The citation for this volume:
A voyage to the Cape of Good Hope: towards the Antarctic polar circle, and round the world: but chiefly into the country of the Hottentots and Caffres, from the year 1772, to 1776, (Volume 1)
credits Anders Sparrman, and Georg Forster for the 1785 book.
Georg Forster (November 27, 1754 to January 10, 1794) is credited as a co-author. Certainly he has multiple writing credits because of his work on other exploratory voyages. So we present the passage below as possibly by Forster:
'....I was contented .... with examining the skin by which I was convinced that it is the same animal as Mr Pennant in his Synopsis and History of Quadrupeds has described and given a drawing of by the name of the Persian Cat... [And also one] M Buffon ...[described] by the name of the Caracal... The hair of this skin it must be owned is very fine and soft but probably there are many other skins that applied with an equal degree of faith would have the same effects. The colour of the upper part of it is of a very light red sprinkled with grey [and] under the belly it is light coloured. [T]he upper part of the ears which have tufts of hair on the tips of them is dark brown sprinkled with grey. This animal is rather long in the body and about two feet in height with a peaked nose. They have a third kind of cat in Africa which in its motions and attitudes is like our common cat and is called at the Cape the tiger kat ... From the two skins which I brought with me and which I shall perhaps have occasion to describe more accurately, I cannot find but that the tiger cat is the same animal as M Buffon calls the serval cat. As to the animal to which M Vosmaer gives the name of the African civet cat I much doubt if it be to be found at the Cape of Good Hope ...'
We share the interesting life of Georg Forster by combining one recent article with another.
'Despite his comparative youth, Georg Forster was already an experienced traveller. Born into a German-speaking family in what is now Poland, he had first accompanied his father on an expedition at the age of ten when Johann Reinhold accepted an invitation from the Russian government to visit and report on new settlements in the Volga region. The trip did not have its desired effect of boosting the Forster family’s fortunes – instead, in a pattern to be repeated, Johann Reinhold fell out with his sponsors – but it did teach Georg how to conduct scientific research and left him fluent enough in Russian to publish a translation of Mikhail Lomonosov’s history of Russia in 1767 when he was just 13.
'More impressive still, the translation was not into the boy’s native German but into English. By this time the family was living in England, Forster senior having taken a teaching post at the Dissenting Academy in Warrington. When, once again, his short temper led to his dismissal he moved to London where he and Georg made a living teaching and translating until offered their place on the Resolution...
'As well as making drawings, Georg soon began to assist with his father’s scientific studies, and to study in his own right the cultures, arts and languages of the peoples they encountered. His observations show a nuanced understanding for a man of his times of cultural differences and similarities, and he would later argue against the philosopher Kant that ‘race’ could not be defined merely by skin colour but had to take into account linguistic and cultural aspects of different peoples.
'When the Resolution return[ed] to London, the plan for Johann Reinhold (who had, inevitably, fallen out with Cook) to publish the official account of the voyage became mired in argument when he refused to have his text edited, and in the end it was Cook’s own account that was published. However, Georg felt unobliged by any formal agreements made between his father and the Admiralty, and published his own description of the voyage, based on the journals kept by both Forsters.
'Georg’s work was a success, especially in Germany where it made his name in both popular and academic circles. He went on to hold teaching posts in Kassel and Vilnius, was made a member of several prestigious Academies, corresponded with the major intellectuals of the time, and continued to publish on exploration, including an account of Cook’s last voyage (on which, after his difficulties with Banks and the Forsters, Cook had refused to take a scientist).
'In 1785 Georg married Therese Heyne, later one of Germany’s first professional female writers. The marriage was not a success and two years later, unhappy with both domestic and academic life in Vilnius, Georg agreed to join a planned Russian expedition to the Pacific. When the expediton was abandoned he accepted the position of Librarian at the University of Mainz. Therese joined him there, and began an affair with Ludwig Ferdinand Huber, a mutual friend of the couple whom she would marry after Georg’s death. Georg seems to have accepted this relationship and continued his friendship with Huber.
'A journey through parts of Germany, the Low Countries, England and France gave rise to Georg’s most famous book after the account of Cook’s voyage. Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich... describes the culture and history and policitcal and social conditions of the countries and regions in question. In the aftermath of the Storming of the Bastille, these were matters of great concern.
'Like many German intellectuals, Georg welcomed the French Revolution. When French troops occupied Mainz in 1792 he joined the newly-founded Jacobin Club along with Huber, and was among the founders of the short-lived Mainz Republic and an editor of the revolutionary newspaper Die neue Mainzer Zeitung.
'By the time the Mainz Republic fell in July 1793, Forster was in Paris where he witnessed the early months of the Terror but, unlike many early supporters of the Revolution, refused to denounce the violent turn that it had taken. He remained in Paris until his death in January 1794, a victim not of the Terror but of a sudden illness.
'Forster’s unwavering support for the Revolution affected his posthumous reputation. Later commentators tended to be more interested in his political views – whether to praise or condemn them – than his scientific work. Nonetheless, his account of Cook’s voyage remained popular, and today he is recognised for the whole spectrum of his scientific, literary and political activities as a significant figure in late 18th-century scholarship.'
We have been quoting Susan Reed, Lead Curator Germanic Studies, at the British Library, for this biography.
Georg Forster (November 27, 1754 to January 10, 1794) is credited as a co-author. Certainly he has multiple writing credits because of his work on other exploratory voyages. So we present the passage below as possibly by Forster:
'....I was contented .... with examining the skin by which I was convinced that it is the same animal as Mr Pennant in his Synopsis and History of Quadrupeds has described and given a drawing of by the name of the Persian Cat... [And also one] M Buffon ...[described] by the name of the Caracal... The hair of this skin it must be owned is very fine and soft but probably there are many other skins that applied with an equal degree of faith would have the same effects. The colour of the upper part of it is of a very light red sprinkled with grey [and] under the belly it is light coloured. [T]he upper part of the ears which have tufts of hair on the tips of them is dark brown sprinkled with grey. This animal is rather long in the body and about two feet in height with a peaked nose. They have a third kind of cat in Africa which in its motions and attitudes is like our common cat and is called at the Cape the tiger kat ... From the two skins which I brought with me and which I shall perhaps have occasion to describe more accurately, I cannot find but that the tiger cat is the same animal as M Buffon calls the serval cat. As to the animal to which M Vosmaer gives the name of the African civet cat I much doubt if it be to be found at the Cape of Good Hope ...'
We share the interesting life of Georg Forster by combining one recent article with another.
'Despite his comparative youth, Georg Forster was already an experienced traveller. Born into a German-speaking family in what is now Poland, he had first accompanied his father on an expedition at the age of ten when Johann Reinhold accepted an invitation from the Russian government to visit and report on new settlements in the Volga region. The trip did not have its desired effect of boosting the Forster family’s fortunes – instead, in a pattern to be repeated, Johann Reinhold fell out with his sponsors – but it did teach Georg how to conduct scientific research and left him fluent enough in Russian to publish a translation of Mikhail Lomonosov’s history of Russia in 1767 when he was just 13.
'More impressive still, the translation was not into the boy’s native German but into English. By this time the family was living in England, Forster senior having taken a teaching post at the Dissenting Academy in Warrington. When, once again, his short temper led to his dismissal he moved to London where he and Georg made a living teaching and translating until offered their place on the Resolution...
'As well as making drawings, Georg soon began to assist with his father’s scientific studies, and to study in his own right the cultures, arts and languages of the peoples they encountered. His observations show a nuanced understanding for a man of his times of cultural differences and similarities, and he would later argue against the philosopher Kant that ‘race’ could not be defined merely by skin colour but had to take into account linguistic and cultural aspects of different peoples.
'When the Resolution return[ed] to London, the plan for Johann Reinhold (who had, inevitably, fallen out with Cook) to publish the official account of the voyage became mired in argument when he refused to have his text edited, and in the end it was Cook’s own account that was published. However, Georg felt unobliged by any formal agreements made between his father and the Admiralty, and published his own description of the voyage, based on the journals kept by both Forsters.
'Georg’s work was a success, especially in Germany where it made his name in both popular and academic circles. He went on to hold teaching posts in Kassel and Vilnius, was made a member of several prestigious Academies, corresponded with the major intellectuals of the time, and continued to publish on exploration, including an account of Cook’s last voyage (on which, after his difficulties with Banks and the Forsters, Cook had refused to take a scientist).
'In 1785 Georg married Therese Heyne, later one of Germany’s first professional female writers. The marriage was not a success and two years later, unhappy with both domestic and academic life in Vilnius, Georg agreed to join a planned Russian expedition to the Pacific. When the expediton was abandoned he accepted the position of Librarian at the University of Mainz. Therese joined him there, and began an affair with Ludwig Ferdinand Huber, a mutual friend of the couple whom she would marry after Georg’s death. Georg seems to have accepted this relationship and continued his friendship with Huber.
'A journey through parts of Germany, the Low Countries, England and France gave rise to Georg’s most famous book after the account of Cook’s voyage. Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich... describes the culture and history and policitcal and social conditions of the countries and regions in question. In the aftermath of the Storming of the Bastille, these were matters of great concern.
'Like many German intellectuals, Georg welcomed the French Revolution. When French troops occupied Mainz in 1792 he joined the newly-founded Jacobin Club along with Huber, and was among the founders of the short-lived Mainz Republic and an editor of the revolutionary newspaper Die neue Mainzer Zeitung.
'By the time the Mainz Republic fell in July 1793, Forster was in Paris where he witnessed the early months of the Terror but, unlike many early supporters of the Revolution, refused to denounce the violent turn that it had taken. He remained in Paris until his death in January 1794, a victim not of the Terror but of a sudden illness.
'Forster’s unwavering support for the Revolution affected his posthumous reputation. Later commentators tended to be more interested in his political views – whether to praise or condemn them – than his scientific work. Nonetheless, his account of Cook’s voyage remained popular, and today he is recognised for the whole spectrum of his scientific, literary and political activities as a significant figure in late 18th-century scholarship.'
We have been quoting Susan Reed, Lead Curator Germanic Studies, at the British Library, for this biography.
3 comments:
nice post thanks for write
visit our website
Thanks for sharing the information. It is very useful for my future. keep sharing
visit our website
Amazing Article :) Im extremely affected by your blog.I’m happy that you simply shared this useful info with us.I am quite sure I’ll learn many new stuff right here!
visit our website
Post a Comment