Sitta neumayer Michahelles, 1830 (1 Viewer)

[Taphrospilus]

Sitta neumayer Michahelles, 1830 OD Bd.23 (1830) - Isis von Oken - Biodiversity Heritage Library

Ich erhielt mehrere Exemplare durch H. Neumayer einen thätigen Naturforscher in Ragus, wo sie den auf den Zypressen, die steilsten Kalkfelsen einzeln bekleiden, als Standvogel nicht selten seyn soll.

The Eponym Dictionary of Birds

Birdwatchers often come across bird names that include a person's name, either in the vernacular (English) name or latinised in the scientific nomenclature. Such names are properly called eponyms, and few people will not have been curious as to who some of these people were (or are).Names such...

books.google.de

Neumayer's Rock Nuthatch Sitta neumayer Michahelles, 1830 [Alt. Western Rock Nuthatch]
Franz Neumayer (1791–1842) was an Austrian botanist, entomologist, ornithologist and natural history dealer who lived in Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and collected in Dalmatia (Croatia).

The Key to Scientific Names - Birds of the World

Species accounts for all the birds of the world.

birdsoftheworld.org

Franz Neumayer (1791-1842) Austrian botanist, bird dealer, collector in Dalmatia, Croatia (Sitta).

BLKÖ:Neumayer, Franz – Wikisource

de.wikisource.org

Neumayer starb im Jahre 1840 im Dorfe Canna auf der Insel Sabioncello.

So when did he die? 1840 or 1842? According v.26 (1843) - Flora, oder, Botanische Zeitung - Biodiversity Heritage Library he died 18. September 1840.
No idea if the birth year is correct? According Bd.19=Bd.3 (1847) - Linnaea - Biodiversity Heritage Library death 20. September 1840 might be possible. An addtional name may Franz Josef Neumayer according Die Vegetationsverhältnisse der illyrischen Länder, begreifend Südkroatien, die Quarnero-Inseln, Dalmation, Bosnien und die Hercegovina, Montenegro, Nordalbanien, den Sandzak Novipazar und Serbien - Biodiversity Heritage Library

Additional question neumayer grammatically correct or allowed according the code? Not neumayeri(i)?

Not that surprising may that a plant Peucedanum neumayeri Rchb. 21 - Icones florae Germanicae et Helveticae, simul Pedemontanae, Tirolensis, Istriacae, Dalmaticae, Austriacae, Hungaricae, Transylvanicae, Moravicae, Borussicae, Holsaticae, Belgicae, Hollandicae, ergo Mediae Europae - Biodiversity Heritage Library was named for him. Probably as well Neumayera Rchb. 5 - Icones florae Germanicae et Helveticae, simul Pedemontanae, Tirolensis, Istriacae, Dalmaticae, Austriacae, Hungaricae, Transylvanicae, Moravicae, Borussicae, Holsaticae, Belgicae, Hollandicae, ergo Mediae Europae - Biodiversity Heritage Library . IPNI has him as Neumayer, Josef (1791-1840) Neumayer, Josef | International Plant Names Index

 

[mb1848]

"Not neumayeri(i)?" Mlíkovský 2007 says neumayeri ...is thus a subsequent incorrect spelling in such cases, without standing in zoological nomenclature (see ICZN 1999,Art. 33). Page 10.
https://publikace.nm.cz/file/3d8cdd32db4a350b1cbd4746f2305e00/15847/176-2007-Mlikovsky3.pdf .
Motacilla Feldegg was named in same Isis article.
A 1846 book mentions Sitta neumayer and I think says Baron Feldegg bought the deceased Neumayer's bird collections but mentions no date.
Page 77-78. La Dalmazia descritta ... .
Hellmayr (1911: 11) listed Sitta orientalisBrehm as a synonym of S. neumayer,apparently believing that Brehm (1831: 207)had named the form, based on a manuscript name of Natterer’s. Brehm (1831: 207) Type Specimens of AMNH Part 8 2010.

 

[l_raty]

Additional question neumayer grammatically correct or allowed according the code? Not neumayeri(i)?

Certainly allowed (the name is used as "a noun in apposition (in the nominative case)", see ICZN 31.1), albeit not nowadays recommended (cf. Rec. 31A).

 

[James Jobling]

“Franz Neumayer (1791-1840) ... He was born in Styria, a district to the south-west of Vienna, in 1791. ... He died aged about 50: one source says that he died on the Peljesac peninsula (a few kilometres north of Dubrovnik) in the small village of Cunna (Kuna-Peljeska) on 18 September 1840, while another simply states that he died in 1842.” (B. & R. Mearns, 2022, Biographies for Birdwatchers, Revised and expanded edition, 1, p.240).

 

[l_raty]

I can't tell if this is Mearns & Mearns' first source, but this :

Petter F. 1843. Traurige Lebensumstände des verstorbenen Franz Neumayer und dessen hinterlassener Familie. In: Botanischer Bericht aus Dalmatie. Flora, 26 (= n. R., 1) : 257-260.​

Flora oder Botanische Zeitung ; welche Recensionen, Abhandlungen, Aufsätze, Neuigkeiten und Nachrichten, die Botanik betreffend, enthält ; hrsg. von der königl. botanischen Gesellschaft in Regensburg​

...appears to offer the most detailed account of his life and death, and indeed tells us 18 Sep 1840, in dem Dorfe Cunna auf der Halbinsel Sabioncello (Sabioncello being Italian for (Croatian) Pelješac (to be pronounced 'pelyeshats')).


These sources :

• Nomenclator botanicus hortensis, oder alphabetische und synonymische Aufzählung der in den Gärten Europas cultivirten Gewächse, etc., nebst einer Vorrede von L. Reichenbach
• Bulletin ...
• Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde
• Encyklopädie der gesammten niederen und höheren Gartenkunst

...also agree on Sep 1840.


I seemingly cannot find a source telling 1842.

 

[PScofield]

I can find no support for the birth date nor the Styrian birthplace. This may come from misreading the attached. I think he was probably Viennese. He moved to Ragusa in 1825 and most of his accomplishments seem to be botanical.

Studied medicine at the Imperial Museum in Vienna but abandoned his studies to move to Ragusa with Krater where he married and had 5 children. He is frequently called young when discussing his death so a 1791 birth date and studying in 1824 do not fit at all.

Paul

 

[mb1848]

Die Vegetation der Erde (1901) has Franz Josef Neumayer 1791-1840.
since 1825 in the mountains around Ragusa and in Krivosije some rare plants

 

[l_raty]

Die Vegetation der Erde (1901) has Franz Josef Neumayer 1791-1840.
since 1825 in the mountains around Ragusa and in Krivosije some rare plants

v. 4 - Die Vegetation der Erde - Biodiversity Heritage Library

The Biodiversity Heritage Library works collaboratively to make biodiversity literature openly available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community.

www.biodiversitylibrary.org

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

I can't tell if this is Mearns & Mearns' first source, but ...

Just some additional footnotes, from Mearns & Mearns, 2022, ... (i.e. from/in the same text as in James's post #4):

Franz Neumayer
(1791–1840)

Little is known about Neumayer ... He was born in Styria, a district to the south-west of Vienna, in 1791 [*] ... He died aged about 50; one source says that he died on the Peljesac peninsula (a few kilometers north of Dubrovnik), in the small village of Cunna (Kuna-Peljeska) on 18 September 1840, while another simply states that he died in 1842 [**]. ...

---

[Footnotes in, vol. II, pp.586–587:]

*Nonveiller, 1999, p. 90. [= Nonveiller, G. 1999. The Pioneers of the Research on the Insects of Dalmatia. Zagreb (English translation of Nonveiller, G. 1989. Pioniri proučavanja insekta Dalmacije. Prilozi za povijest entomologije u Jugoslavilji, sveska 3. Posebna izdanja. Jugoslavensko entomološko Društvo (Yugoslavian Entomological Society, editiones separatae 2), Zagreb.]

**This date and location for Neumayer’s death was used in Mearns & Mearns (1988) [= Mearns, B. & Mearns, R. 1988. Biographies for Birdwatchers. The Lives of Those Commemorated in Western Palearctic Bird Names. London & San Diego]. It was based on Barnhardt, J.H. 1965. Biographical Notes upon Botanists, vol. 2, p. 547. Boston, Masschusetts (which was based on Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou 1885 61 (1-2): 49. The year 1842, without further detail, is given by Nonveiller (1999) [above] is widely repeated.

/B

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Also, in Pierre Cabard's L'Etymologie des noms d'oiseaux (2022) we find the following:

Franz Neumayer, en lui donnant le nom de ce dernier (qui l'avait nommé, pour sa part, Sitta syriaca). On ne sait rien de plus sur ce marchand colporteur, seulement la date de sa mort (le 18 septembre 1840) dans le village ...

Also note that (on p.269) in Jobling's earlier (Helm) Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (2010) he was only listed as:


Contrary to the dear old (now defunct) HBW Alive Key which (in March 2020) had this Eponym explained as:

neumayer
Franz Neumayer (1791-1842) Austrian botanist, bird dealer, collector in Dalmatia, Croatia (Sitta).

Either way, this far, I would go for the Death year "1840".

Well done guys!

/B

 

[l_raty]

Not that surprising may that a plant Peucedanum neumayeri Rchb. 21 - Icones florae Germanicae et Helveticae, simul Pedemontanae, Tirolensis, Istriacae, Dalmaticae, Austriacae, Hungaricae, Transylvanicae, Moravicae, Borussicae, Holsaticae, Belgicae, Hollandicae, ergo Mediae Europae - Biodiversity Heritage Library was named for him. Probably as well Neumayera Rchb. 5 - Icones florae Germanicae et Helveticae, simul Pedemontanae, Tirolensis, Istriacae, Dalmaticae, Austriacae, Hungaricae, Transylvanicae, Moravicae, Borussicae, Holsaticae, Belgicae, Hollandicae, ergo Mediae Europae - Biodiversity Heritage Library . IPNI has him as Neumayer, Josef (1791-1840) Neumayer, Josef | International Plant Names Index

The plants named after him :

Potentilla neumayeriana Tratt., Rosac. Monogr. 4: 75 (1824), in Google Books.
Collected in Austria (near Gutenstein) and communicated to the author by "Jos. Neumayer". Note the date -- this is before he moved to Dubrovnik.

Neumayera Rchb., Deut. Bot. Herb.-Buch: 205 (1841), in Google Books ; Ic. Fl. Germ., 5: 30, t. 210 (1841) text in BHL, plate in BHL.
No dedication, but seems to coincide with his death.

Jurinea neumayeriana Vis, Fl. Dalmat. 1, t. 10, f. 2. (1842), in Google Books.
= Amphoricarpos neumayeri Vis., Giorn. Bot. Ital. 1 (1): 196 (1844), nom. superfl., in Google Books.
= Xeranthemum neumayeri Baill., Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris 1: 266 (1880), in BHL.
= Amphoricarpos neumayerianus (Vis.) Greuter, Willdenowia 33: 51 (2003), in BioOne.

Echinops neumayeri Vis., Fl. Dalmat. 2: 25 (1847), in Google Books.
= Echinops spinosissimus subsp. neumayeri (Vis.) Kožuharov, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 71: 41 (1975), abstract (OUP).

Taeniopetalum neumayeri Vis, Fl. Dalmat. 3: 49 (1850), in Google Books.
= Peucedanum neumayeri (Vis.) Rchb.f., Icon. Fl. Germ. Helv. 21: 63 (1863), in BHL.
= Peucedanum arenarium subsp. neumayeri (Vis.) Stoj. & Stef., Fl. Bulg., ed. 3: 857 (1948), [I didn't find this one].
= Taeniopetalum arenarium subsp. neumayeri (Vis.) Pimenov & Ostr., Skvortsovia 3(1): 36 (2016), pdf (publisher's website).

Avena neumayeriana Vis., Fl. Dalmat. 3: 339 (1851), in Google Books.
= Avenastrum neumayerianum (Vis.) Beck, Glasn. Zemaljsk. Muz. Bosni Hercegovini 15: 24 (1903), snippet in Google Books.
= Helictotrichon neumayerianum (Vis.) Henrard, Blumea 3: 430 (1940), snippet in Google Books.
= Arrhenatherum neumayerianum (Vis.) Potztal, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 75: 315, 330 (1951), [I didn't find this one].
= Danthoniastrum neumayerianum (Vis.) Tzvelev, Bot. Zhurn. 94: 571 (2009) abstract (Nauka) [not seen in full by me].

Arum neumayeri Vis. ex Beck., Wiss. Mitt. Bosnien & Herzegovina 9: 474 (1904), in BHL.

*****

These were not named after him :

Niemeyera F.Muell. in Fragm. 6: 96 (1867), in BHL.
Neumayera [sic!] Rchb.f., Flora 55: 278 (1872), in BHL.
Originally dedicated to one Dr. Felix Niemeyer, professor of medicine at the University of Tübingen.

Leopoldia neumayri Heldr, Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 53 (I): 70 (1878), in BHL.
= Muscari neumayeri [sic!] (Heldr) Boiss., Fl. Orient. 5: 293 (1882), in BHL.
Originally dedicated to one Dr. M. Neumayr, geologist in Vienna.

Achillea neumayeri Heldr. ex Heimerl, Denkschr. Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss., Wien. Math.-Naturwiss. Kl. 48: 163 (1884), in BHL.
No dedication, but coined by the same author as the last one, hence I would expect the intended dedicatee to be the same. (Both plants are from Greece.)

Clerodendrum neumayeri Vatke, Linnaea 43: 535 (1882), in BHL.
Dedicated to one Prof. Neumayer in Hamburg.

Iris × neumayeri Janch. ex Holub, Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 28: 106 (1993), abstract.
Based on the work of one H. Neumayer, published in 1932.

 

[PScofield]

Nonveiller simply regurgitates the posthumous accounts of the 1840's death and I am afraid this adds very little to this debate and may actually confuse it more.

According to osobeN

"Neumayer, Franz, prirodoslovac, entomolog, ornitolog (Beč, 1791 - 1842), Dubrovnik

Neumayer, Joseph, učitelj, entomolog, malakolog, botaničar (Peggau, Austrija, 1791 - Pelješac, 1840)"

I suspect that Nonveiller is correct that Joseph Neumayer is a different botanist who perhaps was born in Peggau, Styria in 1791. But I am not sure when he died (perhaps 1842). Given the fact Franz was a young medical student prior to his abandoning his studies and moving to Ragusa I think we will find he was born about 1806. I assume the "Beč" given above is Vienna and not the Croatian or Slovakian towns...

 

[l_raty]

On ne sait rien de plus sur ce marchand colporteur, seulement la date de sa mort (le 18 septembre 1840) dans le village ...

Well, we know at least what Franz Petter wrote about him in 1843 :

Wenn ich seit zwei oder drei Jahren her in diesen Blättern kein Zeichen meines Daseyns gegeben habe, so geschah diess nur aus dem Grunde, weil es mir an Material zu einem Berichte gemangelt hat, und auch mein heutiger Bericht dürfte das Interesse der Leser nicht sehr in Anspruch nehmen. Leider ist die Botanik in Dalmatien durch den Abgang mehrerer ihrer eifrigsten Verehrer und Pfleger fast verwaiset. Ausser dem immerfort thätigen Prof. Alschinger in Zara, Hrn. Papafava in Cattaro, Hrn. Math. Botteri in Lesina und meiner Wenigkeit beschäftiget sich meines Wissens sonst Niemand mit Botanik und das ist wahrlich eine viel zu geringe Zahl in einem für Botanik so interessanten Lande, wie Dalmatien! Am 18. September 1840 ist abermals einer dieser wenigen aus unserem Kreise geschieden. Es war Hr. Franz Neumayer in Ragusa, ein Mann, welcher sich durch seine Entdeckun gen in den Gebirgsgegenden von Ragusa und Cattaro ein unbestreitbares Verdienst um die Erweiterung der Kenntniss der Flora des österreich. Kaiserstaates erworben hat. Das Leben dieses Mannes war ein beständiger, harter Kampf um die nicht etwa zum Lebens genusse, sondern bloss zur Lebensfristung unentbehrlichsten Bedürfnisse, und es erregte das Mitleid jedes Menschenfreundes, einen Mann von seinen Kenntnissen einem so bittern Mangel bloss gestellt zu sehen. Allein es war ihm nicht zu helfen ; denn er wollte es selbst so, und fühlte sich in seiner bedrängten Lage nicht so unglücklich, als es mir und andern seiner Freunde, die es aufrichtig mit ihm meinten, erschienen ist. Das Horazische "Sapere aude" und das Lessing'sche, "Die Kunst geht nach Brod" kannte er nicht. So fand er sich z.B. beleidigt, wenn ihm Jemand für abgelieferte Pflanzen, oder andere naturhistorische Gegenstände, welche er im Schweisse seines Angesichts, gesammelt und präparirt hatte, Geld angeboten hatte, so sehr er dessen bedurfte ; denn er hielt es für eine Entwürdigung der Wissenschaft und seines stolzen Ichs, Geld für einen der Wissenschaft geleisteten Dienst anzunehmen.
Neumayer hatte nur sehr wenige Bücher, da es ihm an Mitteln gebrach, sich welche anzuschaffen, aber er selbst war gewisser massen ein lebendiges Buch; denn er kannte, wenn auch nicht Alles, doch vieles, was ihm unter die Hände kam. Er wurde nämlich, als er noch in Wien Medicin studirte, im kaiserlichen Museo verwendet. Dort fand seine Wissbegierde und angeborne Neigung für naturhistorische Studien volle Befriedigung, und dort erwarb er sich auch jenen Schatz von Kenntnissen im naturgeschichtlichen Fache, welcher ihn über Tausende seiner Mitmenschen erhob. Im J. 1825 entsagte er seinen Studien und der Aussicht einer stabilen Anstellung, und ging mit dem Entomologen Dr. Krater (jetzt Kreisarzt in Sloszow an der russischen Gränze) nach Ragusa. Allein, das Reisegeld, womit ihn einer seiner Gönner in Wien unterstützt hatte, ging bald auf die Neige und nun stand er hülffos da, ein Fremder unter Fremden im fremden Lande. Ein anderer in seiner Lage wäre vielleicht von Gram oder Heimweh aufgerieben worden, allein N. verlor den Muth und die Hoffnung des Besserwerdens nicht. Er war ein wahres Seitenstück zu jenem vor einigen Jahren in Paris verstorbenen ungarischen Gelehrten (Mantelli nannte er sich, wenn ich nicht irre), von welchem die allg. Zeitung einen sehr anziehenden Nekrolog geliefert hat. Auch dieser fühlte sich in seiner Armuth glücklich, und als ihm einer seiner Gönner während des Badens in der Seine die alten abgenützten Kleider mit neuen und bessern vertauschte, eilte er damit sogleich zu einem Trödler, um des lästigen, schimmernden Plunders für einige Francs los zu werden. Ein ähnliches Beispiel könnte ich auch von N. erzählen. Aber Mantelli lebte in seiner philosophischen Verborgenheit in der Weltstadt nur in sich und für sich, und dachte wie Kant : "ein Gelehrter müsse unbeweibt bleiben", und als der Tod zu ihm sagte : "jetzt ist's genug", so kümmerte man sich in der ganzen Stadt Paris eben so wenig um den Todten, als man sich um den Lebenden nicht be kümmert hatte. Nicht so machte es N., er wählte sich unter den Töchtern des Landes ein Weib, setzte fünf Kinder in die Welt, welche er kaum zur Nothdurft nähren und kleiden konnte, und welchen er nur sein Elend zum Erbe hinterliess. Man hatte ihm zuletzt aus wohlwollender Absicht eine Anstellung beim Grundsteuer-Regulirungsgeschäft verschafft; allein er hing mit solcher Liebe an seiner Familie, dass er es, von ihr getrennt, nur wenige Monate aushielt und bereits sein Entlassungsgesuch eingereicht hatte, als ihn der Tod überraschte. Sein neuer Beruf führte ihn nämlich in eine sumpfige Gegend, wo er sich ein Wechselfieber zuzog. Eigensinnig wie er war, und auf seine abgehärtete Naturkraft vertrauend, verschmähte er ärztliche Hülfe und meinte, das Krankseyn werde schon von selbst aufhören, wenn er in eine gesündere Gegend käme. Allein sein Zustand verschlechterte sich. Mit stoischem Gleichmuth schleppte er seinen kranken Körper zu einem der landesüblichen Wasserbehälter, entkleidete sich, rief ein Paar Bauernburschen herbei, und befahl ihnen, kaltes Wasser zu schöpfen und über seinen Scheitel und Körper zu giessen. Dieser hydropathischen Execution folgte ein heftiges Fieber, welches seinem Daseyn ein Ende machte, ehe noch ärztliche Hülfe gekommen war. Diess geschah in dem Dorfe Cunna auf der Halbinsel Sabioncello. Wer, im Vorbeigehen gesagt, der Wittwe und den Kindern dieses wahrhaften Märtyrers der Botanik mit einer Unterstützung zu Hülfe käme, würde ein christliches Werk der Nächstenliebe üben; *) denn ich brauche nicht zu sagen, dass sich die Familie des Verblichenen in den traurigsten Verhältnissen befindet, in welche Menschenkinder gerathen können. Sie darbte zwar ehedem auch, aber N. gewann durch Lectionen in der deutschen und lateinischen Sprache doch wenigstens so viel, um den Hunger derselben zu stillen; was soll sie aber jetzt machen? Es besteht zwar in Ragusa eine Wohlthätigkeitsanstalt, allein sie hat nur über beschränkte Geldmittel zu verfügen.

*) Die botan. Zeitung hat schon öfter derlei Argumenta ad hominem in ihre Spalten aufgenommen. Es würde mich herzlich freuen, wenn dieser Hülferuf in einem menschenfreundlichen Herzen einen Wiederhall fände. Und warum sollte ich zweifeln ? Es lesen ja diese Blätter so viele, welche es thun können, wenn sie wollen.

Quick & dirty translation :

"If I didn't give any sign of my existence in these pages for two or three years, this was only because I lacked the material for a communication, and my communication of today should not attract much interest from the reader either. Unfortunately, with the death of several of its most zealous worshipers and caretakers, botany in Dalmatia is almost orphaned. Besides the still active Prof. Alschinger in Zara, Mr. Papafava in Cattaro, Mr. Math. Botteri in Lesina and myself, nobody else deals with botany as far as I know, and that is really far too few in a country that is so interesting for botany, like Dalmatia! On 18 September 1840 again, one of the few left in our circle fell. It was Mr. Franz Neumayer in Ragusa, a man who, through his discoveries in the mountainous areas of Ragusa and Cattaro, made an undeniable contribution to expanding the knowledge of the flora of the Austrian Empire. The life of this man was a constant, hard struggle for the most indispensable needs, not to enjoy life, but merely to earn a living, and it aroused the pity of every philanthropist to see a man of his knowledge exposed to such bitter shortage. But it couldn't be helped; for he wanted it that way himself, and was not so unhappy in his hardship as he appeared to me and other of his friends, who meant it sincerely with him. He knew neither Horace's "Sapere aude", nor Lessing's "The art goes after bread". For example, he felt insulted when someone offered him money for delivered plants or other natural historical objects, which he had collected and prepared with the sweat of his brow, so much as he needed it; for he considered it a degradation of science and of his proud self to accept money for a service rendered to science.​

Neumayer had very few books, because he lacked the means to acquire them, but he himself was, so to speak, a living book; for he knew, if not everything, at least much that came under his hands. While he was still studying medicine in Vienna, he was employed in the Imperial Museum. There his curiosity and inborn inclination for the study of natural history found full satisfaction, and it was there that he acquired that wealth of knowledge in natural history which elevated him above thousands of his fellow men. In 1825 he gave up his studies and the prospect of stable employment and went with the entomologist Dr. Krater (now district doctor in Sloszow on the Russian border) to Ragusa. However, the travel money, with which one of his patrons in Vienna had supported him, soon ran out, and now he stood there helplessly, a stranger among strangers in a strange country. Another person in his situation might have been crushed by grief or homesickness, but N. did not lose courage and hope of getting better. He was a true counterpart to that Hungarian scholar who died a few years ago in Paris (he was named Mantelli, if I'm not mistaken), of whom the general newspaper provided a very attractive obituary. He, too, felt happy in his poverty, and when one of his patrons, while he was bathing in the Seine, exchanged his worn-out clothes for new and better ones, he immediately rushed to a junk dealer to get rid of the tiresome, gleaming junk for a few francs. I could also tell a similar example about N. But Mantelli lived in his philosophical seclusion in the cosmopolitan city only in himself and for himself, and thought like Kant: "a scholar must remain unmarried", and when death said to him: "that's enough now", the whole city of Paris cared about the dead just as little as they had cared about the living. N. did not do it that way, he chose a wife from among the daughters of the country and brought five children into the world, whom he could scarcely feed and clothe to the necessities, and to whom he left only his misery as an inheritance. Most recently, out of benevolent intentions, he had been offered a position in the property tax regulation business; but he was so fond of his family that he could only endure being separated from them a few months, and had already submitted his petition for release when death surprised him. His new job took him to a swampy area, where he contracted an intermittent fever. Headstrong as he was and trusting in his hardened natural strength, he scorned medical help and thought that the illness would end by itself when he would get to a healthier area. But his condition worsened. With stoic indifference he dragged his ailing body to one of the customary water tanks, undressed, summoned a couple of peasant boys, and ordered them to draw cold water and pour it over his head and body. This hydropathic treatment was followed by a violent fever, which ended his existence before medical help had come. This happened in the village of Cunna on the peninsula of Sabioncello. Whoever, to say the least, would come to help the widow and children of this true martyr of botany with a donation would be doing a Christian act of charity; *) because I need not say that the family of the deceased is in the saddest circumstances that human children can get into. They were also starving before, but N. earned at least enough from lessons of German and Latin to calm their hunger; but what should they do now? There is indeed a charitable institution in Ragusa, but it only has limited funds at its disposal.​

​

*) The botan. Zeitung has often included such argumenta ad hominem in its columns. I would be very happy if this call for help found an echo in a philanthropic heart. And why should I doubt ? So many read these pages, who can do it, if they want to.​

Note that the above conflicts quite strongly with him being called a "dealer" (or "marchand colporteur") of any kind.

 

[PScofield]

In order to begin to separate Joseph and Franz. The only Joseph Neumayer from Peggau, Styria born in 1791 is:

Joseph Martin Neumayr
Birth Date 11 Nov. 1791
Baptism Date 22 Nov. 1791
Baptism Place Deutschfeistritz

 

[l_raty]

I seemingly cannot find a source telling 1842.

I just ran into an 1853 source that claims 12 Sep 1842 :

Verhandlungen des Zoologisch-Botanischen Vereins in Wien

books.google.com

This, however, also refers to Petter's biographical sketch of Neumayer (which says 1840 -- discrepancy not noticed), and claims that this sketch was published in 1834 (actually 1843), in vol. 16 of the journal (actually 26)...
Perhaps a global issue with figures in this note, thus...

 

[mb1848]

Neumayer considered Petter a rival.
Page 149-151:
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/141495705.pdf .

 

[Taphrospilus]

Just a question. Is his death record from Canna availble?

 

[l_raty]

Neumayer considered Petter a rival.
Page 149-151:
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/141495705.pdf .

Many of the letters that are referenced or cited in this thesis can be seen as PHAIDRA – Collezioni digitali | Università di Padova

Interestingly, he is again called a "dealer" (and even a "very active" one) in the thesis, and Visiani is said to have "bought" (an unknown number of) specimens from him. This contrasts strikingly with what Petter wrote, i.e. that he felt offended when being offered money for his specimens.

In a letter dated 30 Oct 1829, he declined money offered by Visiani, and suggested exchanging specimens instead of being paid for them :

Sarebbe un Egoismo, farsi paggare per queste povere herbette, come Ella mi offre.
Io non cerco niente per queste cose, che non hamo nisfuno valore, se non quello poi recevuto dai di Lei lumi.
Se le piacera dopo, di domandare e ricevere molto essempi di quelle species, che tengo, mi potera dare dal di Lei Erbario come un equivalente, tali species, lequali mi mancano. Io adesso dramerei molto di avere quelle erbe dalmate, le quali non ho potuto trovare io istesso.

(Neumayer, *** - 012 - PHAIDRA – Collezioni digitali | Università di Padova )

 

[PScofield]

Clementi is rather convinced that Franz died in 1842 and makes some assumptions about type material based on this date. The Croatian death records are available here:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2040054

Assuming he was buried in his home city and was Catholic I have search most Dubrovnik records for 1840 but not 1842.

I note that Padova considers the writer to be Josef and unfortunately there is no first name given.

 

[l_raty]

https://books.google.com/books?id=gI5kAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA2-PA232&dq="petter"+"neumayer"

Franz Petter listed as a professor of German language at the gymnasium of Spalato; Josef Neumayer listed as a professor of German language at the gymnasium of Ragusa.

Schematismo Provinciale Della Dalmazia

books.google.com

The same in Italian, with first names turned to Francesco for Petter and Giuseppe for Neumayer.


Most of his letters to Visiani are just signed "Neumayer".
A single one among them, however, is clearly signed "Neumayer G." : Neumayer, *** - 006 - PHAIDRA – Collezioni digitali | Università di Padova