Louis François Élisabeth Ramond, baron de Carbonnières (4 January 1755
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
– 14 May 1827), was a French
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
,
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...
and
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 ...
. He is regarded as one of the first explorers of the high mountains of the Pyrenees who can be described as a '' pyreneist''.
Life
Louis Ramond was born in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, to Pierre-Bernard Ramond (1715–1796), treasurer of war, and Rosalie-Reine Eisentrand (1732–1762).
He studied law at the University of Strasbourg in 1775 and became a lawyer in February 1777. In Strasbourg he became friends with another student, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (1751–1792), a writer belonging to the then-fashionable '' Sturm und Drang'' movement. During this period Ramond discovered German Romantic literature, in particular Goethe's '' The Sorrows of Young Werther''; this book inspired him to become a writer and in 1777 he published the ''Werther''-influenced ''Les Dernières aventures du jeune d'Olban'' (''The Last Adventures of Young Olban''). Ramond undertook a voyage to
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
in May 1777 where he met writers and poets, as well as scientists: the
theologian
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
Johann Kaspar Lavater
Johann Kaspar (or Caspar) Lavater (; 15 November 1741 – 2 January 1801) was a Switzerland, Swiss poet, writer, philosopher, physiognomist and theologian.
Early life
Lavater was born in Zürich, and was educated at the ''Gymnasium (school), Gy ...
(1741–1801), and the zoologists Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777) and Charles Bonnet (1720–1793); he also came across his friend Lenz there. The two men shared what was by all accounts an ecstatic experience contemplating the valley of the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
. Ramond also caught the passion for high mountains. A few days later, Lenz suffered his first bout of insanity. In 1778, Ramond published ''Élégies'', impressions inspired by his love for nature. Extracts from this work were published the same year in the ''Journal de Dames'' of Claude-Joseph Dorat (1734–1780).
In 1779, Ramond and his father settled in Paris. In 1780, Ramond published ''La Guerre d'Alsace pendant le Grand Schisme d'Occident'' (''The War of Alsace during the Great Western Schism''), a romantic and historical epic. But the French capital was not yet ready for German Romanticism and the book was not received as well as he had hoped.
Leaving Paris he returned to Strasbourg, where he placed himself at the service of cardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan (1734–1803), prince of Rohan-Guemenée and cardinal-archbishop of Strasbourg, celebrated for his role in the affair of the diamond necklace. In the company of the prince, Ramond travelled widely and met many of the personalities of the age. The cardinal was sent in exile to La Chaise-Dieu in June 1786, and he left for Auvergne accompanied by his faithful secretary. That summer, the cardinal wished to stay in a thermal town in the Pyrenees and Ramond departed to reconnoitre the area. The two men spent the summer and the autumn of 1787 in Barèges. Ramond started to explore the nearby mountains above Gavarnie and in the Maladetta Massif, to get a better acquaintance with their geological formations – these were the subject of a topical controversy, fed in particular by the limestone theories of Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu (1750–1801) – and to see whether the mountains were
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
or limestone, which was believed to be older rock.
When the cardinal was authorized to return to Strasbourg in December 1788, Ramond settled in Paris, where in 1789 he published his ''Observations faites dans les Pyrénées, pour servir de suite à des observations sur les Alpes'' (''Observations Made in the Pyrenees, To follow some Observations of the Alps''). To improve his knowledge of natural history, he followed the courses of Jussieu (1748–1836) and René Desfontaines (1780–1831) in the Jardin des Plantes.
He also launched himself into politics, being elected a deputy of Paris in September 1791 and joining the Club des Feuillants. In 1792 he defended the refractory priests whose deportation had been voted for. Ramond passionately supported the action of La Fayette, who tried to temper the over-enthusiasm of the Jacobins. His life in danger, Ramond decided to flee Paris in August and seek refuge in the Pyrenees. Under surveillance and regarded as suspect, he left for Barèges, where he was able to indulge in his botanizing and mountain observations to his heart's content.
He was arrested in 1794 and accused of being an enemy of the
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
. Imprisoned in Tarbes for seven months, his was a lucky escape from the
guillotine
A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...
.
From 1796 he devoted himself exclusively to natural history. He corresponded with Philippe Picot of Lapeyrouse (1744–1818) and various botanists such as René Desfontaines, Jean Thore (1762–1823) and Domenica Villars (1745–1814). From 1796, he taught as professor of natural history at the new Central School of Tarbes, where his courses were an immediate success, and he soon became a specialist in the botany and geology of the central Pyrenees. In 1797, he was finally able to concentrate on a project which had long intrigued him: to reach the top of Monte Perdido (3,355 m) to counter the theories of Dolomieu and Lapeyrouse on the 'early era' of the limestone of the central chain. The expedition, which comprised about fifteen people, including Picot of Lapeyrouse and several of Ramond's pupils, found many fossils, but did not reach the top. The account of the expedition appeared in 1797 under the title of ''Voyage au Mont-Perdu et dans la partie adjacente des Hautes-Pyrénées'' (''Voyage to Monte Perdido and the neighbouring parts of the High Pyrenees''). On 7 September the same year, again accompanied by his pupils and
Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel
Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel (27 March 1776 – 12 September 1854) was a French botanist and politician. He was a founder of the science of plant cell biology, cytology.
A native Parisian, at the age of twenty, he became an assistant- ...
(1776–1854), Ramond made a second attempt. The administrator and forester Étienne-François Dralet (1760–1844) also took part in the expedition. But it was only in 1802 that he reached finally the top. Ramond reported this ascent in the ''Journal de Mines'' (in Thermidor year XI). He corresponded in particular with
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 de Paris, Notre Dame. Due to his innovative work on cryst ...
(1743–1822), Alexandre Brongniart (1770–1847) and Jean Florimond Boudon de Saint-Mercy (1748–1831).
After the Central School of Tarbes closed, he returned to Paris in 1800 as a member of the Constitutional Council. From 1800 to 1806, he worked with the Parliament, as well as taking part in the work of the '' Société des observateurs de l'homme'' and becoming a member of the
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
in January 1802. He married Bonne-Olympe in 1805, widow of General Louis-Nicolas Chérin and the daughter of his friend Bon-Joseph Dacier (1742–1833). As a friend of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
, Ramond was named vice-president of the Corps législatif, then in 1806 he became prefect of
Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme (; or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285.Conseil d'État and did not leave Paris again except to go to Auvergne. In 1821, he spent the summer in Auvergne with René Desfontaines and two young naturalists, Victor Jacquemont (1801–1832) and Count Hippolyte Jaubert (1798–1874). He published finally, in 1825, ''Sur l'état de la végétation au sommet du Pic du Midi'', (''On the Condition of the Vegetation on the Summit of the Pic du Midi''), this being the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, not its more shapely namesake. On his death in 1827 Ramond was buried in the cemetery of
Montmartre
Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...
.
Commemoration
* One
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
Gesneriaceae
Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Ges ...
– a remnant of the flora of the Tertiary – was dedicated to him by the botanist
Jean Michel Claude Richard
Jean Michel Claude Richard (16 August 1787 – 1868) was a noted French botanist and plant collector active in Senegal, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Réunion, and a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.
Richard was born in Volon, Haute-Saône. He ...
(1787–1868). It grows between an elevation of 1,200 m and 2,500 m in the cracks of
schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...
Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
; the genus is the one of a very small number in the Gesneriaceae found outside the tropics or the sub-tropics.
* The Soum de Ramond (3,263 m) (known in Spanish as Pico Añisclo) in the Monte Perdido massif is named after him. (''See'' photograph above left.)
* His name is also given to Pic Ramougn (3,011 m), a steep, rocky peak in the Néouvielle massif. (in Spanish) ''Ramougn'' is the pronunciation of ''Ramond'' in the Gascon language.
* Bory de Saint Vincent gave Ramond's name to a chain of craters (''Puy Ramond'') on the Piton de la Fournaise in
Réunion
Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...
: they are regularly visited by walkers on the GR route which crosses Réunion from north to south, and by the thousands of runners who take part in the ''Diagonale des Fous'' each year.
* The Société Ramond (Ramond Society) was formed in 1865 in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, by Henry Russell (1834–1909), Émilien Frossard (1829–1898), Charles Packe (1826–1896) and Farnham Maxwell-Lyte. It wanted to distinguish itself from traditional academic societies, while still being devoted primarily to the scientific and ethnographic study of the Pyrenees and to the dissemination of knowledge. Ramond, who had excelled in these disciplines, was the best symbol for the new society. The Ramond Society still publishes an annual bulletin.
*Ramond's
herbarium
A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...
can be seen at the Muséum de l'histoire naturelle in Bagnères-de-Bigorre.
References
Works
*
Bibliography
*Benoît Dayrat, ''Les Botanistes et la Flore de France, trois siècles de découvertes'', 2003, Publication scientifiques du
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...
, 690 pp.
*Henri Béraldi, ''Cent ans aux Pyrénées'', Paris, 1898–1904, seven volumes in octavo. Reissued by Les Amis du Livre Pyrénéen, Pau, 1977, then by the Librairie des Pyrénées et de Gascogne, Pau, 2001.
*Albert Escolà Massagué, ''Ramond de Carbonnières. El águila de los Pirineos'', Editorial Pirineo, Huesca, 2022, 466 pp.