John Edwards Holbrook

John Edwards Holbrook (December 30, 1794? – September 8, 1871) was an American physician, herpetologist, ichthyologist, and professor of anatomy at the Medical University of South Carolina Medical College of South Carolina. He was elected in 1839 a Fellow of the American Philosophical Society, in 1845 a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 1868 a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Scientists. Quotes The science which treats of the form, organization, habits, and history of Reptiles, is named Herpetology;‡ and has been more neglected than all other branches of Zoology; for the study of Reptiles offer difficulties more numerous and insurmountable than those presented by any other class of vertebrate animals. Inhabiting, for the most part, deep and extensive swamps, infected with malaria, and abounding with diseases during the summer months, when Reptiles are most numerous, time is wanting to observer their modes of life with any prospect of success. Regarded, moreover, by most persons as objects of deforestation, represented as venomous, and possessed of the noxious properties, few have been hardly enough to study their character and habits. …‡ André Marie Constant Duméri Dumeril observes the term had been previously used by Pierre Lyonnet Lyonnet Hist. Nat. des Rept., tom. i. p. 2. 1842 North American herpetology; or, a description of the reptiles inhabiting the United States Vol. 1 Philadelphia Judah Dobson https://books.google.com/books?id=veZAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA18 18 Habits. The Largemouth bass Bass Largemouth bass#Spawning appears with us early in March, and is then small, seldom exceeding twelve or fourteen inches in length; but as the season advances, it is caught of much greater dimension, especially in November and December, when it is most abundant and of largest size. It feeds on various other fish and on crustaceous animals, as shrimps, &c., and is taken with the hook, seine, or spear; it is held in much estimation as food, though I find its flesh wants firmness and flavor. Ichthyology of South Carolina Volume 1 Charleston, South Carolina Russell & Jones 1860 https://books.google.com/books?id=ILsrAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA153 153 (205 pages) Quotes about John Edwards Holbrook After the completion of the Herpetology, Dr. Holbrook and his wife paid a visit to Europe and Holbrook renewed acquaintance with some of the persons and scenes he knew in his youth. At the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris, according to Dr. Ogier, he " was received with open arms by Achille Valenciennes Valenciennes and other naturalists in 'the Jardin des Plantes,' " and was invited " by those in charge of the museum " to identify or confirm the accuracy of previous identification of North American reptiles. Holbrook often spoke " of this as one of the greatest compliments paid to his knowledge of reptiles."...The work on herpetology having been completed, and Holbrook having again become settled at home, he now devoted his energy to the preparation of a companion work on the fishes.Systematic ichthyology, as generally understood, was then in the condition it was placed in 1829 by Cuvier in the second edition of the Le Règne Animal Regne Animal. A comparatively few large families were recognized, and the series was headed by the Percidae Perches. Theodore Gill, Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Scientists 1905 Biographical Memoir of John Edwards Holbrook, 1794-1871; read before the National Academy of Sciences, April 22, 1903 5 http://biographicalmemoirs.org/pdfs/holbrook-j-e.pdf 47–77 (quote from p. 58) External links Category:1794 births Category:1871 deaths Category:Academics from the United States Category:Brown University alumni Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Physicians from South Carolina Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:Scientists from South Carolina Category:Zoologists from the United States