Jacob Christian Schäffer, alternatively Jakob, (31 May 1718 – 5 January 1790) was a German
dean, professor of theology,
botanist
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
,
mycologist
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...
,
entomologist
Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...
,
ornithologist
Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...
and inventor. He was a theologian and teacher at
Ratisbon. His work in natural sciences includes writing comprehensive and illustrated volumes on plants, fungi, birds, and insects, proposing new classification systems, and maintaining a museum of
curiosities. Schäffer also experimented with electricity, colours, and optics, manufactured prisms and lenses, and invented an early washing machine and other practical devices. In the paper industry, he conducted experiments and published findings on alternate sources for paper production. He made studies of minute organisms without access to advanced microscopes and wrote a book on ''Daphnia.''
Biography
Schäffer was born in Querfurt, near Halle. A younger brother Johan Gottlieb trained as a pharmacist in 1734 and worked in Regensburg. Jacob did not train in science. He studied at Halle in the French School of Latin. From 1736 to 1738 he studied theology at the
University of Halle
Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...
and then worked with a merchant in Regensburg. After the death of his employer, he received an offer in 1741 in the pastorate of Regensburg. He before becoming a teacher in Ratisbon. In 1760, the University of
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...
gave him the title of Doctor of Philosophy, and the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...
awarded him in 1763 the title of
Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...
. In 1741, he became a pastor of a Protestant parish. In 1779, while still a pastor, he also became the dean of the Protestant parish in
Ratisbon.
Although he himself did not study science, he supported his brother's studies in medicine at Altdorf before establishing a practice in Regensburg in 1745. Two son of Johan became physicians, both writing on medicine.
He married Susanna Weißböck (
d. 1746) in 1743. Emanuel Theophil Harrer (1714–67) was a brother-in-law and an influence for his natural history work. After the death of his first wife in 1746, he married again in 1759.
Works

In 1759, Schäffer published ''Erleichterte Artzney-Kräuterwissenschaft'', a handbook of botany and the medicinal effects of plants for doctors and pharmacists. From 1762 to 1764, he wrote four richly illustrated volumes on mycology, ''Natürlich ausgemahlten Abbildungen baierischer und pfälzischer Schwämme, welche um Regensburg wachsen''. In 1774, he wrote ''Elementa Ornithologica'', in which he proposed a system of classification of the birds based on the structure of their legs. This work was followed by ''Museum Ornithologicum'' in 1789, in which he described the birds in his collection. In 1779, Schäffer published the three-volume work ''Icones insectorum circa ratisbonam indigenorum coloribus naturam referentibus expressae'', which included 280 hand-coloured plates of copper
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...
s, illustrating approximately 3,000 insects. An introduction to entomology, ''Elementa entomologica'', followed in 1789.
''Jacob Christian Schäffers erleichterte Arzneykräuterwissenschaft: nebst vier Kupfertafeln mit ausgemahlten Abbildungen''. Montag, Regensburg 2. Aufl. 177
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia.
...
Other achievements
Schäffer organised a rich personal cabinet of curiosities, the Schaefferianum Museum, opened to the public and which
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
(1749–1832) visited in 1786 at the time of the "voyage" which led him to Italy. He was a member of many learned societies such as those of
Göttingen
Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
,
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...
,
Saint-Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, London and
Uppsala
Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Loc ...
. He was a corresponding member of the ''Académie des sciences'' (Academy of Science) of Paris and joined, in 1757, the ''Kaiserlich-Carolinische Akademie der Naturforscher'', and two years later took part in the foundation of the ''Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften''. Schäffer maintained a correspondence with many naturalists including
Carl von Linné
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organi ...
(1707–1778) and
René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683–1757). In Feb 1764 he was elected a
fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
.
Natural history was not the only field which interested him. He conducted experiments on electricity, colours, and
optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...
. He remains famous for his manufacturing of
prisms and
lenses
A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...
. He invented an early
washing machine
A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...
, for which he published designs in 1767: ''Die bequeme und höchstvortheilhafte Waschmaschine''. His other inventions included a saw and furnaces. The paper industry also interested him and between 1765 and 1771 the results of his observations and experiments were published as ''Versuche und Muster, ohne alle Lumpen oder doch mit einem geringen Zusatze derselben, Papier zu machen''. It discussed, in particular, the manufacture of paper using various plants such as the
poplar,
moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...
and
hop, which might not have been used by the paper pulp manufacturers without his experimental work.
In his book ''Die eingebildeten Wurmer in Zahnen nebst dem vermeyntlichen Hülfsmittel wider dieselben'' (1757)
''"The Imaginary worms in teeth, with the presumed means of dispensing them"he argued against the contemporary theory that toothache was caused by minute worms. It had become a practice among physicians to use means for ridding the worms to cure toothache. These approaches included smoked
henbane
Henbane (''Hyoscyamus niger'', also black henbane and stinking nightshade) is a poisonous plant belonging to tribe Hyoscyameae of the nightshade family ''Solanaceae''. Henbane is native to Temperate climate, temperate Europe and Siberia, and natu ...
seeds, using hot water in the mouth and so on. It was claimed that the flushed water had the worms in them. He examined the debris and found that the so-called worms were henbane seeds.
See also
*
:Taxa named by Jacob Christian Schäffer
References
Sources
* Eckart Roloff: Jacob Christian Schäffer. Der Regensburger Humboldt wird zum Pionier für Waschmaschinen, Pilze und Papier. In: Eckart Roloff: Göttliche Geistesblitze. Pfarrer und Priester als Erfinder und Entdecker. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2010, p. 159–182, . 2. edition 2012 (Paperback) (in German)
* Eckart Roloff: Geistliche mit Geistesblitzen. (About Jacob Christian Schäffer und Claude Chappe.) In: Kultur und Technik. Das Magazin aus dem Deutschen Museum. Nr. 3/2012, p. 48–51, ISSN 0344-5690 (in German)
External links
*
Digital copy of his worksPlates from ''Elementa entomologica'' at the University of Copenhagen library* Sarah Lowengar
The Creation of color in 18th century Europesee Glossary, and "Jacob Christian Schäffer's Natural History Hierarchies" (Number, Order, Form: Color Systems and Systematization para.19–25)
* Site with the fiche of baptis
– procured by Andreas Melze
Die beqveme und höchstvortheilhafte Waschmaschine(1766)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaffer, Jacob Christian
1718 births
1790 deaths
People from Querfurt
18th-century German botanists
German mycologists
German entomologists
Fellows of the Royal Society