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Review Of: La Carte Du Ciel: Correspondence Inédite Conservée Dans Les Archives De L’Observatoire De Paris Edited by Ileana Chinnici James C University of Puget Sound Sound Ideas All Faculty Scholarship Faculty Scholarship 3-1-2005 Review of: La carte du ciel: Correspondence inédite conservée dans les archives de l’Observatoire de Paris edited by Ileana Chinnici James C. Evans University of Puget Sound, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/faculty_pubs Citation Evans, James C. 2005. "The exs uality theory and "theoretical biology" by Max Hartmann in the first half of the twentieth century." Isis 96(1): 126-127. This Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Sound Ideas. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Sound Ideas. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ileana Chinnici (Editor): La carte du ciel: Correspondence inédite conservée dans les Archives de l’Observatoire de Paris La carte du ciel: Correspondence inédite conservée dans les archives de l’Observatoire de Paris by Ileana Chinnici; Johannes Andersen; Michel Combes; Salvatore Serio; Giorgia Foderà; Nandou Daliès; Suzanne Débarbat Review by: rev. by James Evans Isis, Vol. 96, No. 1 (March 2005), pp. 126-127 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/433013 . Accessed: 10/10/2014 17:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and The History of Science Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Isis. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 207.207.127.233 on Fri, 10 Oct 2014 17:56:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 126 BOOK REVIEWS—ISIS, 96 : 1 (2005) Ⅲ Modern (Nineteenth Century to 1950) findings, applying insights gained from studying single-celled creatures to a general understand- Heng-an Chen. DieSexualita ¨tstheorie und ing of the metazoan cell. “Theoretische Biologie” von Max Hartmann in The working hypotheses Hartmann developed der ersten Ha¨lfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. to guide his understanding of reproduction in (Sudhoffs Archiv Beiheft, 46.)308 pp., figs., ta- protozoa were thus soon developed into a gen- ble, bibl., index. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, eral theory of sexuality, first introduced in 1909 2003. €44.00 (paper). and subsequently revised and expanded in Hart- mann’s major work, DieSexualita ¨t: Das Wesen Max Hartmann (1876–1962)was one of the und die Grundgesetzlichkeiten des Geschlechts foremost German biologists of the first half of und der Geschlechtsbestimmung im Tier- und the twentieth century. Trained under Richard Pflanzenreich (Jena, 1943; 2d ed. 1956). Influ- Hertwig (Munich)and Otto Bu¨tschli (Heidel- enced by earlier views developed by Bu¨tschli berg)and assistant under A. W. Goette (Stras- and Schaudinn, Hartmann’s theory of sexuality burg)and J. W. Spengel (Gießen),Hartmann was founded on the notion of the basic bisexual became a cell biologist of the first rank, special- potency of sex cells. Working in tandem with izing in protozoology. Beginning his career at those studying the genetics of sex determination, the newly created Ko¨niglichen Institut fu¨r Infek- Hartmann’s investigations indicated that sex tionskrankheiten (later Robert-Koch-Instituts)in could be altered by either external settings (the Berlin, he was chosen in 1914 to head the pro- environment)or by internal conditions (genetics) tozoology division of the new Kaiser-Wilhelm- to produce either male or female forms. These Instititut fu¨r Biology in Berlin-Dahlem. Becom- views supported those developed by Hartmann’s ing director in 1935, Hartmann remained with colleague at the Kaiser Wilhelm, Richard Gold- the institute until the end of his career. schmidt, based on his extensive study of the ge- Hartmann was a leading contributor to the ex- netics of the moth Lymantria. They later led to panding knowledge of both pathogenic and be- investigation of the chemical basis for relative nign protozoa. He focused on understanding the sexuality, work extended by his student Franz various modes of reproduction exhibited by Moewus and intersecting that of Alfred Ku¨hn widely different forms, studying the vast array and his group, leading to the identification of of structures and processes connected with gen- gamone, a hormone released by sex cells that erative processes, leading him to concentrate on affected those of the opposite sex. cell and nuclear division. His methodological ap- Heng-an Chen’s comprehensive study of proach, which aimed to establish homologies be- Hartmann is thus most welcome and should be tween structures in different species and groups, a “must-read” for those interested in late nine- relied on the older morphological method of teenth- and early twentieth-century German bi- staining techniques (homologizing structures ology. Philosophers will be particularly inter- that stained similarly using a particular dye) ested in the extensive discussion of Hartmann’s combined with the newer “morphogenetic” tech- neo-Kantian philosophy of biology. According nique developed by Theodor Boveri and Fritz to German custom, this book is Chen’s (presum- Schaudinn. Schaudinn, a brilliant protozoologist ably unrevised)dissertation prepared under Prof. who, until his premature death, was a colleague Brigitte Hoppe at Munich, published in a special and close friend of Hartmann’s, introduced the series of Sudhoffs Archiv. This means that the technique of following the developmental his- organization is somewhat programmatic (the tory of cell organelles to hypothesize about their first chapter methodically describes all the extant functions in the life of the organism. literature dealing with Hartmann), and the prose Hartmann built a number of successes on util- often straightforward. However, this does not de- izing both techniques. Early on, he clarified the tract from the value of the book, which is ex- previously confused distinction between repro- tremely informative and easy to read. In short, duction and fertilization and identified various this work deserves to be widely known and cited modes of reproduction, both sexual and asexual. by English-speaking as well as German histori- He contributed to an expanding knowledge base ans and philosophers of biology. of the morphology, physiology, and systematics MARSHA L. RICHMOND of a number of protozoan groups as well as lower plants and fungi. Like many of his cohort gen- eration, Hartmann was not content to limit his Ileana Chinnici (Editor). La cartedu ciel:Cor- focus to particular phenomena; from the begin- respondence ine´diteconserve´e dans les archives ning of his career, he sought to generalize his del’ObservatoiredeParis . Foreword by Johan- This content downloaded from 207.207.127.233 on Fri, 10 Oct 2014 17:56:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BOOK REVIEWS—ISIS, 96 : 1 (2005) 127 nes Andersen. Prefaces by Michel Combes and Astronomical Union met in Rome and proposed Salvatore Serio. Introduction by Giorgia Fod- to carry on with the project, with an estimated era`, Nandou Dalie`s, and Suzanne De´barbat. completion date of 1964! But the project as ini- pp., illus., bibl., index. Paris: Ob- tially conceived was soon rendered obsolete by 475 ם xviii servatoire de Paris, 1999. €22, 87 (paper). advances in astronomical and photographic tech- nology, as well as by decisive shifts in astrono- The idea of a photographic map of the entire mers’ interests. Besides, the original limit of the celestial sphere was proposed as early as 1857 fifteenth magnitude left invisible the great bulk by Warren de la Rue of the Kew Observatory. of distant galaxies, which by the 1930s had al- Successful experiments along this line were car- ready become the new frontier of astronomy ried out by Edward Pickering at Harvard and by Ileana Chinnici’s volume is based on the doc- David Gill at the Cape of Good Hope in the early uments related to the cartedeciel in the archives 1880s. Gill conceived the idea of producing a of the Paris Observatory. An index lists all the series of photographic maps of the southern sky relevant documents, whose dates span the range and wrote to Ernest Mouchez, the director of the 1884–1913. Moreover, Chinnici has included Paris Observatory, to enlist his aid. Mouchez full transcriptions of 732 documents, including was sympathetic to the proposal and saw it as an much of Gill’s correspondence relating to the opportunity to improve the catalogs of the north- project. The volume is generously illustrated by ern stars as well. He ordered up a new telescope eighty black-and-white plates from around for Paris, specially designed for such work. After 1900—portraits of astronomers, pictures of ob- preliminary photographic work succeeded in servatories and telescopes, and photos of corre- producing clear images of stars down to the fif- spondence. I particularly enjoyed the photograph teenth magnitude, Mouchez wrote to colleagues of three nuns measuring plates at the Vatican around the world to stimulate their interest in a Observatory. A short introduction sketches the collaborative endeavor. It was Gill who insisted historical background of the cartedu ciel. How- on the importance not only of a systematic ap- ever, this volume is not so much a study as a proach but also of producing a catalog of coor- valuable collection of primary materials. It will dinates to accompany the grand cartedu ciel. He be of great use to historians of astronomy inter- proposed that Mouchez call an international con- ested in the decades just before and after 1900.
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