he name DGGTB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Deutsche Gesellschaft für Theorie der Biologie; German Society for the History and Philosophy of Bio­logy)T ­ reflects­ recent­ history­ as­ well­ as­ German­ traditi- Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie on. The Society is a relatively late addition to a series of German societies­ of­ science­ and­ medicine­ that­ began­ with­ the­ „Deutsche­ Gesellschaft­ für­ Geschichte­ der­ Medizin­ und­ der­ Naturwissenschaften“,­ Annals of the History founded­in­1910­by­Leipzig­University‘s­Karl­Sudhoff­(1853-1938),­who­ wrote:­„We­want­to­establish­a­‚German‘­society­in­order­to­gather­Ger- and Philosophy of Biology man-speaking historians together in our special disciplines so that they­ form­ the­ core­ of­ an­ international­ society…“.­ Yet­ Sudhoff,­ at­ this­ Volume 14 (2009) time­ of­ burgeoning­ academic­ internationalism,­ was­ „quite­ willing“­ to­ accommodate­ the­ wishes­ of­ a­ number­ of­ founding­ members­ and­ formerly Jahrbuch für „drop­ the­ word­ German­ in­ the­ title­ of­ the­ Society­ and­ have­ it­ merge Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie with­ an­ international­ society“.­ The­ founding­ and­ naming­ of­ the­ Society­ at­ that­ time­ derived­ from­ a­ specific­ set­ of­ histori- cal­ circumstances,­ and­ the­ same­ was­ true­ some­ 80­ years­ later­ Rainer Brömer when­ in­ 1991,­ in­ the­ wake­ of­ German­ reunification,­ the­ „Deutsche­ Plastidules to Humans Gesellschaft­ für­ Geschichte­ und­ Theorie­ der­ Biologie“­ was­ founded.­ From the start, the Society has been committed to bringing stu- dies­ in­ the­ history­ and­ philosophy­ of­ biology­ to­ a­ wide­ audience,­ using for this purpose its Jahrbuch für Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie. Parallel to the Jahrbuch, the Verhandlungen zur Geschichte und Theorie­ der­ Biologie­ has­ become­ the­ by­ now­ traditional­ medi- (2009) 14 Vol. Biology, of Philosophy and History the of Annals um for the publication of papers delivered at the Society‘s annual meetings.­In­2005­the­Jahrbuch­was­renamed­Annals­of­the­History­and­ Philosophy­ of­ Biology,­ reflecting­ the­ Society‘s­ internationalist­ aspir ations in addressing comparative biology as a subject of historical and DGGTB philosophical studies. ISSN: 1863-0197 ISBN: 978-3-941875-97-5 Universitätsverlag Göttingen Universitätsverlag Göttingen Manuscripts should be submitted to the managing editor. Submissions will be peer review- Annals of the history and philosophy of biology, Volume 14 (2009) ed. The preferred language is English. Articles in German should be accompanied by a short Rainer Brömer: Plastidules to Humans (max. 1000 words) summary in English. Table of Contents Managing Editor Volker Wissemann Introduction .............................................................................................................1 Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen Writing biographically ............................................................................................9 Institut für Botanik Life and (a few) letters .......................................................................................... 13 AG Spezielle Botanik (Carl-Vogt-Haus) The origin of Italy, geology, and patriotic museums ..............................................31 Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32 (IFZ) The origin of life ................................................................................................... 37 D-35392 Giessen From Monera to Haeckel .......................................................................................51 Germany Medical Protistology ............................................................................................. 63 E-mail: [email protected] The origin of vertebrate skulls .............................................................................. 71 Research school ..................................................................................................... 87 Editors Conclusion: Actor in fleeting networks ................................................................. 95 Uwe Hoßfeld, Jena, Germany Michael Ruse, Tallahassee, USA Appendix 1: Maggi’s letters to Haeckel .............................................................. 103 Lennart Olsson, Jena, Germany Appendix 2: Maggi’s publications ....................................................................... 121 Volker Wissemann, Gießen, Germany Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 139 Illustration credits ............................................................................................... 181 Editorial Board Peter Bowler, Belfast, UK Olaf Breidbach, Jena, Germany Eve-Marie Engels, Tübingen, Germany Christoph Friedrich, Marburg, Germany Nick Hopwood, Cambridge, UK David L. Hull, Evanston, USA Thomas Junker, Frankfurt/Main, Germany Kristian Köchy, Kassel, Germany Ulrich Kutschera, Kassel, Germany Jane Maienschein, Tempe, USA Renato Mazzolini, Trient, Italy Peter McLaughlin, Heidelberg, Germany James R. Moore, Milton Keynes, UK Kärin Nickelsen, Bern, Switzerland Ronald L. Numbers, Wisconsin-Madison, USA Wolf-Ernst Reif, Tübingen, Germany Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Berlin, Germany Marsha L. Richmond, Detroit, USA Robert Richards, Chicago, USA Nicolas Robin, Jena, Germany Alexander Rosenberg, Durham, USA Nicolaas A. Rupke, Göttingen, Germany Hans-Konrad Schmutz, Winterthur, Switzerland Marcel Weber, Basel, Switzerland Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie (Ed.) Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology Vol. 14 (2009) Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons License Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology; Volume 14 (2009) Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2011 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Theorie der Biologie (Ed.) Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology Vol. 14 (2009) Rainer Brömer Plastidules to Humans Leopoldo Maggi (1840-1905) and Ernst Haeckel’s naturalist philosophy in the Kingdom of Italy With an edition of Maggi’s letters to Ernst Haeckel Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2011 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliographie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über <http://dnb.ddb.de> abrufbar. Managing Editor of the Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology Volker Wissemann Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen Institut für Botanik AG Spezielle Botanik (Carl-Vogt-Haus) Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32 (IFZ) D-35392 Giessen Germany E-mail: [email protected] Adress of the Author Rainer Brömer Fatih University Philosophy Dept. A-341 34500 Büyükçekmece, Istanbul Turkey E-mail: [email protected] Revised version of a dissertation submitted to the Philosophical Faculty of Georg August University Göttingen in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor philosophiae in 2008 Cover Picture: Friedrich Besemann: Leinekanal mit akademischem Museum und Graetzelhaus. Aquarellierte Federzeichung 1860. Graphische Sammlung des Städtischen Museums Göttingen Layout: DGGTB Cover Design: Kilian Klapp, Maren Büttner © 2011 Universitätsverlag Göttingen http://www.univerlag.uni-goettingen.de ISSN 1863-0197 ISBN: 978-3-941875-97-5 Acknowledgements Research for this project has been funded by the Graduiertenförderung Thüringen (1995/96 and 1998). Many colleagues and friends have supported my work intellectually and personally. First of all, I wish to commemorate the unforgettable curator of the Ernst- Haeckel-Haus in Jena, Erika Krauße (1935-2003), who knew the nooks and crannies of the Haeckel archive like no other person. Some of the many other persons who in one way or another contributed to the genesis of this project (though they do not bear any responsibility for its flaws and errors), in alphabetical order: Olaf Breidbach (Jena) Mario Di Gregorio (L’Aquila) Eve-Marie Engels (Tübingen) Marco Ferraguti (Milan) Thomas Glick (Boston) Uwe Hoßfeld (Jena) Renato Mazzolini (Trent) Ben Marsden (Aberdeen) Elizabeth Neswald (St. Catherines, ON) Olaf Posmyk (Göttingen) Carlo-Alberto Redi (Pavia) Bob Richards (Chicago) Lia Rotolo (Pavia) Nicolaas A. Rupke (Göttingen) Daniel Schümann (Bamberg/Köln) Ezio Vaccari (Varese) Carlo Violani (Pavia) Table of Contents Introduction 1 Writing biographically 9 Life and (a few) letters 13 The origin of Italy, geology, and patriotic museums 31 The origin of life 37 From Monera to Haeckel 51 Medical Protistology 63 The origin of vertebrate skulls 71 Research school 87 Conclusion: Actor in fleeting networks 95 Appendix 1: Maggi’s letters to Haeckel 103 Appendix 2: Maggi’s publications 121 Bibliography 139 Illustration credits 181 Introduction The configuration of today’s scientific disciplines occurred, to a large extent, during the “long nineteenth century”, from the French Revolution to World War I. The Natural Philosophy of Enlightenment gave way to Romantic Naturphilosophie, and Napoleon’s expansive wars of the dawning nineteenth century helped to spread ethnocentric nationalism across Europe and into the Middle East. With the emergence of the professional scientist during the middle third of the century, however, the pendulum swung back, away from metaphysics and holism towards a relentlessly reductionist positivism, in turn to be challenged (largely unsuccessfully) by neo-idealist and “monist” approaches in the latter third of the century, especially in the centre of Europe. Intellectuals’