In May 1798,Napoleon Bonaparte set out from France for a major expedition to Egypt.Much more important were the lasting cultural and scientific effects of this expedition. For many centuries, Egypt had been a mysterious country where foreigners (especially Christians) were not welcome. Therefore, antiquarians interested in Ancient Egypt merely had access to the few antiquities taken to Europe by the Romans or by contemporary merchants, and to the inaccurate reports written by Greek and Roman authors. It was Napoleon who really opened up Egypt for the West.
Napoleon had found out that first-hand experience on Egypt’s past and present was practically lacking.In order to remedy this state of affairs, he decided to invite 167 scholars and artists to accompany the expedition.In 1798 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was chosen to be a member of Napoleon's great scientific expedition to Egypt.It was here along the banks of the Nile Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire discovered a in the Nile a one meter-long green fish with gar like scales and several finlets on its back and named it Polypterus(many fins).In 1802 the scientific name Polypterus bichir was given at a conference.it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to it as a bichir (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with by-keer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'.In 1809, the year after his return to France, he was made professor of zoology at the faculty of sciences at Paris, and from that period he devoted himself more exclusively than before to anatomical study.
"If I had discovered only this species in Egypt, it would compensate me for the pains usually involved in a long journey"
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809, describing the genus Polypterus and its Nile species Polypterus bichir.*
(English translation)
So who was Cuvier?
Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier (August 23, 1769–May 13, 1832) was a French naturalist and zoologist.
Cuvier, after corresponding with the well-known naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, was appointed in 1795, at the age of 26, as assistant to the professor of comparative anatomy at the Muséum National.Cuvier's researches on fish, begun in 1801, finally culminated in the publication of the Histoire naturelle des poissons, which contained descriptions of 5000 species of fishes.
In 1794 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire entered into correspondence with Georges Cuvier. Shortly after the appointment of Cuvier as assistant at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Geoffroy received him into his house. The two friends wrote together five memoirs on natural history, one of which, on the classification of mammals, puts forward the idea of the subordination of characters upon which Cuvier based his zoological system.
Animals named after Cuvier
These include Cuvier's beaked whale, Cuvier's Gazelle, Cuvier's toucan, Cuvier's Bichir, and Galeocerdo cuvieri, the tiger shark. There are also some extinct animals named after Cuvier, such as the South American giant sloth Catonyx cuvieri.-Anne
Napoleon had found out that first-hand experience on Egypt’s past and present was practically lacking.In order to remedy this state of affairs, he decided to invite 167 scholars and artists to accompany the expedition.In 1798 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was chosen to be a member of Napoleon's great scientific expedition to Egypt.It was here along the banks of the Nile Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire discovered a in the Nile a one meter-long green fish with gar like scales and several finlets on its back and named it Polypterus(many fins).In 1802 the scientific name Polypterus bichir was given at a conference.it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to it as a bichir (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with by-keer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'.In 1809, the year after his return to France, he was made professor of zoology at the faculty of sciences at Paris, and from that period he devoted himself more exclusively than before to anatomical study.
"If I had discovered only this species in Egypt, it would compensate me for the pains usually involved in a long journey"
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1809, describing the genus Polypterus and its Nile species Polypterus bichir.*
(English translation)
So who was Cuvier?
Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier (August 23, 1769–May 13, 1832) was a French naturalist and zoologist.
Cuvier, after corresponding with the well-known naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, was appointed in 1795, at the age of 26, as assistant to the professor of comparative anatomy at the Muséum National.Cuvier's researches on fish, begun in 1801, finally culminated in the publication of the Histoire naturelle des poissons, which contained descriptions of 5000 species of fishes.
In 1794 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire entered into correspondence with Georges Cuvier. Shortly after the appointment of Cuvier as assistant at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Geoffroy received him into his house. The two friends wrote together five memoirs on natural history, one of which, on the classification of mammals, puts forward the idea of the subordination of characters upon which Cuvier based his zoological system.
Animals named after Cuvier
These include Cuvier's beaked whale, Cuvier's Gazelle, Cuvier's toucan, Cuvier's Bichir, and Galeocerdo cuvieri, the tiger shark. There are also some extinct animals named after Cuvier, such as the South American giant sloth Catonyx cuvieri.-Anne
