The Letters of Ferdinand Von Hochstetter to Julius Von Haast
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Letters of Ferdinand von Hochstetter to Julius von Haast Sascha Nolden Geoscience Society of New Zealand Miscellaneous Publication 133K December 2013 To Professor James Bade Published by the Geoscience Society of New Zealand Inc, 2013 Information on the Society and its publications is given at www.gsnz.org.nz © Copyright Sascha Nolden, 2013 Geoscience Society of New Zealand Miscellaneous Publication 133K ISBN 978-1-877480-37-9 ISSN 2230-4495 (Online) ISSN 2230-4487 (Print) Acknowledgement is made to the Alexander Turnbull Library for permission to publish the material from the photographic and manuscript collections This document is available as a PDF file that can be downloaded from the Geoscience Society website at: http://www.gsnz.org.nz/information/misc-series-i-49.html Bibliographic Reference Nolden, S. 2013: The Letters of Ferdinand von Hochstetter to Julius von Haast, 1859-1887. Geoscience Society of New Zealand Miscellaneous Publication 133K, 233 pages. 2 The Letters of Ferdinand von Hochstetter to Julius von Haast CONTENTS Abstract 5 Preface 7 Acknowledgements 11 Editorial conventions 13 Introduction 17 Calendar of letters 21 The letters of Ferdinand von Hochstetter to Julius von Haast 23 Archival descriptions of the manuscript letters 224 Biographical and geographical index to the letters 227 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Ferdinand Hochstetter sketching on the roof of a hut, by Julius Haast, 1859 4 2. Hochstetter, “Der Isthmus von Auckland mit seinen erloschenen Vulkankegeln”, 1862 6 3. Hochstetter and Haast, “Geologische Übersichtskarte der Provinz Nelson”, 1862 10 4. Letter by Hochstetter to Haast dated London 11 June 1860 16 5. Photograph of Ferdinand von Hochstetter, by Ludwig Angerer, 1861 46 6. Photograph of Ferdinand von Hochstetter, by Ludwig Angerer, 1861 47 7. Photograph of Ferdinand and Georgiana von Hochstetter, by Ludwig Angerer, 1861 48 8. Photograph of Georgiana von Hochstetter and baby, by Adolf Ost, 1862 76 9. Photograph of Georgiana von Hochstetter and two children, by Heinrich Harmsen, 1864 106 10. Photograph of Georgiana von Hochstetter and three children, by Heinrich Harmsen, 1866 127 11. Photograph of Georgiana von Hochstetter and four children, by Heinrich Harmsen, 1867 139 12. Photograph of Georgiana von Hochstetter and six children, by Heinrich Harmsen, 1874 166 13. Photograph of Georgiana von Hochstetter, by George Harmsen, 1877 183 14. Photograph of Georgiana von Hochstetter and seven children, by Heinrich Harmsen, 1880 298 3 Sascha Nolden 1. Ferdinand Hochstetter sketching on the roof of a hut, by Julius Haast, 1859. (MS-0921-059, Alexander Turnbull Library). 4 The Letters of Ferdinand von Hochstetter to Julius von Haast ABSTRACT This publication presents 133 letters written to Julius von Haast (1822-1887) by Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884) and his wife Georgiana, in the years 1859 to 1887 as annotated English translations of the original German manuscript letters held in the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. As examples of communications between scientists in New Zealand and German-speaking Europe in the nineteenth century, they provide a detailed first- hand account of the historical development of science in New Zealand and the growing awareness of New Zealand in Imperial Austria. New Zealand, having offered a great opportunity for the geologist to contribute to its exploration, and having thoroughly benefitted from the able work of Hochstetter, was later introduced to the German-speaking world through the monumental work Neu-Seeland, published in 1863. Through the letters one can follow the development of Hochstetter’s work relating to New Zealand, his constant interest in all developments in the colony and the continued efforts of a man devoted to science. On another level these letters also provide an insight into the close personal relationship between two leading scientists working at opposite ends of the globe with many biographical parallels. Both Haast and Hochstetter moved from being surveying field geologists to working as museum founders and directors and engaging in intense programmes of exchanges of specimens and letters with other scientists around the world. By taking a closer look at Hochstetter’s letters it is possible to gain an insight into the destiny and fortunes of someone who was actively interested or involved in almost all areas of scientific endeavour, and always preserved a special fondness for New Zealand. Ferdinand von Hochstetter is one of the foremost scientists of the nineteenth century to have visited New Zealand, where he completed important pioneering field work, leading to the publication of some of the first geological maps of parts of New Zealand, monumental German and English illustrated monographs on New Zealand, and an important geological work based on his research as part of the circumnavigation of the globe on the Novara, 1857-1859. After spending the years of his childhood and study in Germany, a relocation to Vienna provided him with the opportunity to work for the Geological Survey of Austria, before he became a member of the Novara expedition. His subsequent appointment as Professor at the Technical University of Vienna marked the beginning of an academic teaching career that later culminated in the special role of tutor in natural sciences to the Crown Prince of Austria. His interests continued to expand and later included prehistoric anthropology and ethnological research, while his influence as president of the Geographical Society of Vienna, and his appointment as director of the new Natural History Museum in Vienna allowed for the forging of a solid legacy in the tradition of the great universal scholars. 5 Sascha Nolden 2. Hochstetter, “Der Isthmus von Auckland mit seinen erloschenen Vulkankegeln”, 1862. Plate 6: Petermann’s Geographische Mittheilungen, vol. 8 no. 3, 1862. 6 The Letters of Ferdinand von Hochstetter to Julius von Haast PREFACE This publication presents an annotated edition of translations of 133 letters written to Julius von Haast by Ferdinand von Hochstetter (and a few from his wife Georgiana) between 1859-1887. It is based on a revised and condensed version of my PhD thesis1 originally completed with the support of a Bright Future Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship under the supervision of Professor James Bade at the University of Auckland. During the early years when I researched the Germanic connections with New Zealand under the expert guidance of Professor James Bade, Head of the School of European Languages and Literature and Director of the Research Centre for Germanic Connections with New Zealand and the Pacific at the University of Auckland, I already developed some degree of intimacy with Haast and Hochstetter in writing my MA thesis on German and Austrian naturalist-scientists,2 so it was a natural progression for me to follow this broader research with a more detailed analysis of one specific relationship very representative of the links between German-speaking Europe and New Zealand in the nineteenth century. Thus it was that having become aware of German manuscript material in New Zealand archives that had largely been left untouched by scholars looking at the history of New Zealand science, due to a certain language barrier and the inherent difficulties of working with German archival sources in the old handwriting, I found myself destined to be the person to complete this task. After transcribing and translating the 133 letters written by Hochstetter and his wife Georgiana to Julius von Haast, which spanned the period from Hochstetter’s visit to Nelson, New Zealand, in 1859 to his death in 1884, and continued by Hochstetter’s widow to the year of Haast’s death in 1887, I was left with no doubt that this was a very important source of information on both the scientific careers and personal biographies of Hochstetter and Haast, which would provide material of an almost unlimited scope for further research. The compiling of detailed annotations on the context of the issues raised in the letters and notes on the topics discussed, expanded and diversified the project. I was only hindered by the unfortunate lack of extant letters from Haast to Hochstetter. But nonetheless, in most cases the thread of the narrative can be followed uninterruptedly, as one has the advantage of being able to make comparisons in hindsight, while Haast as the recipient always had to count on his letters arriving several months after dispatch and then would have to wait another few months before the arrival of a reply. The letters are very vivid in their narrative form, with only the occasional sojourn into a more cryptic scientist’s ‘shorthand’ with inferred subject matter not always spelt out. But most importantly they proved to be not only scientific communications, but also one half of a personal correspondence, giving a new insight into the lives of two great personalities and their relationship. I was fortunate in already having had the opportunity to present three papers and a lecture stemming from this project, while I was working on my PhD, which enabled me to share some of the research that I had completed. The first of these papers was on the genesis and history of Hochstetter’s Neu-Seeland and New Zealand, in which I drew on Hochstetter’s manuscript letters in order to follow the preparatory and production processes of his two monumental monographs on New Zealand.3 The second paper dealt with Hochstetter and his visit to Nelson in 1859 and the impact this had on the pioneering community and mining projects in the area, as well as the 1 Sascha Nolden, The Letters of Ferdinand von Hochstetter to Julius von Haast: An annotated scholarly edition, PhD thesis, University of Auckland, 2007. 2 Sascha Nolden, German and Austrian Naturalists and the Avifauna of New Zealand: The Lives and Ornithological Work of Johann Reinhold Forster, Georg Forster, Ernst Dieffenbach, Julius von Haast, Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Andreas Reischek and Otto Finsch, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 2002.