Briefwechsel zwischen Franz Unger und Stephan Endlicher

Abstract

AFTER the death of Unger's surviving son and daughter, a large portion of his correspondence was presented to the Botanical Institute of the University of Graz. From amongst these remains Prof. Haberlandt gives to the world the almost complete series of letters which passed between Unger and Endlicher from 1829 to 1847. There are 139 letters in all, of which about two-thirds are by Unger. Though the correspondence is, in large part, concerned with their own botanical labours, all the more important contemporary contributions to Botany are discussed between the friends. At the date of the opening of this correspondence, neither of the writers held an independent botanical post. Unger, who had deserted the law and qualified in medicine, in 1830 became a medical officer at Kitzbühel, in the northern Tyrol. Here, during his five years' sojourn, he collected the material for and wrote his now classic “Einfluss des Bodens auf die Vertheilung der Gewächse.” This was the first attempt at a physiological flora, and Unger was justly proud of his achievement. This and other work paved the way to the professorship at Graz, to which he was appointed in the autumn of 1835, and which he held till Endlicher's death. Endlicher, the author of the well known “Genera Plantarum,” was made keeper of the botanical department in the Hof Museum, at Vienna, within a few months of Unger's appointment to Graz. Many common undertakings were mooted between the friends, and the most notable of those which reached accomplishment was their joint “Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Botanik,” published in 1843. Its inception and progress are very fully set forth in the letters, and this portion of the correspondence will be read with interest as effectively contrasting the character and temperament of these two men. That Schleiden should have chosen the same time to bring out his remarkable “Grundzüge der wissenschaftlichen Botanik” was an event which could not fail to impress the joint authors. Unger, with characteristic outspokenness, writes:—“What do I think about Schleiden? He is an excellent fellow, though I don't agree with him entirely. We have wanted a man like this for a long time. It is by him—not by us—that a new epoch is created in our science.” Another part of the correspondence, that relating to Unger's discovery of the ciliated zoospores of Vaucheria, is also full of interest. The headstrong and enthusiastic Unger insists on announcing his discovery in the form of a series of popular letters under the title “The Plant at the Moment of becoming an Animal,” with an absurd quotation from Oken (the nature-philosopher) as motto. This intention draws from Endlicher one of the best letters in the book (No. 100); but it is quite lost upon Unger.