Job Baster, sometimes Hiob Baster, (2 April 1711, in

Zierikzee Zierikzee () is a small city in the southwest Netherlands, 50 km southwest of Rotterdam. It is situated in the municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland, Zeeland. The city hall of Schouwen-Duiveland is located in Zierikzee, its largest city. Zierikze ...

– 6 March 1775) was a Dutch physician and naturalist who devoted himself almost entirely to the study of medicine and natural history. He studied and took his degree of doctor of medicine at

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

in 1731, and

Albrecht von Haller Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave, he is often referred to as "the fa ...

has thought his thesis, ''De Osteogenia'', worthy of a place in his collection. Professors like

Herman Boerhaave Herman Boerhaave (, 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738Underwood, E. Ashworth. "Boerhaave After Three Hundred Years." ''The British Medical Journal'' 4, no. 5634 (1968): 820–25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20395297.) was a Dutch botanist, ...

trained him in scientific methods and he learned to how study natural phenomena. After his study he visited the hospitals and botanical gardens in Paris and London where he became friends with

Philip Miller Philip Miller FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ''The Gardeners Dictio ...

and

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

. Afterwards he settled as a physician in his native town Zierikzee. In 1738 he became a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in London on recommendation of Boerhaave and

Willem 'sGravesande Willem Jacob 's Gravesande (26 September 1688 – 28 February 1742) was a Dutch mathematician and natural philosopher, chiefly remembered for developing experimental demonstrations of the laws of classical mechanics and the first experimental m ...

. Baster was a versatile scientist, in addition to his work as a physician he contributed papers about medicine, horticulture and marine biology to the

Philosophical Transactions ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...

and the Verhandelingen der

Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen The Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities), located on the east side of the Spaarne in downtown Haarlem, Netherlands, was established in 1752 and is the oldest society for the scie ...

. He also maintained a vast correspondence with leading biologists of his time. In Holland he was famous for his introduction of the

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have ...

(Kin-Yu) and his translation of

's work on horticulture.

Works

Natuurlijke Uitspanningen

In 1759 he published his most famous multivolume book: ''Natuurlyke Uitspanningen behelzende eenige waarnemingen over sommige zee-planten en zee-insecten'' (Natural accounts about some observations of some marine plants and insects). In the first two volumes of this work he contributes to the discussion if organisms on the bottom of the sea were merely animals, plants or, as

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

thought, zoophytes (plant-animals). His theory about this subject was, not onrightfully, fiercely opposed by

John Ellis (naturalist) John Ellis ( – 15 October 1776) aka Jean Ellis was a British linen merchant and naturalist. Ellis was the first to have a published written description of the Venus flytrap and its botanical name. Ellis specialised in the study of corals. ...

. Happily Baster continued to work on this beautifully illustrated book on marine fauna at the Dutch coast. He was the first author to describe and illustrate the medusas of hydropolyps and eggs and larvae of many mollusc species. In 1765, he had to end his marine investigations because at the age of 53 he had become blind in his left eye.

References

*Benthem Jutting, W.S.S. van & Hoorn, C.M. van (1967). oude en nieuwe gegevens over leven en arbeid van dr. Job Baster. Archief ZGW 1967, 29-70. * *Nagtglas, F. (1875). Job Baster M. D., een geleerde Zeeuw, honderd jaren na zijn sterven herdacht. Middelburg, pp. 43.

External links

Biography and bibliography
(Dutch)
Illustrations and species in Natuurlijke Uitspanningen
www.coastsandreefs.net
Gaedike, R.; Groll, E. K. & Taeger, A. 2012: Bibliography of the entomological literature from the beginning until 1863 : online database - version 1.0 - Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baster, Job 1711 births 1775 deaths Dutch naturalists Dutch entomologists Fellows of the Royal Society