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364 FLORA MALESIANA BULLETIN 12 (7/8), 2001 VIII. A short biography of C.A. Backer, nestorof theFlora of Java J.F.Veldkamp Nationaal Herbarium Nederland,Universiteit Leiden branch, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RALeiden, The Netherlands facsimile of the Verklarend A reprint woordenboekvan wetenschappelijke plantennamen (Explanatory dictionary of scientific plant names) by C.A. Backer has been published in September, 2000. I have been asked to write an introductory note on the ‘author of this booklet’, as Backer called himself under the lemma ‘backeri’, with some of the back- grounds of the authorand the origin ofthis monumentaland unsurpassed work, of which a somewhatemended translation is given here. The following story is based on some biographies of Backer that have appeared after his death in 1963 (see References), especially that by Reinier Cornelis Bakhuizen van den Brink f. (1911-1987) and Cornelis Gijsbert Gerrit Jan van Steenis (1901-1986), but especially on the correspondence in the archives of the National Herbariumofthe Neth- erlands, Leiden University branch, on a number of speeches kept by Backer himself, and some contemporary papers. In the necrologies written by friends and sympathizers Backer has more or less been praised up to high heaven under the slogan: ‘De mortuis ’ nilnisi bonum (‘Let nothing be said of the death but what is favourable’). Nevertheless, casual remarks are madeabout Backer’s less pleasant qualities so that it must be feared that these have been somewhat higher than may appear from the following. YOUTH AND EDUCATION Cornelis Andries Backer was born on 18 September 1874 in Oudenbosch and died on 22 February 1963 at Heemstede, The Netherlands. From his father's side he was a scion of of a family school teachers, from his mother's of the lesser peasantry. Because of his weak constitution he spent much time at his Uncle and Aunt Pelt in Werkhoven, where he attendedthe school run by Master Kraai. This one had an excellent way to subdue the demoralizedfarmers' sons. A clear-cut method against insubordinationwas that he pos- tured himself behind the querulous fellow and recited the following verse accentuating with firm each syllable a box on the ear of the youthful villain: Het leren wordt niet opgedrongen De lust moet zitten in de jongen. (Teaching is not enforced / Desire must be inside the boy) Those times! were the Actually, the teaching method employed was surprisingly mod- each student reader and book arithmetics ern: was given a a on and perused these at his own speed. The best ones learned to trust themselves and proceeded rapidly, the others did not proceed beyond simple spelling and counting. Although Cornelis belonged to the 'intellectuals'of his family, after school he had to fill wheel feed the a barrow to pigs. Possibly this was the foundationof his later studies in A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF C.A. BACKER 365 is foundation the weed floraof Java. Certain that within the family of Uncle Pelt the was laid for Backer's proverbial knowledge of the Scripture, as the Introduction to the ' Woor- shows. Before each meal he had read from the Bible denboek' so clearly to a chapter alternating with sermons of the Reverend Cornelis van Niel (1612-1670) from Den donder-slagh der Godloosen (The thunderboltof the Godless), a book that is even now still in use in some orthodox Protestant circles in the Netherlands. Following time-honoured custom Backer, when fifteen, attended the State Teacher's Haarlem of he of three Seminary at (1889-1893). As son poor parents was given a grant hundred guilders. Three days after his finalsin May 1893 at eighteen years ofage he was in front of the class on an annual salary of five hundred and fifty guilders. Successively he had posts at several small villages. The advantage of this was that there was much leisure time for study, while as a schoolmaster he had credit with booksellers, something he hadn't had when still a yokel. He used this opportunity exhaustively. His interest in botany had already expressed itself at the Seminary and by the changes in abode he became familiar with various vegetation types. This was the time that he came into contact with some famous Dutch contemporary botanists, e.g. Hendrik Heukels (1854-1936) and Eduard Heimans (1861-1914), and he sent specimens to the Dutch Botanical Society (Nederlandsche Botanische Vereeniging) which are now deposited at the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden. of the National Service Backer five months in the where he ob- Because spent Army tained the rank of corporal due to the fact, he said, that with his Christian background he knew how to swear so well. In the meanwhile he obtained a number of additional certificates in mathematics, French, English, and the qualification for Headmaster. Thus, in 1900, he acquired a better position at the MULO, a kind of lower-grade secondary school, in Haarlem. But after a year he decided to go to the Dutch East Indies: if he was to be fettered by education he might as well be so in a more exotic surrounding with a higher pay. IN THE INDIES Between 1901 and 1905 he was employed at a private primary boarding school, the Bosch Institute in Weltevreden (now Gambir, the centre of Jakarta) in Java. His new five Indian salary was one hundred and seventy Dutch East guilders, mind you: a month! An unimaginable luxury! Immediately he started to collect the plants around him, but to name them unreliableor incomplete treatises had been written, now also outdated and often not readily available. Thus, he decided to write one himself, with the flora of his immediatesurroundings as a start, and this marked a milestone in his life and for Malesian botany. basis To have at least some he had to borrow books from the Herbarium Bogoriense and so, in early 1902, he came into contact with Melchior Treub(1851 -1910), the Direc- tor of's Lands Plantentuinin Buitenzorg (now the Kebun Raya, Bogor), whose interna- tional fame attracted many famous botanists for a longer or shorter visit to the renowned 'Vreemdelingenlaboratorium', Foreigner's Laboratory, now the Treub Laboratory, in Bogor. 366 FLORA MALESIANA BULLETIN 12 (7/8), 2001 collections would be Treub thought an interview with this Backer and a look at his op- for portune, to which Backer agreed under the condition that Treub wouldpay the trans- port, by his estimate about half a lorry. The interview apparently was satisfactory to both parties and through Treub's mediation Backer was given an appointment as Assistant at the Laboratory with as instruction to write a critical school florafor Java and to teach at the Agricultural School at Buitenzorg. In 1909 he obtainedtenure. However, it then turned out that the floraof Central and East Java was so badly known that sometimes common tree species were reported as rare, while herbs and shrubs were very badly represented at all. Backer became engaged to Martha van der Ley (1875-after 1949) on April 15, 1906, and married in 23 of that A fern named after her, see they Buitenzorg on July year. was 'marthae'. But for very few casual remarks, the biographers are silent about the family life. Three daughters were born: Corry (C.J.E.), Gonnie, and Cobie. In a letter dated 3 visit from March 1946, Backer mentions that he is expecting a a daughter, son-in-law, and theirtwo children, and in an act ofFebruary 6, 1962, he bestowed eighty percent of the royalties of the Flora of Java to R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink f., while in case of his premature decease the remaining twenty had to be divided between A.C. Backer (Gonnie?), Torrance, California, and Mrs. J.J. Lagerweij-Backer (Cobie?) in Haarlem. In 1911, together with H.A. Clerx and Zeno Kamerling (1872-?) he founded the Neder- landsch Indische NatuurhistorischeVereeniging (Dutch IndianNatural History Society) with as houseorgan De Tropische Natuur (The tropical nature), which he edited together with his fellowschoolmasters Antoon Johannes Koens (1880-before 1958) and Johannes WilhelmusAntonius van Welsem(1866-1927). Withthe latter he also wrote some manu- als for secondary schools (Backer & Koens, 1912; and Van Welsem & Backer, 1916, which apparently was quite a success in view of at least eight editions). De Tropische Natuur contains many short articles by Backer written in a very entertaining, lively, and often humorous way. They are well documentedand always based on personal observa- tions. Here a much more interesting person is revealed than can be gleaned from the bone-dry floras and dictionaries (the Verklarend Woordenboek has some gems, though). different than foundin the Hendrik Koorders A very one, too, pamphlet against Sijfert (1863-1919), about which later. After a petition by Backer to charge him with the collection of Central and East Java plant species Treub's successor, Jacob Christiaan Koningsberger (1867-1951), the later Secretary of the Colonies, appointed him in 1912 as Botanist of the Java flora. From May 1912 to April 1915 he scoured the fields and forests of Java, Madura, and the adja- cent Kangean Archipelago, and so collectedabout30,000 specimens while making daily trips of thirty to forty kilometres on foot. There are few parts of Java where he hasn't been. Botanizing in the tropics, especially in the lowlands is not for the weak of heart: the temperature is murderous, the numberof species uncountable, and specimens must be into the otherwise the flowers have wilted. field takes put press quickly Making notes much time, too. Backer tireless in was his work: to a high age he rose at six and worked until eight in field the evenings.