Wilno-Krzemieniec: botaniczna szkoła naukowa (1781-1841)

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ENThe last decades of the 18th century saw a growing interest in natural sciences, which developed in Poland thanks to the activities of the Commission for National Education. The reform of higher schools in Cracow and Wilno that the Commission had been responsible for contributed to the modernization of biological studies through the establishment of chairs of natural history and of botanical gardens. A Botanical Garden of the Royal Medical School at Grodno was established in 1776, and in 1781, basing on the collection of the former garden, a Botanical Garden was set up in Wilno. Close ties with the Wilno centre were maintained by the Gimnazjum (and later, since 1818, Liceum) Wołyńskie at Krzemieniec and its Botanical Garden (1805-1832). These gardens functioned as auxiliary sections of chairs of biology and were always supervised by a current professor of botany. At the end of the 18th century and in the first few decades of the 19th century, both schools were important centres of floristic and phytogeographic research. The above institutions could boast of a scientific school of botany that functioned for many years. The basis for that school had been laid by a research and teaching programme outlined by the first professor of natural history at Wilno, Jean Emmanuel Gilibert (1741-1814), a Frenchman connected with higher schools in Lyon and Montpellier, during his short stay in Grodno and Wilno in the years 1776-1782. The second professor of natural history, Jerzy [Georg] Forster (1754-1794), introduced important general biological and methodological problems into the teaching at Wilno Univesrity. Those two foreign professors were able to impose European standards on the training of naturalists in Wilno, while at the same linking it to research of the region.Their work was continued in Wilno by Stanisław Bonifacy Jundziłł (1761-1781), Jan Fryderyk Wolfgang (1775-1859), Józef Jundziłł (1794-1877), Stanisław Batys Gorski [Górski] (1802-1864), and at Krzemieniec by Wilibald Besser (1784-1842) and Antoni Andrzejowski (1785-1868). The staff at the Wilno University were trained according to a model whereby they first pursued studies in Wilno and then went abroad as post-graduates, to work in the leading centres of learning in Europe. Among the botanists active in Wilno, both S. B. Jundziłł and J. Jundziłł made such trips abroad. The modern research programme, first formulated by J. E. Gilibert, and then developed and specified by his followers, encompassed both the floristic exploration of Lithuania, Polesie, Volhynia and Podolia, combined with phytogeographic studies, as well as systematic and ecological research, in the form of field research and research in botanic gardens. The Wilno Botanic Garden, established by J. E. Gilibert, and extended by S. B. Jundziłł also served the work of many florists. A similar role was played by the garden of the Liceum at Krzemieniec. The research conducted by naturalists in Wilno and Krzemieniec yielded several dozen scientific publications as well as herbals, notes and manuscripts, which are stored in the libraries and archives of Kiev, Cracow, and Vilnius [Wilno]. The book deals with above-mentioned issues in four chapters. Chapter One gives an account of the beginnings of the teaching of botany in schools as part of the "natural history" classes in the period that started after the reform introduced by the Commission for National Education and lasted until the publication of the textbook on botany by K. Kluk (the years 1773-1785). Chapter Two presents the forming of the school of botany in Wilno and Krzemieniec and the conditions under which it functioned.It describes the contribution made by particular professors, including the foreign professors, to the relatively rapid development of botany in Wilno. Special attention is given to the role played by J. E. Gilibert, as well as S. B. Jundziłł, who continued his tradition and extended research to domains in which studies were conducted elsewhere in Europe. The chapter also presents the foreign ties of the botanists of the Wilno university, their scholarly trips abroad, and the benefits that such trips had for their work in Wilno (two scholars had a chance to study abroad: S. B. Jundziłł and J. Jundziłł). The correspondence between scholars from the East and West of Europe is also discussed. The chapter ends with a presentation of the development of the facilities that formed the basis for the Wilno and Krzemieniec scholars’ research, such as the botanical gardens, herbal collections, book collections and the emergence of biological journals. Chapter Three deals with the teaching at Wilno University and the Liceum at Krzemieniec. It analyzes the syllabuses drawn up by successive professors and stresses the role of S. B. Jundziłł and J. Jundziłł in modernizing such syllabuses through the addition of modern contents to them. The chapter makes use of unique materials in the form of examination questions for students, prepared by S. B. Jundziłł, J. Jundziłł and S. B. Gorski, as well as dissertations written for successive scientific degrees. Chapter Four presents the major floristic works of the Wilno and Krzemieniec scholars. They engaged in a vast programme of research conducted in Lithuania, Polesie, Volhynia and Podolia. The chapter presents the various organizational forms that enabled the realization of the programme, as well as the contribution made by individual researchers and their collaborators. [...].