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Charles Frederick Hartt (23 August 1840 in Fredericton, New Brunswick – 18 March 1878) was a Canadian-American geologist,
paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
and naturalist who specialized in the geology of
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.


Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

Hartt graduated from
Acadia College Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...
in
Wolfville, Nova Scotia Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School. The town is a tourist destination due ...
, in 1860, and by his graduation he had made extensive geological explorations in
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
. In 1860, he accompanied his father, Jarvis William Hartt, to
Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...
, where they established a high school for young women in which Charles Frederick taught for a year. Hartt also studied the geology of
New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, and devoted special attention to the Devonian shales, in which he discovered an abundance of land plants and insects.


Exploration in Brazil

In 1861, Hartt started to work as a student assistant for Louis Agassiz at the
Museum of Comparative Zoology A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
,
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. This work lasted until 1864, when he received an appointment on the geological survey of New Brunswick. In 1865 he accompanied Agassiz to Brazil in the Thayer Expedition.Expeditions
Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. Accessed 19 August 2022.
Agassiz was mainly concerned with collecting fish on the expedition through the Amazonian basin. He also hypothesized that Brazil had also been affected by the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), so supported field work to find evidence supporting glaciation, such as gravel beds. His close assistant Hartt instead found evidence that other factors such as organic decay caused specific features in the Brazilian landscape. In the 20th century, extensive field work by other scientists mapped a vast ancient savannah that had separated the Amazonian rainforest into two separate ecosystems during the glaciation of other regions. The separation of ecosystems could theoretically support increased speciation. But in the 21st century, additional research was funded to answer hypothetical concerns about the potential extinction of the entire Amazonian ecosystem during predicted global warming. This field work indicated there were areas in the western lowlands near Lake Pata that retained lush tropical rainforest, so the complete natural history of the Amazonian basin during the LGM is developing a more complex narrative in which Hartt's field work can be expounded. Agassiz and Hartt were also searching in 1865 for evidence that could prove or disprove the 1859 Darwinian evolutionary theory, in contrast to the multiple creation theory it proposed to replace. From a scientific point of view, Darwinism could potentially resolve inconsistencies in the multiple creation narrative, just as multiple creation theory was an attempt to resolve inconsistencies in the single creation theory. The inconsistencies were facts that could not be compellingly explained by each theory. Evolutionary theory was not immediately accepted because of a lack of fossil evidence (an issue resolved by discovery of more and more fossil "missing links") and its inability to explain the distribution of species better than multiple creation theory (an issue resolved in the 1960s by
plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...
). There were a few inconsistencies such as the Lamarckian idea of
inheritance of acquired characteristics 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 ...
that Darwin had accepted and later expanded upon in his writings on heredity. Hartt fell in love with Brazil, and spent 15 months exploring the coastal regions from
Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...
to
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
. The large zoological collections he made were later used to prepare his ''Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil'' (Boston, 1870). In 1868 he was elected professor of natural history at
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...
, but later in the same year he accepted a post at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
, in
Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...
, New York, and planned to return to Brazil. Charles married Lucy Cornelia Lynde of
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, in 1869. They had two children, Mary and Rollin. Both children became writers. In all, Hartt participated in four expeditions to Brazil (the Morgan Expeditions) from 1870 to 1878. He collected a great deal of data about the land and the people, contributing to new knowledge about the
flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
, the
fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...
, minerals,
geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
,
linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
and ethnography. He was an accomplished
draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for ...
and illustrator and musician. In his last voyage he collected more than 500,000
specimen Specimen may refer to: Science and technology * Sample (material), a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount * Biological specimen or biospecimen, an organic specimen held by a biorepository ...
s, which were donated to the
National Museum of Rio de Janeiro The National Museum of Brazil ( pt, Museu Nacional) is the oldest scientific institution of Brazil. It is located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, where it is installed in the Paço de São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher's Palace), which is in ...
, where he worked as the founder and director of the section of geology from 1866 to 1867. In 1875, following a suggestion by Hartt, the Emperor
Dom Pedro II Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the seventh child of Em ...
(1825–1891) established the Imperial Geological Commission. The Commission was closed down after two years of work after losing the Emperor's support. Hartt was joined by his wife and children in Brazil in 1875, but they returned to the United States without him when his wife got pregnant. Hartt died in Rio de Janeiro on 18 March 1878, after contracting
yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
, at the age of 38. Agassiz died earlier, in 1873, before major discoveries could provide substantial fossil evidence and before the neo-Darwinists improved Darwinism by asserting the
Weismann barrier The Weismann barrier, proposed by August Weismann, is the strict distinction between the "immortal" germ cell lineages producing gametes and "disposable" somatic cells in animals (but not plants), in contrast to Charles Darwin's proposed pangenesi ...
in 1893. Hartt had gathered useful specimens in Brazil that could be explained by the 20th century Darwinian narrative of accelerated evolution, which hypothesized that Amazonian butterflies survived in isolated refuges during ice ages. But in the 21st century the refuge mechanism has been diminished as a possible explanation by research that determined sufficient rainfall maintained a more complete ecosystem,Amazonian forest through the last glacial maximum
By Steve Drury. 13 January 2017. Earth-pages – Research News from the Earth Sciences. Accessed 19 August 2022.
which increases the likelihood of a more complex mosaic mechanism to explain the variations in Hartt's specimens.Amazonian forest through the last glacial maximum
Comment 1 by Brian Roy Rosen (paleontologist), 16 January 2017. Original article by Steve Drury, 13 January 2017. Earth-pages – Research News from the Earth Sciences. Accessed 19 August 2022.
The ancient pollen data in the Bolivian rainforest of the Amazonian basin indicates that it was savannah during the LGM.Relating pollen representation to an evolving Amazonian landscape between the last glacial maximum and Late Holocene
Richard J. Smith, Francis E. Mayle, S. Yoshi Maezumi and Mitchell J. Power. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 August 2020. Accessed 19 August 2022.
One of Hartt's students, the American geologist
Orville Adalbert Derby Orville Adalbert Derby (; July 23, 1851 – November 27, 1915) was an American geologist who worked in Brazil. Education Derby studied geology at the Cornell University, obtaining his degree in 1873. While a student, he was invited in 1870 by h ...
(1851–1915), succeeded him at the National Museum, after having accompanied him in two of the Morgan Expeditions (1870 and 1871) and having worked with him at the Imperial Commission.


Publications


Thayer Expedition
(1870)
Geology and physical geography of Brazil
(1870)
Amazonian Tortoise Myths
(1875)
Notes on the Manufacture of Pottery Among Savage Races
(1873)


Bibliography

* Sanjad, N
Charles Frederick Hartt and the institutionalization of the natural sciences in Brazil
''Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos'', vol.11 no.2, Rio de Janeiro May/Aug. 2004. * Lopes, M. M. C. F. 1994 Hartt's contribution to Brazilian museums of natural history'. ''Earth Sciences History'', 13(2), pp. 174–9. * Freitas, M.V. ''Hartt: Expedições pelo Brasil Imperial'' Metalivros, 2002.


Legacy

The Armoured Catfish genus '' Harttia'' is named after him.


References


External links


The Museu Nacional and its European employees
Jens Andermann
The Man Who Abandoned Himself to Nature
Boletim Informativo UFMG (In Portuguese)
Contributions of Charles Frederick Hartt for Brazilian ethnography
(Biblioteca Digital Curt Nimuendaju) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartt, Charles Frederick 1840 births 1878 deaths Deaths from yellow fever Brazilian people of American descent Harvard University staff American geologists Canadian biologists Canadian geologists Cornell University faculty Pre-Confederation Canadian expatriates in the United States People from Fredericton Infectious disease deaths in Rio de Janeiro (state) Acadia University alumni American biologists