Gustav Heinrich Theodor Eimer (22 February 1843 – 29 May 1898) was a German
zoologist
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 ...
. He was a popularizer of
orthogenesis
Orthogenesis, also known as orthogenetic evolution, progressive evolution, evolutionary progress, or progressionism, is an obsolete biological hypothesis that organisms have an innate tendency to evolve in a definite direction towards some go ...
, a form of directed evolution through mutations that made use of
Lamarckian
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 ...
principles.
Life and work
Eimer was born in
Stäfa
Stäfa is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.
Geography
Stäfa has an area of . Of this area, 46.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 34% is se ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
where his father, who had taken refuge following an attempted coup against the German Confederation in Frankfurt in 1833, practiced medicine. Eimer's mother, Albertine Pfenniger, was Swiss. After studying at gymnasiums in Bruchsal and Freiburg where his father worked, Eimer matriculated at Tübingen, where he was influenced by
Franz von Leydig. He then studied from 1863 at Freiburg, and 1864 at Heidelberg to pass examinations in natural sciences. He spent the winter semester of 1865 at the University of Tübingen and in 1866 he worked in Berlin at
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (; or ; 13 October 18215 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician. He is known as "the father of modern pathology" and as the founder ...
’s laboratory. He obtained a medical degree in 1867 and then studied zoology at Freiburg under
August Weismann
August Friedrich Leopold Weismann FRS (For), HonFRSE, LLD (17 January 18345 November 1914) was a German evolutionary biologist. Fellow German Ernst Mayr ranked him as the second most notable evolutionary theorist of the 19th century, after Cha ...
followed by studies in Paris. He received a D.Phil in Würzburg studying fat absorption in the intestine under
Albert von Kölliker
Albert von Kölliker (born Rudolf Albert Kölliker'';'' 6 July 18172 November 1905) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, and histologist.
Biography
Albert Kölliker was born in Zurich, Switzerland. His early education was carried on in Zurich, ...
. After spending his junior faculty years as
prosector
A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and p ...
at
University of Würzburg
The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...
, he became in 1875 a professor of zoology and comparative
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
. Eimer was one of the founders of the German Zoological Society.
On 18 July 1870 he married the artist
Anna Lutteroth, daughter of a Hamburg banker. Anna would illustrate his scientific publications throughout their marriage. Eimer volunteered to serve in the army during the
Siege of Strasbourg
The siege of Strasbourg took place during the Franco-Prussian War, and resulted in the French surrender of the fortress on 28 September 1870.
After the German victory at Wörth, troops from the Grand Duchy of Baden under Prussian General Aug ...
, along with his wife who served as a nurse. He however fell ill and was forced to retire and went to the island of
Capri
Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...
to recuperate. It was here that his early studies on orthogenesis began. Eimer made use of studies (based possibly on the suggestion of
Kölliker) that he conducted on a blue variant of the
Italian wall lizard
The Italian wall lizard or ruin lizard (''Podarcis siculus'', from the Greek meaning agile and feet) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. ''P. siculus'' is native to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Italy, Serbia
Serbia ...
(''Podarcis siculus coeruleus)'' found on the Faraglioni Rocks off Capri. He explained that the island had little vegetation which made them blue rather than green which he claimed was closer to the colour of the rocks and therefore adaptive but he did not explicitly invoke selection as a process. In later works he strongly opposed the idea of selection as a process.
Eimer is credited with popularizing the term ''
orthogenesis
Orthogenesis, also known as orthogenetic evolution, progressive evolution, evolutionary progress, or progressionism, is an obsolete biological hypothesis that organisms have an innate tendency to evolve in a definite direction towards some go ...
'' (originally introduced by
Wilhelm Haacke
Johann Wilhelm Haacke (23 August 1855 – 6 December 1912) was a German zoologist born in Clenze, Lower Saxony, who served as Director of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide from 1882 to 1884.
Career
He studied zoology at the University ...
in 1893) to describe
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
directed in specific pathways due to restrictions in the direction of variation. Though his theories gained popularity in Germany in the 1880s, his work was not widely known in the English-speaking world until 1890 when his work (1888) was translated by
Joseph Thomas Cunningham
Joseph Thomas Cunningham (1859–1935) was a British marine biologist and zoologist known for his experiments on flatfish and his writings on neo-Lamarckism.
Career
Cunningham worked at the London Hospital Medical College. He completed his scie ...
as ''Organic Evolution as the Result of the inheritance of Acquired Characters according to the Laws of Organic Growth''. This book was predominantly a Neo-Lamarckian polemic against
August Weismann
August Friedrich Leopold Weismann FRS (For), HonFRSE, LLD (17 January 18345 November 1914) was a German evolutionary biologist. Fellow German Ernst Mayr ranked him as the second most notable evolutionary theorist of the 19th century, after Cha ...
, his former teacher and Neo-Darwinian. Eimer's later work, translated as ''On Orthogenesis'', was a more rigidly orthogenetic text, whereas ''Organic Evolution'' maintained a plurality of mechanisms for species formation.
The "
Eimer's organ Eimer's organs are sensory organs in which the epidermis is modified to form bulbous papillae. First isolated by Theodor Eimer from the European mole in 1871, these organs are present in many moles, and are particularly common in the star-nosed mole ...
s" found in members of the
mole
Mole (or Molé) may refer to:
Animals
* Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America
* Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...
family, especially in the
star-nosed mole
The star-nosed mole (''Condylura cristata'') is a small semiaquatic mole (animal), mole found in moist, low areas in the northern parts of North America. It is the only Extant taxon, extant member of the tribe Condylurini and genus ''Condylura ...
, are named after him. He described these organs in the
European mole
The European mole (''Talpa europaea'') is a mammal of the order Eulipotyphla. It is also known as the common mole and the northern mole.
This mole lives in a tunnel system, which it constantly extends. It uses these tunnels to hunt its prey. Un ...
in 1871. ''
Eimeria
''Eimeria'' is a genus of apicomplexan parasites that includes various species capable of causing the disease coccidiosis in animals such as cattle, poultry and smaller ruminants including sheep and goats. ''Eimeria'' species are considered to be ...
'', a genus of
parasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...
protozoa
Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris. Histo ...
, was also named after him.
Maria Linden became a precocious female student of Eimer's. Under Eimer's guidance she was awarded a degree and in 1895 she completed her thesis on the evolution of a snail's shell and she was awarded a doctorate in Natural Science. She worked as an assistant to Eimer until 1899.
He also studied the systematics of
Papilionidae
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the larges ...
. Eimer, G. H. T. . xii + 243 pp., 4 pls., 23 figs., Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1889 was published posthumously from 1889.
Eimer died in
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...
from an intestinal problem.
References
External links
Zoologische Studien auf Capri(1873-1874)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eimer, Theodor
1843 births
1898 deaths
German entomologists
19th-century German zoologists
Orthogenesis
People from Stäfa