Simon Pallas Biography

Author: F., thus, by a foreigner by his birth, Pallas, however, lived in Russia for x years and made up the beauty of our Academy of Sciences. He devoted his own to his second Fatherland to a comprehensive study of his second Fatherland, and therefore, with pride, we can reckon him to Russian scientists, between whom he, in the depths of his knowledge, in the breadth of scientific interests and tasks, as well as in the extraordinary gift and accuracy of observations, occupies one of the most primary places.

His father Simon Pallas, a famous surgeon, was a native of East Prussia. Young Peter Simon was intended to follow in the footsteps of his father. His extraordinary gifting manifested itself already at an early age: as a summer boy, he began to listen to lectures in the Berlin Medical and Surgical College, and in the city of staying for another two years at universities in Galle, Leiden and Gettingen, Pallas, then the summer doctor of medicine went to London, where he, in fact, had to visit the hospital, but he had to visit the hospital, but he had to visit the hospital.

In fact, he diligently visited the excellent natural-historical collections of the city and entered into personal relations with the most outstanding naturalists there. Returning in G. this last year, two works of Pallas were published in Gaga, drawing the attention of the scientist of the world to him; These works relating to the anatomy and systematic of lower animals immediately showed rare observation and insight in the young author.

Thanks to this, the name Pallas immediately became very famous, and when Empress Catherine II, who planned to equip an expedition for Russia's study in a natural-historical sense, turned to the Leipzig Professor Ludwig for a recommendation to the leaders of this expedition of a particularly knowledgeable natural scientist, he stopped on Pallas. Academy of Sciences on December 22, Tertner; But in April, in the summer of G., at first, Pallas intended to participate in an expedition that the Academy, at the invitation of the Royal Great British Society of Sciences, was equipped with Kamchatka to observe the passage of Venus in front of the Sun in the city of Pallas, in this memorable expedition, which continued for six years, Academics of Guldenstet, S.

Gmelin, Lepakhin, Falk, Georgi participated; With each of them there were several "students" of the Academy. For almost a whole year he went in preparations for the expedition, and only at the end of June, Pallas touched from St. Petersburg. We will not spread here about the details of this unusually fruitful journey, through which Pallas managed to open and inform the Academy extremely wonderful objects from all kingdoms of nature; Let's call it, e.g.

We outline only in the main features of the path traveled by Pallas. Dear, he often stopped, made numerous excursions from his parking lots, everywhere made collections and often on the spot, in addition to the exact travel magazine, which led through his entire trip, described the curious objects that he had fallen. So, for example. During the wintering in Simbirsk, Pallas developed his waybill, so in March, at the same time, he left Simbirsk and went to Samara through Stavropol and Samara Luka, and from there through Syzran to a sulfur town; Returning to Samara, he drove through Borsk to Orenburg and to Iletskaya protection; Having examined the stone salt there, Pallas went to the Yaitsky town, the focus of the Yaitsky Cossacks, where he got acquainted with their farm, mainly with fishing in the river.

Urals; Along this last, he then drove to Guryev, where he stocked in information about fishing in the Caspian Sea; Finally, from Guryev, Pallas followed the steppe to Ufa, where he spent the winter with GO for the year. In addition to numerous observations of rocks, plants and animals of this region, Pallas also managed to study the life of three tribes that inhabit it, namely: Yaitsky Cossacks, Kyrgyz and Kalmyks.

During his wintering in Ufa, he graduated from the development of the first volume of his journey, which appeared in the year. Then he drew up a description of 8 species of mammals and birds unknown to the day, which he managed to observe in the year. In the middle of May, Pallas left Ufa and headed for the Iset Province; All summer he devoted to the study of the Ural mountains and their mineral wealth; By the way, he visited Yekaterinburg and local mountain plants; After making several more small travels, by the way, according to p.

Tour, settled for the winter in Chelyabinsk "Chelyaba". Around the New Year, Pallas drove to Tobolsk and Tyumen, from where he returned to Chelyabinsk. In half of April, in his letters to the secretary of the Academy of Sciences A. Euler Pallas complains about his poor state of health and refuses his trip to China. In general, this winter he has fallen in spirit this winter. Already from Tomsk, he writes to Euler that the whole journey was G.

But, thanks to the improvement of his health, as well as the arrival of George, he again encouraged. Already in early March G.Pallas went into the further path: through Irkutsk and Lake Baikal on ice, he drove to Selenginsk, and from there to Kyakhta; Upon returning to Selenginsk, he visited Dauria, where he observed the life of the steppe tungus there, which were very mixed with the Buryats and the Mongols; Returning again to Selenginsk, he again visited Kyakhta, and then, through Irkutsk, drove back to Krasnoyarsk, where he stayed part of the winter.

In the outcome of January, from Sarapul, where he stopped for a while, he made an excursion to Kazan, and upon his return, he went south and, having passed the Ural steppe, reached Tsaritsyn in early September. Here he spent the winter and part of the spring of G. So, a memorable journey continued with a lies for six years. The burdens and deprivations associated with him adversely affected the health of Pallas, which, as he himself notices at the end of the description of his journey, returned with an exhausted organism and with graying hair in a year of life.

Due to the terrible frosts, in which Pallas happened to observe the freezing of mercury in the thermometer, he once froze in the room of the heel. But, despite all the hardships of the temperature, despite the stubborn inflammation of the eyes, often repeated dysentery and various other diseases, he tirelessly pursued the task set for himself, which consisted in a comprehensive study of the countries visited by it.

The literary fruit of this journey was a famous three -volume description of it, which published in S., this is the fact that it was published more than a hundred years ago - and to date, it is an extremely plentiful treasury not only for geologists, botanists and zoologists, but in the same way for ethnographers, rural and forest owners. The mass of unusually accurate observations of objects and phenomena from all the kingdoms of nature not only significantly expanded the horizons of science, but at the same time gave the government the opportunity to get closer to the needs and needs of the population, as accurately with the abundant means that the nature of Russia has to satisfy these needs.

So. For science, the description is especially important for science, because it concerns the extensive edge in the form in which it was in the years ago, that is the further fruit of this memorable trip is a number of important works and monographs, the development of which Pallas began to return to S. already in the city, it is an abundant source of important and, until then in Europe, unknown information not only for historians, but, especially, and, especially, and, especially, and, especially, and, especially, and, especially, and, especially, and, especially, and especially, and, especially, and, especially, and, especially Anthropologists, the obvious proof of the striking labor and insight of the mind of Pallas, should be considered to be a description of the new rodents "Nova Species QUADRUPEDUM E GLIRIUM ORDINE", which appeared in the year of such a monograph before that time, did not exist at the same time.

Each zoologist engaged in the department of rodents, everything again draws from it important information that is not limited to one accurate description of individual species, but relate to many extremely interesting details on the anatomy and physiology of these animals; In the last attitude, experiments on the temperature of the body of rodents during their winter hibernation are especially curious.

Pallas’s inquisitiveness hugged, as we see, very diverse areas of science. In the eighties, he developed the Russian flora, which, unfortunately, remained not over.

The first volume of this well -published Flora Rossica was released in M, and the second in the m year. At the same time, on behalf of Empress Catherine II, Pallas compiled “comparative dictionaries of all languages ​​and adverbs,” according to the materials collected for the most part itself, the first part came out in the city, in moreover, the whole mass of smaller works and articles were printed by Pallas.

Such an enhanced scientific activity of our scientist with the poor health of the health of heavily shocked during a long journey was supposed to lead to a fatigue of his forces. The noise of the capital and vanity of St. Petersburg public life buried Pallas, and he decided to take a journey again, this time in the southern provinces, especially to Crimea, only shortly before that annexed to Russia.

In February, Heisler from Leipzig. When moving through the river. Klyazma, her ice was so weak that Pallas, who left the crew, fell into the hole to half of his body, and then was forced, without changing the dresses, to drive 37 miles to the city As a result of this adventure, his health was finally undermined, and until the end of his life he suffered from the consequences of this cold.

Having drove through Penza, Saratov, Tsaritsyn and Sarept in Astrakhan, he made several botanical excursions in the surrounding dry steppes and, returning to Sarepta, settled there for a while, attracted by the wealth of the forms of local plants and insects. After driving again to Astrakhan, Pallas went from there to the Caucasian line, visited various mineral springs and Mount Beshtau, and then headed for the Sea of ​​Azov, examined the road of the ruins of Majar and crossed to the Crimea.In the outcome of October, he arrived in Simferopol and stopped at his friend Gablitz Habliz, a local vice-governor, in whose house he spent the winter.

In early March, the charms of the nature of the Crimea were so captivated that, having returned from there in September in S. Empress Catherine, having learned about such a desire of her scientist, graciously fulfilled this desire: the sovereign granted several estates in the Crimea, as well as the house in Simferopol, and the construction of it still rub. In August, from the first one can be called Clarke Clark, who acquired his significant botanical collections from Pallas, which later passed to Lambert; And from Russian travelers, I was visited, by the way, Izmailov, who, in his “journey into midday Russia” here, in the Crimea, Pallas continued his scientific research with enthusiasm.

Having already printed only some of his heads regarding the Crimea itself, M. M. Slavich were recently transferred and appeared in “Notes by I. But the most important concern of Pallas in Crimea was in the development of a long-term fauna of Russia, for which he has been diligently collecting materials for many years. He repeatedly informed the Academy of Sciences about the development of this wonderful Works, the publication of which was slowed down by various adverse circumstances, the main thing is the unscrupulous act of the drawer of Heisler, who laid the tables of drawings for this composition in Germany, the text was finally printed in the city of The fate of the publication of this famous essay has a report by academician K.

Baer, ​​who was deliberately sent by the Academy of Sciences in Leipzig for the revenue of drawings laid down by the Heisler. This report was printed in the city of Pallas lived in Crimea alternately in Simferopol or Sudak. The estates belonging to him involved him repeatedly in long -term litigation, caused, by the way, by the fact that the property rights of neighboring Tatars were not accurately established.

Some information about this is in the article by A. I, pp. Distributed peacefully with his second wife, which he was married from a year, Pallas in the year moved to his beloved daughter from his first marriage, the widow of Lieutenant General Baron Wimpffepe, who lived in the Crimea, in his estate of the Kalmuk-Kark. Here, in solitude, he lived happily two years, continuing his scientific classes tirelessly.

But, being cut off there completely from the scientific world and strongly preoccupied with the fate of his fauna, in January, he turned to the Academy of Sciences with a request for the outcome of an unlimited vacation to Berlin, from where he could better monitor the manufacture and engraving of drawings to his Zooographia. In March, the requested vacation with the preservation of full salary salaries was highly allowed, and in the outcome of April Pallas, accompanied by his daughter, left Crimea and went through the fords and Breslavl to Berlin, where he arrived in the month of June.

In Berlin, Pallas lived calmly with a year to a year, highly blessed by the scientists there, who, including his biographer, the famous helminthologist K. Rudolfi, often visited him in the evenings and enjoyed an inexhaustible source of his knowledge and a depth of his thoughts.