Gerardus Troost (March 5, 1776 – August 14, 1850) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

medical doctor, naturalist,

mineralogist 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 founding member and first president of the

Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natura ...

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Biography

Troost was born in

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, to Anna Cornelia (Van Heeck) and Everardus Josephus Troost. He received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the

University of Leyden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

, and of Master in Pharmacy, in 1801, from the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. After a brief practice at Amsterdam and the Hague, he was enlisted in the army as a private soldier, and then as an officer of the first class in the medical department. During these periods of service, he was wounded in the thigh and in the head. In 1807 Troost went to Paris under the patronage of Louis Napoleon, King of Holland. There he studied at the

School of Mines A school of mines (or mining school) is an engineering school, often established in the 18th and 19th centuries, that originally focused on mining engineering and applied science. Most have been integrated within larger constructs such as minera ...

with renowned mineralogist

René Just Haüy René Just Haüy () FRS MWS FRSE (28 February 1743 – 1 June 1822) was a French priest and mineralogist, commonly styled the Abbé Haüy after he was made an honorary canon of Notre Dame. Due to his innovative work on crystal structure and hi ...

. While in Paris, he translated into the Dutch language one of the earlier works of

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...

, ''The Aspects of Nature''. This service brought him the cordial thanks of the author, with whom he maintained a friendly correspondence to the last. In 1810, he settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While there, he lectured on chemistry and mineralogy and made a geological survey of the area surrounding the city. Doctor Troost served five years as president of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. In 1816, Troost was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. In 1825 he joined the New Harmony experiment, in

New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana. It lies north of Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of the Evansville metropolitan area. The town's population was 789 at the 2010 census. Es ...

, with

Thomas Say Thomas Say (June 27, 1787 – October 10, 1834) was an American entomologist, conchologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. His studies of insects and shells, numerous contributions to scientific journals, and scientific expeditions to Florida, Ge ...

. In 1827 he moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, where he became a professor of mineralogy and chemistry at the

University of Nashville University of Nashville was a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It was established in 1806 as Cumberland College. It existed as a distinct entity until 1909; operating at various times a medical school, a four-year military college, a ...

. From 1831 until 1850, he served as the State Geologist of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. While there he sent animal specimens to

John Edwards Holbrook John Edwards Holbrook (December 31, 1796 – September 8, 1871) was an American zoologist, herpetologist, physician, and naturalist, born in Beaufort, South Carolina, the son of Silas Holbrook, a teacher, and Mary Edwards. Although Holbrook's memo ...

. His most enduring contribution to science was his method of doing geological surveys, which was carried on by

David Dale Owen David Dale Owen (24 June 1807 – 13 November 1860) was a prominent American geologist who conducted the first geological surveys of Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. Owen served as the first state geologist for three sta ...

, son of

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. He strove to improve factory working conditions, promoted e ...

, who went on to do several surveys of the American northwest. Troost died in Nashville in August 1850 from

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

, which was epidemic in that city.

Work and legacy

Troost is credited with describing, as new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, two North American reptiles: the alligator snapping turtle ('' Macrochelys temminckii)'' and the western cottonmouth (''

Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma The western cottonmouth (''Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma'')Conant R. 1975. ''A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America''. Second Edition. First published in 1958. Houghton Mifflin Company Boston. 429 pp. 48 ...

''). He is honored by having a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

named after him, the Cumberland turtle (''

Trachemys scripta troostii The Cumberland slider (''Trachemys scripta troostii)'', also called commonly the Cumberland turtle and Troost's turtle, is a subspecies of pond slider, a semiaquatic turtle in the family Emydidae. The subspecies is indigenous to the Southeaster ...

)''. The reddish-colored crystals of a variety of ''

willemite Willemite is a zinc silicate mineral () and a minor ore of zinc. It is highly fluorescent (green) under shortwave ultraviolet light. It occurs in a variety of colors in daylight, in fibrous masses and apple-green gemmy masses. Troostite is a vari ...

'' found in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

are known as ''troostite''. In 1866, Dr. Benjamin F. Shumard named a genus of fossil blastoids ''Troosticrinus'' in his honor. In 1909, Elvira Wood edited and published Troost's unpublished

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

on the

crinoids Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, which are ...

(1850). This brought Troost's previously unknown work back into geological and paleontological discourse.

References

External links

Gerard Troost Manuscript and Related Notes, Papers and Drawings, 1849-1904
from the

Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institution ...

Baptism of Gerardus Troost
{{DEFAULTSORT:Troost, Gerard 19th-century Dutch geologists 19th-century American geologists American mineralogists 1776 births 1850 deaths Leiden University alumni People from 's-Hertogenbosch People from New Harmony, Indiana University of Amsterdam alumni 19th-century Dutch physicians Deaths from cholera Infectious disease deaths in Tennessee