gotz (Craig 1993), and was Geological Museum of Copenhagen named either Johann Georg or Karl Ludwig. University. More material is possibly minthe Questions also surround the name and National Museum of Ireland, where it remains occupation of his father, which have been to be recogmnised.Recently a long-forgotten given as JohannGeorg, a vintner (Petersenand suite of Giesecke's Greenland specimens, Secher 1993). Other sources suggest that together with a manuscript catalogue of the Charles Lewis Giesecke may have been a twin same, has come to hlightmin the Geological (Scouler 1834), and that he was the second- Museum, Trinity College, Dublin. This paper born son of the family (Monaghan 1993). By

Irish Journal of Earth Sciences 15 (1996), 161-168

161 162 Wyse Jackson- Ir J Earth Sct. (1996) the age of twenty, for reasons unknown,he had (Mitchell 1981). He was to hold this position assumed the name Karl Ludwig Glesecke for twenty years until his death in 1833. He (Anghlicisedafter 1813 to Charles Lewis) by was made a Knight Commanderof the Royal which he is now better known (Steenstrup Danish Order of Danneborg in 1816 when he 1910). The problems of his name and that of was minCopenhagen sorting out his effects left his family are complex and need clarification. there priorto his travels in Greenland. After studies in divinity and law at Gottingen, For much of his life in Dublin he lived at 14 where he also took some courses in mineralogy George's Place, now Hardwicke Place (N.T. under Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Monaghan,pers. comm.). He died on 5 March (1752-1840), he embarkedon a succession of 1833 and was buried in the adjoining careers, including those of musician, actor, churchyardof St George's Church, Hardwicke diplomat, and mineralogist In Vienna, where Place (A. Long 1921). A fine memorial to him he had moved in the early 1780s, he pubhlished was erected inside the church, it was executed the opera , which was performed in by the sculptor Edward Smyth and carries a 1790 (Craig 1993), and appeared in the first medallion of Giesecke in profile (T. Long performance of Mozart's in 1921). 1791 He was to suggest later that he was the After his death, at which time he was said by author of the libretto of the opera (Whittaker his executor Robert Hutton to be living in 1991). abject poverty, his hlibrarywas sold in the week After a period of further study at Frelberg, ending 31 May 1834 in at least 1311 lots, some underAbraham Gottlob Werner (1743-1817) in of which were purchased by the English 1794, he became an Austriandiplomat, based in geologist George Bellas Greenough (C. Constantinopleand later in Italy. He left the MacArthur,pers. comm.). His personal effects diplomaticservice on account of disability, and were retained by Hutton, including some from 1801 spent several years engaged on autograph notebooks which were later mineralogical collecting trips. He eventually described by Waterhouse min1936. These were settled in Copenhagen, where he became a deposited in the National Museum of Ireland mineral dealer and from where, in 1805, he and in 1950 were donated to the National travelled to the Faeroe Islands on behalf of the Library A number of his manuscriptsare now Royal Greenland and Faeroese Trading to be found in the National Library of Ireland Company (Jorgensen 1996, Monaghan 1993) (Anon. 1977), and may have been deposited In 1806 he travelled to Greenland for the with the Royal DubhlinSociety by Hutton's company in order to assess the mineral wealth descendants(Waterhouse 1936). and tradingpotential of the country (Monaghan 1993). He was due to remainfor three years but Giesecke's collections of minerals from owing to the political unrest in Europe was Greenland unable to leave Greenland until 1813. Whilst therehe assembledseveral mineralcollections. For seven years, between 1806 and 1813, After a sojourn of seven years Glesecke left Giesecke lived in Greenland, where he Greenland on a whaling ship bound for Hull assembled large and valuable collections of (A. Long 1921). On his arrival in England he minerals, as well as making important travelled to Scotland, where he met the mineral observations on the lives and traditions of the collector (1777-1833), who had indigenous people, whose artifacts he also purchasedsome of his specimens that had been collected He found a number of new mineral captured as a prize-of-war while m transit to species, including arfvedsonite (described by Copenhagen. At Allan's suggestion Giesecke, Brooke in 1823), sapphirine(which he himself who was then virtually penniless, apphed for described in 1819), and sodahte (described by and was appointedto the chair of mineralogyat Thomson in 1811), and he located the source of the Dublin Society (later the Royal Dubhn the rare mineral cryolite at Ivikatt in Arsuk Society), at a salary of £300 per annum Fjord(Petersen 1993) Ir. J. Earth Sci (1996) - Wyse Jackson 163

During the Napoleomnicwars in Europe travel materialin another.Giesecke's large collection by sea was difficult, and ships were liable to be of Greenlandanthropological artifacts, such as captured by the enemy. Giesecke's valuable a native hut and furniture,was on display in collection of minerals, which was bound for another room, together with his minerals The Copenhagen, was captured by a French ship museum was open to students at all times and which in turn was taken by the English. The to the general public for three hours from 12 collection was acquired by the Scottish noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays collector Thomas Allan for the paltry sum of (Wright 1821). £40. This material, which included valuable Giesecke also purchasedminerals from and cryolite specimens estimated to be worth at exchanged minerals with various European least £5000 (Farrarand Farrar1968), is now to contacts, including Johann Wolfgang von be found in the Natural History Museum, Goethe (1749-1832) (Waterhouse 1933) and London. This institution purchased the the Imperial Museum in Vienna, which he collection from Robert Phillips Greg visited between 1817 and 1819 (Hennig 1951, (1826-1906), whose father, Robert Hyde Greg Monaghan 1993). These Viennese exchanges (1795-1875), had purchased it from Allan's are listed in a manuscriptnow minthe National executors for £1300 in 1833 (Cleevely 1983). Libraryof Ireland (MS 263) (Hennig 1951) A When word reached Glesecke that the comprehensive catalogue of the Royal Dublin collection had been stolen, he assembled a Society mineralogicalcollection was pubhlished second collection. Some of this material was in 1832, the year before his death (Giesecke sent to Copenhagen,where it was destroyedby 1832) Subsequently the collections were enemy action in 1807 (Jorgensen 1983) The inherited by the National Museum of Ireland, majority of his second Greenlandcollection is where Glesecke's Greenland material has not probably in the National Museum of Ireland, at presentbeen identified. and smaller collections are minVienna and Copenhagen (donated in 1814) and minTrinity The Dublin University Museum and its College, Dublin. mineralogical collections: On his appointment as professor of Giesecke's additions mineralogy to the Royal Dublin Society min December 1813 (White 1955) Glesecke The Dublin University Museum was donated 415 mineral specimens from founded in 1777 to house Polynesian artifacts Greenland to its museum (Monaghan 1993, collected during the voyages of CaptainJames Scouler 1834) He had to learn Enghlish,and Cook (Wyse Jackson 1992) The driving force was soon dehlivermingpublic lectures minthe behind its estabhlishmentis thought to have language. He was responsible for the already been the Rev. William Hamilton (1755-97), large mineralogical collections housed in the one-time fellow of the university, who is Society's museum on Hawkins Street perhaps better known for his geological (O'Riordan 1983), which included those of observations which advanced the idea of the NathanaelLeske, acquiredin 1792. Soon he set igneous origin of the Giant's Causeway. out to enlarge the holdings of Irish minerals, By 1807 the museum housed a collection of and did this by undertakingseveral collecting 1089 minerals, some petrological specimens, trips around his adopted country (Giesecke including material from Vesuvius gathered by 1826; 1828; 1829; MacArthur 1987). In 1815 the cleric George Graydon (Vaccari and Wyse he arrangedfor the transferof the collections to Jackson 1995), and some fossils. Lemster House, the new home of the Royal Whitley Stokes (1763-1845), lecturer in Dublin Society. The museum in this building naturalhistory, whose poltical activity brought consisted of six rooms; the Leskean collection him at one time into confhct with the was accommodated in one room, a collection university authorities,was responsible for the of Irish material in another (called the collections from the late 1790s until 1844. The 'Museum Hibernicum') and geological mineralogical collections were enlarged 164 Wyse Jackson Ir. J. Earth Sci. (1996)

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Fig. 1-Page from Giesecke's manuscriptcatalogue listing mineralspecimens given by him to Trinity College, Dublin, in 1824. The catalogue is now in the Geological Museum, TrinityCollege, Dublin [Geol/TCD/Mun/Giesecke/001]. Ir. J. Earth Sc. (1996) - Wyse Jackson 165 through purchases and donations. Specimens instructed the registrar to write to Giesecke were bought from dealers in Dublin, conveying their thanks, and that they granted Derbyshire and Paris, and private collections him permission to use the library of the were also acquired. Donations included college. Such permission must have been very minerals from Gascony given in 1798 by the welcome to Giesecke, as the library contained professor of German(Wyse Jackson 1994) and the finest collections of books and manuscripts specimens from Greenland donated by in Dublin. Glesecke in 1824. Giesecke's catalogue (Fig. 1) has recently A catalogue of the complete mineralogical been recogmnisedin the Geological Museum of collection was published in 1807 by Stokes, Trinity College. It is an eleven-page, unbound, and in it we find no specimens from Greenland coverless, hand-writtendocument, on foolscap listed. In the revised catalogue, published pages (330mm x 203mm in size) which bear eleven years later, the collection included six the watermark of either a crowned lion Greenlandspecimens: hyacinth (4), lolite with clasping a tridentwithin a crowned oval frame fahlunite (30), sodahlitefrom Kangertuarsuk or the name and date 'J. Green 1824'. (361), plumose anthophyllite from Ivertok Giesecke lists, minhis distinctive and legible (467), cryolite from Ivikatt (749) and allanite handwriting, in black ink (now faded to from Tindingen (1204) (Stokes 1818- brown), 149 specimens, giving each a catalogue numbers in parenthesis) It is specimen number,the name of the materialand possible that these were given to the museum, a short description, and in most cases stating or exchanged for specimens for the Royal the location where the material was collected. Dublin Society museum, by Glesecke This numbering scheme is very distinctive, sometime after 1814 with the first number 'to one decimal place' In 1823 a large collection of approximately followed by a dash, after which is a one- to 600 specimens was purchased for the con- three-digitnumber (e.g. 6.1-32, or 1204.2-90). siderable sum of £500 (£15,000 today) from It is possible that this is a numbering scheme the Hon. George Knox (1765-1827), one-time popularised by Werner. In most cases the member of parliament for Dublin University specimens are from Greenland,either from the In this one transaction the university continent or from some offshore islands The mmineralogicalcollections were increased by a material from Greenland was varied and third to nearly 2000 specimens. The Knox included specimens of the rarerminerals, such specimens include many from the Americas, as allanite, cryolite (listed as kryohlite)(Fig. 2) particularly the British colonies of the and sodalite, large numbersof zeolite minerals, Caribbean, and from Europe. Of particular and more common mineral species, including interest are beryl crystals from Ireland, garnet,hornblende (Fig. 3) and tourmahline.The particularlyfrom the Mourne Mountains, said catalogue also lists seventeen specimens, by Glesecke (1832) to be of exceptional mainly of tourmahline and feldspar, from quality Equally of note, particularly minthe Arendal, Bucen and Naes in Norway, and one context of the subject of this paper, are the specimen, tourmahlinewith rubellite, from specimens of gleseckite from Greenland and North America (Table 1). Giesecke also hornblendeand epidote from Norway given to included in his gift a lava specimen that he had Knox by Glesecke. procuredfrom an iceberg from Iceland In 1823 Giesecke wrote to the board of Using the catalogue, the collections in the Trinity College, Dubhlin, stating that he Geological Museum have been searched and intended to present a suite of minerals, 46 of Giesecke's specimens have now been collected by him in Greenland, to the Dublin recognised. In nearly all cases they bear two University Museum (TCD MS 846). He also labels that are Giesecke's own and a further stated that a catalogue of the collection would two labels that have been attached since 1826. be forwardedat the same time It is a measure Glesecke's consist of a small hand-written of the value of the collection that the board label on which the specimen numberis written, 166 Wyse Jackson- Ir. J. Earth Sci. (1996)

Fig. 2-Cryolite from Arksutt,Greenland. Fig. 3-Hornblende from Kangerdluarsuk, Greenland. Note Giesecke's hand-writtenspecimen number label and small printedlabel.

Table 1-List of mineral species, and their area of origin, in the Giesecke donation to Trinity College, Dublin. [The modernaccepted species name is given in italics.]

Greenland Hornblende Sapphirine Hypersthene Silver white mica [muscovite] Actinolite Induratedgreen earth Sodalite Allanite Induratedmarl Stilbite Amethyst (baccillarwhite) Induratedtalc Syenite Analcime Inflammableshale Tourmaline Apatite Iron pyrites Tremolite Apophyllite Kryolite [cryolite] Wavellite Arctigite [scapolite] Labradorfelspar [labradorite] Whitestone (compact felspar) Asbestus [asbestos] Massive iron pyrites [orthoclase?] Aventurinfelspar [sunstone- Magnetic iron ore Yellow rhomboidalspar [?] oligoclase] Mesotype [zeolite group Aventurinquartz [quartz] name] Baccillar arragonite Milk quarts[quartz] Norway Blackish-brownlava Needlestone [mesotype]Augite Calcareousspar [calcite] Opalising adularfelspar Augite Chabasie [chabazite] [orthoclase] oie Chalcedony Pearl-whitefelspar Elceolite[?] Coccolite [var. of diopside] Precious apophyllite Epidote Copper glance [chalcocite] [apophyllite]Felspar Garnet Precious garnet [pyropeand Garnet Copperpyrites Hornblende Diallage [probably almandine] Hornblende hypersthene] Precious hypersthene Magnetic iron ore Scapolite Dichroite (Iolite) [cordierite] [hypersthene] Epidote Precious serpentine Titanite Floating mesotype [serpentine] Fluor [fluorite] Red Kryolite [cryolite] North America Garnet Rock crystal [quartz] Granularlimestone Sahlite Tourmaline,with rubellite - Ir. J. Earth Scl. (1996) Wyse Jackson 167 and a smaller printed label (Fig 3) On the Cleevely, R J 1983 Worldpalaeontological collections latter a number to one decimal London British Museum (NaturalHistory) place appears M Giesecke In above a line underneath which is a one- to Craig, J 1993 CharlesLewis (1761-1833) C S Nicholls (ed), Dictionary of national biography number. The number is written in three-digit missingpersons, 250-1 OxfordUmniversity Press black ink identical to that used in the catalogue, Farrar, W V and Farrar, K R 1968 Thomas Allan, except for the digit after the decimal place, mineralogist an autobiographicalfragment Annals of which is written red The black ink has Science 24, 115-20 min mink Giesecke, C L 1826 Account a faded to a brown colour, while the red ink in of mineralogical excursion to the County of Donegal Dublin Royal most cases has faded but is under legible DubhlinSociety ultravioletlight. The smallerprinted label bears Glesecke, C L 1828 Second account of a mineralogical a printednumber that matches the hand-written excurston to the Counties of Donegal, Mayo and Dublin numberbeneath the line (Fig. 3). In additionto Galway DubhlinRoyal Society C L Account a excursion the listed in the are a Giesecke, 1829 of mineralogical specimens catalogue to the Countyof Antrim Dublin Royal Dublin Society small numberthat carry only the small printed Glesecke, C L 1832 A descriptive catalogue of a new label-these may be the specimens given prior collection of mmineralsin the Museum of the Royal to 1824. Dublin Society to which is added an Irish mineralogy In 1850, small labels with red Dublin Gralsberry printed in numbers were the numbers Hennig, J 1951 Irish minerals the Vienna collections added, Irish Naturalists' Journal 10, 195-6 to entries in James corresponding Apjohn's Jorgensen, G 1983 -fra catalogue (Apjohn 1850). This catalogue hlsts Mozartsanger til Gronlandspioner Tidsskriftet only 41 specimensfrom Greenland Perhapsthe Gronland6, 183-8 G 1996 CharlesLewis of remainderof Glesecke's donation was held mina Jorgensen, Giesecke, professor collection rather than in the mineralogy in Dublin a fascinating characterin the stratigraphic geological history of the Faeroe Islands and More systematic mineralogical holdings. Greenland Irtsh Journal of Earth Sciences 15, recently, minthe 1970s, numbers prefixed with 155-160 'M' were given to specimens recatalogued at Long, A 1921 Notes on the career of Sir Charles L M that time. Giesecke Journal of the Irish MemortalsAssociation 11, 35-8 Long, T 1921 Dublin St George's Church Journal of Acknowledgements the Irish MemortalsAssociation 11, 32-4 MacArthur,C W P 1987 Mineralogical and geological I thank Museum travellersin Donegal 1787-1812 Donegal Annual 39, Nigel Monaghan (National 39-57 of Ireland) for providing examples of Mitchell, G F 1981 Mineralogy and geology In J Giesecke's handwritingand for discussions on Meenan and D Clarke (eds), RDS the Royal Dublin his collection of minerals Ruth Buckley and Society 1731-1981, 154-69 Dubhlin Royal Dublin Delwyn Geraghty (TCD) assisted in locating Society of I am to Monaghan,NT 1993 Sir Karl Ludwig Metzler-Giesecke many Glesecke's specimens. grateful (1761-1833), royal mineralogist, Greenland explorer Colhin MacArthur (Donegal) for information and museum curator In E Hoch and A K Brantsen concerning Robert Hutton, Glesecke's (eds), Deciphering the natural world and the role of executor. collections and museums, 82-6 Copenhagen Geologisk Museum O'Riordan, C E 1983 The Natural History Museum, Dublin Dublin StationeryOffice References Petersen, O V 1993 The long tradition of Greenland mineral collecting, with special emphasis on the type Anon 1977 Appendix Manuscripts in the National specimens in the mineral collection of the Geological Libraryof Irelandnot included in Manuscriptsources Museum In E Hoch and A K Brantsen (eds), for the history of Irish civilisation or supplements Deciphering the natural world and the rile of Report of the Trustees of the National Library of collections and museums, 89-91 Copenhagen Ireland, 23-7 Dublin StationeryOffice Geologisk Museum Apjohn,J 1850 A descriptivecatalogue of the minerals in Petersen, O V and Secher, K 1993 The minerals of the Museum of Trinity College DubhlinDublin M H Greenland-Introduction Glesecke Mineralogical Gill Record 24, 7-9 168 Wyse Jackson- Ir. J. Earth Sci. (1996)

[Scouler, J.] 1834 Biographical sketch of Sir Charles Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy41C, 210-18. Lewis Metzler von Giesecke, late professor of Waterhouse, G. 1936 Sir Charles Giesecke's autograph mineralogy to the Royal Dublin Society. Dublin albums. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy43C, UniversityMagazine 3, 161-75, 296-306. 291-306. Steenstrup, K.J.V. 1910 Einleitung und biographische White, T. de V. 1955 The story of the Royal Dublin Mitteilungen. In C.L. Giesecke, 'Mineralogisches Society. Tralee. The Kerryman. Reisejournalliber Grdnland1806-1813'. Meddelelser Whittaker, A. 1991 The magic flute cast: geological om Gronland35, 1-37. correlationswith Mozart. TerraNova 3, 9-16. Stokes, W. 1807 A catalogue of the minerals in the Wright, G.N. 1821 An historical guide to ancient and Museumof TrinityCollege. Dublin. W. Watson. modernDublin. London. Baldwin, Cradockand Joy. Stokes, W. 1818 A descriptive catalogue of the minerals Wyse Jackson, P.N. 1992 The geological collections of in the systematic collection of the Museum of Trinity Trinity College, Dublin. The Geological Curator 5, College Dublin. Dublin. [Dublin] UniversityPress. 263-74. Vaccari, E. and Wyse Jackson, P.N. 1995 The fossil Wyse Jackson, P.N. 1994 A history of geology in Trinity fishes of Bolca and the travels in Italy of the Irish College, Dublin. In P.N. Wyse Jackson (ed.), In cleric George Graydon in 1791. Museologia marble halls: geology in Trinity College, Dublin, Scientifica 12, 57-81. 13-78. Dublin. Department of Geology, Trinity Waterhouse, G. 1933 Goethe, Giesecke, and Dublin. College Dublin.

PATRICKN. WYSE JACKSON, Departmentof Geology, TrinityCollege, Dublin 2.