Jean Louis George Émilien Dumas (November 4, 1804 – September 21, 1873) was a French scholar, paleontologist, and geologist.

Biography

Born to a Protestant family of the bourgeoisie in

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Morges Morges (; la, Morgiis, plural, probably ablative, else dative; frp, Môrges) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud and the seat of the district of Morges. It is located on Lake Geneva. History Morges is first mentioned in 1288 as ' ...

, Switzerland, then at

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, where his passion for the natural sciences matured. He returned to his homeland in 1824 following the death of his mother. Embarking on a career in the sciences, he went to Paris and studied at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

, the

Ecole des Mines de Paris Mines Paris - PSL, officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (until May 2022 Mines ParisTech, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines de Paris, les Mines, or Paris School of Mines), is a French grande école and a c ...

and the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, and with

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...

Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (15 April 177219 June 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories. ...

, and

Adrien-Henri de Jussieu Adrien-Henri de Jussieu (23 December 1797 – 29 June 1853) was a French botanist. Born in Paris as the son of botanist Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1824 with a treatise of the plant family (biol ...

. His education in the natural sciences was well rounded, and he threw himself with equal passion into

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...

, and

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, as well as engaging in the contemporary debate over

Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

. In 1828, he returned to Sommières, where he married Pauline Borel, a wealthy heiress from

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, and daughter of a silk manufacturer. The same year, he unveiled a rich paleontological dig site at Pondres (Gard) whose human and animal remains fueled Lamarckist arguments, particularly in the field of

Archaeozoology Zooarchaeology (sometimes called archaeozoology), also known as faunal analysis, is a branch of archaeology that studies remains of animals from archaeological sites. Faunal remains are the items left behind when an animal dies. These include bon ...

He surveyed his region with great patience and tenacity over a period of 20 years, to produce a geological map of the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

of Gard. During a long voyage in the 1860s he studied the geography of southern Europe. As an avid collector, he cultivated his curiosity throughout his life, and the Natural History Museum at

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

now preserves a large part of his numerous collections spanning the fields of Greek antiquities,

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

. The missing piece in this portrait of the "Explorer of Gard" is his taste for theater and acting. He was a willing participant as well as observer, which was considered by his contemporaries as incompatible with his role as a scientist. He died on September 21, 1873 in Ax-sur-Ariège.

Works

* Émilien Dumas, , 1876

Bibliography

* Édouard Dumas, ''Émilien Dumas et l'empreinte de Sommières'', Lacour-Ollé, 1993. * « Émilien Dumas, l'explorateur du Gard », Catalogue de l'expostion organisée à l'occasion du bicentenaiee de sa naissance, Musée d'Histoire naturelle de Nîmes.

External links

An article by the Sommières Association (French)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumas, Emilien 1804 births 1873 deaths French geologists French paleontologists Lamarckism