Georg Eberhard Rumphius

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"Rumph." redirects here. For other uses, see Rumph.
Georg Eberhard Rumphius (1627–1702), the only portrait of him made by his son Paul Augustus around 1695-96

Georg Eberhard Rumphius (originally: Rumpf; baptized c. 1 November 1627 – 15 June 1702) was a

botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company in what is now eastern Indonesia
, and is best known for his work Herbarium Amboinense produced in the face of severe personal tragedies, including the death of his wife and a daughter in an earthquake, going blind from glaucoma, loss of his library and manuscripts in major fire, and losing early copies of his book when the ship carrying it was sunk.

Early life

Memorial plaque in Wölfersheim in Hesse, Germany

Rumphius was the oldest son of August Rumpf, a builder and engineer in Hanau, and Anna Elisabeth Keller, sister of Johann Eberhard Keller, governor of the Dutch-speaking Kleve (Cleves), at that time a district of the Electorate (Kurfürstentum) of Brandenburg. Around 1 November 1627, he was baptized Georg Eberhard Rumpf in Wölfersheim, likely indicating he was born in October 1627. He grew up in Wölfersheim and attended the Gymnasium in Hanau.

Although born and raised in Germany, he spoke and wrote in Dutch from an early age, probably as learned from his mother. He was recruited by the West India Company, ostensibly to serve the Republic of Venice, but was put on a ship "De Swarte Raef" (The Black Raven) in 1646 bound for Brazil where the Dutch and Portuguese were fighting over territory. Either through shipwreck or capture he landed in Portugal, where he remained for nearly three years. Around 1649 he returned to Hanau where he helped his father's business.[1]

Merchant of Ambon

Rumphius's Ambon house in the 1910s

A week after his mother's funeral (20 December 1651) he left Hanau for the last time. Perhaps through contacts of his mother's family, he enlisted with the

governor-general in Batavia, who would later give him dispensation from his ordinary duties to complete this study. Maetsuycker was a barrister-at-law and a patron of science. Rumphius would become known as Plinius Indicus (the Pliny of the Indies).[1] This was the name under which he was made a member by the Academia Naturae Curiosorum in Vienna in 1681.[2]

Herbarium Amboinense

Illustration of durian from Herbarium Amboinense

Rumphius is best known for his authorship of Het Amboinsche kruidboek or Herbarium Amboinense, a

Medicis in Tuscany
.

Wreath laid at the Rumphius memorial on Ambon (c. 1930)

After going blind in 1670 due to

François Valentijn
was by Rumphius and they were close friends.

Illustration of critique of D'Amboinische Rariteitkamer... published in Acta Eruditorum, 1706

The original manuscript of Het Amboinsch Kruidboek (MS BPL 314) is held at

Leiden University Libraries and a digital version is available in its Digital Collections.[8]

The Herbarium Amboinense as published in 1741 consisted of six large folio volumes. Being blind, Rumphius required the assistance of others to produce it. His wife, Suzanna, was one of the early assistants and she was commemorated in Flos Susannae a white orchid (now Pecteilis susannae) described by Rumphius. His son Paul August made many of the plant illustrations as also the only known portrait of Rumphius. Other assistants included Philips van Eyck, a draughtsman, Daniel Crul, Pieter de Ruyter a soldier trained by Van Eyck, Johan Philip Sipman, Christiaen Gieraerts J. Hoogeboom[1] An English translation by E. M. Beekman, which took seven years to make, was posthumously published in 2011.[9]

The coconut crab illustrated in D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer

Among the many species described in the Herbarium was the upas tree (

Antiaris toxicaria); the toxicity of the tree was exaggerated and caught the fancy of Europeans.[10] Other plants included a description of the clove, the starfruit and durian. Rumphius used multinomial names and his descriptions were largely missed by Linnaeus as he received it after he had worked on Species Plantarum.[9] Rumphius was the first to interpret the function of the pitchers in pitcher plants. He also discovered that some mosquitoes bred in their pools. He analysed edible nest swiftlets and came to the conclusion that the substance was produced by the swiftlets and not marine algae as had been earlier believed.[2]

The other major work D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer ("Amboinese Cabinet of Curiosities"), a manuscript he had sent to Dr Hendrik D'Acquet of Delft in 1701 consisted mainly of plates of seashells and crabs.[6]

After Rumphius' death, his son Paul August was appointed "merchant of Amboina", the position his father had held. A monument was erected to the memory of Rumphius at Amboina but this was destroyed by the English who believed they would find gold under it. In 1824 a second monument was built by Governor-General van der Capellen but this was destroyed by a bomb in World War II.[1]

Works

Frontispiece of the 1705 first edition of D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer ("Amboinese Cabinet of Curiosities")
The standard author abbreviation Rumph. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[11]

References

  1. ^
    JSTOR 1217885
    .
  2. ^ a b c Meeuse, B.J.D. (1965). "Straddling two worlds: A biographical sketch of Georg Everhard Rumphius, Plinius Indicus". The Biologist. 68 (3–4): 42–54.
  3. Merrill, Elmer D. (1 Nov 1917). An Interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense
    . Vol. Publication No. 9. Manila, Philippines: Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Bureau of Science. pp. 1–595.
  4. ^
    ISBN 962-593-076-0
    .
  5. ^ "museumboerhaave.nl". Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
  6. ^
    S2CID 144849243
    .
  7. ^ Baas, Pieter and Jan Frits Veldkamp (2013). "Dutch pre-colonial botany and Rumphius's Ambonese Herbal" (PDF). Allertonia. 13: 9–19.
  8. Leiden University Libraries
    . Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  9. ^
    doi:10.1511/2009.76.7
    .
  10. ^ Bastin, John (1985). "New light on J.N. Foersch and the celebrated poison tree of Java". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 58 (2): 25–44.
  11. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Rumph.

Sources

External links
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