Genevan botanist (1720?1793)
Charles Bonnet
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Juel_Jens%2C_Portrait_of_Charles_Bonnet_Oil._1777.jpg/220px-Juel_Jens%2C_Portrait_of_Charles_Bonnet_Oil._1777.jpg) |
Born
| (
1720-03-13
)
13 March 1720
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Died
| 20 May 1793
(1793-05-20)
(aged 73)
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Scientific career
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Fields
| Naturalist
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Charles Bonnet
(
French:
[b?n?]
; 13 March 1720 ? 20 May 1793) was a
Genevan
[a]
naturalist
and
philosophical
writer. He is responsible for coining the term
phyllotaxis
to describe the arrangement of leaves on a plant.
[1]
He was among the first to notice
parthenogenetic
reproduction in
aphids
and established that insects respired through their spiracles. He was among the first to use the term "
evolution
" in a biological context. Deaf from an early age, he also suffered from failing eyesight and had to make use of assistants in later life to help in his research.
Chain of being
from
Traite d'insectologie
, 1745
Life and work
[
edit
]
Bonnet was born in Geneva, the son of Pierre Bonnet and Anne-Marie Lullin de Chateauvieux. Although originally from France, the family had been driven into Geneva by
religious persecution
of Protestants in the 16th century. At age seven he lost his hearing, which pushed him into an interest in the natural world.
[2]
His schoolmates troubled him due to the hearing handicap and the parents took him out and had a private tutor.
[
citation needed
]
Bonnet seems never to have left the Geneva region, and does not appear to have taken any part in public affairs
[
citation needed
]
except for the period between 1752 and 1768, during which he was a member of the republic's
Council of Two Hundred
.
[3]
The last twenty five years of his life he spent quietly in the country, at
Genthod
, near Geneva, where he died after a long and painful illness on 20 May 1793. His wife was a lady of the family of
De la Rive
. They had no children, but Madame Bonnet's nephew, the celebrated
Horace-Benedict de Saussure
, was brought up as their son.
Bonnet made
law
his profession, but his favourite pursuit was the study of
natural science
. The account of the ant-lion in
Noel-Antoine Pluche
's
Spectacle de la nature
, which he read in his sixteenth year, turned his attention to insect life. He procured
RAF de Reaumur's
work on
insects
, and with the help of live specimens succeeded in adding many observations to those of Reaumur and Pluche. In 1740, Bonnet communicated to the Academy of Sciences a paper containing a series of experiments establishing what is now termed
parthenogenesis
in
aphids
or tree-lice, which obtained for him the honour of being admitted as the youngest corresponding member of the academy.
During that year he had been in correspondence with his uncle
Abraham Trembley
who had recently discovered the
hydra
. This little creature became the hit of all the salons across Europe once philosophers and natural scientists saw its amazing regenerative capabilities.
[5]
In 1741, Bonnet began to study reproduction by fusion and the regeneration of lost parts in the freshwater hydra and other animals; and in the following year he discovered that the respiration of
caterpillars
and
butterflies
is performed by pores, to which the name
spiracles
has since been given. In 1743, he was admitted a fellow of the
Royal Society
; and in the same year he became a doctor of laws?his last act in connection with a profession which had ever been distasteful to him.
In 1753, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
, and on 15 December 1769 a foreign member of the
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
.
[6]
His first published work appeared in 1745, entitled
Traite d'insectologie
, in which were collected his various discoveries regarding insects, along with a preface on the development of
germs
and the scale of organized beings.
Botany
, particularly the leaves of plants, next attracted his attention; and after several years of diligent study, rendered irksome by the increasing weakness of his eyesight, he published in 1754 one of the most original and interesting of his works,
Recherches sur l'usage des feuilles dans les plantes
(Research on the use of leaves in plants). In this book, he observes that gas bubbles form on plant leaves that have been submerged in water, indicating gas exchange; and among other things he advances many considerations tending to show (as was later done by
Francis Darwin
) that plants are endowed with powers of sensation and discernment. But Bonnet's eyesight, which threatened to fail altogether, caused him to turn to
philosophy
. In 1754 his
Essai de psychologie
was published anonymously in
London
. This was followed by the
Essai analytique sur les facultes de l'ame
(Analytical essay on the faculties of the soul) (Copenhagen, 1760), in which he develops his views regarding the physiological conditions of mental activity. He returned to physical science, but to the speculative side of it, in his
Considerations sur les corps organisees
(Amsterdam, 1762), designed to refute the theory of epigenesis, and to explain and defend the doctrine of pre-existent germs. In his
Contemplation de la nature
(Amsterdam, 1764?1765; translated into Italian, German, English and Dutch), one of his most popular and delightful works, he sets forth, in eloquent language, the theory that all the beings in nature form a gradual scale rising from lowest to highest, without any break in its continuity. His last important work was the
Palingenesie philosophique
(Geneva, 1769?1770); in it he treats of the past and future of living beings, and supports the idea of the survival of all animals, and the perfecting of their faculties in a future state. Bonnet's complete works appeared at Neuchatel in 1779?1783, partly revised by himself.
Contemporary drawing of Bonnet's tomb in what was then the Parc des Plantes, now the
Parc des Bastions
. It was later removed, its whereabouts unknown. From the collections of the
Bibliotheque des Geneve
.
In 1760 he described a condition now called
Charles Bonnet Syndrome
,
[7]
in which vivid, complex visual hallucinations (fictive visual percepts) occur in psychologically normal people. He documented it in his 87-year-old grandfather,
[8]
who was nearly blind from cataracts in both eyes but perceived men, women, birds, carriages, buildings, tapestries and scaffolding patterns. Most people affected are elderly with visual impairments, however the phenomenon does not occur only in the elderly or in those with visual impairments; it can also be caused by damage elsewhere in their optic pathway or brain.
Bonnet's philosophical system may be outlined as follows. Man is a compound of two distinct substances, mind and body, the one immaterial and the other material. All knowledge originates in sensations; sensations follow (whether as physical effects or merely as sequents Bonnet will not say) vibrations in the nerves appropriate to each; and lastly, the
nerves
are made to vibrate by external physical stimulus. A nerve once set in motion by a particular object tends to reproduce that motion; so that when it a second time receives an impression from the same object it vibrates with less resistance. The sensation accompanying this increased flexibility in the nerve is, according to Bonnet, the condition of memory. When reflection?that is, the active element in mind?is applied to the acquisition and combination of sensations, those abstract ideas are formed which, though generally distinguished from, are thus merely sensations in combination only. That which puts the mind into activity is pleasure or pain; happiness is the end of human existence.
Bonnet's
metaphysical
theory is based on two principles borrowed from
Leibniz
: first, that there are not successive acts of creation, but that the universe is completed by the single original act of the divine will, and thereafter moves on by its own inherent force; and secondly, that there is no break in the continuity of existence. The divine Being originally created a multitude of germs in a graduated scale, each with an inherent power of self-development
[
citation needed
]
. At every successive step in the progress of the universe, these germs, as progressively modified, advance nearer to perfection; if some advanced and others did not there would be a gap in the continuity of the chain. Thus not man only but all other forms of existence are immortal
[
citation needed
]
. Nor is man's mind alone immortal; his body also will pass into the higher stage, not, indeed, the body he now possesses, but a finer one of which the germ at present exists within him. It is impossible, however, to reach absolute perfection, because the distance is infinite.
In this final proposition, Bonnet violates his own principle of continuity, by postulating an interval between the highest created being and the Divine
[
citation needed
]
. It is also difficult to understand whether the constant advance to perfection is performed by each individual, or only by each race of beings as a whole. There seems, in fact, to be an oscillation between two distinct but analogous doctrines?that of the constantly increasing advancement of the individual in future stages of existence, and that of the constantly increasing advancement of the race as a whole according to the successive evolutions of the globe.
In Philosophical Palingesis, or Ideas on the Past and Future States of Living Beings (1770), Bonnet argued that females carry within them all future generations in a miniature form. He believed these miniature beings, sometimes called
homonculi
, would be able to survive even great cataclysms such as the biblical Flood; he predicted, moreover, that these catastrophes brought about evolutionary change, and that after the next disaster, men would become angels, mammals would gain intelligence, and so on.
[
citation needed
]
Bonnet had an influence on other philosophers and
pre-evolutionary thinkers
;
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo
is known to have studied his publications on insects and to have been influenced as he developed concepts on progression of species (evolution).
[9]
[10]
Works
[
edit
]
Bust of Charles Bonnet by
James Pradier
, on display on the grounds of the
Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva
.
Books
[
edit
]
Contemplation de la nature
, 1764
- Traite d'insectologie ou Observations sur quelques especes de vers d'eau douce, qui coupes par morceaux, deviennent autant d'animaux complets,
1745.
[11]
- Recherches sur l'usage des feuilles dans les plantes,
1754.
[12]
- Essai de psychologie
, 1754.
[13]
- Essai analytique sur les facultes de l'ame,
1760.
[14]
- Considerations sur les corps organises
, two volumes, 1762
[15]
[16]
- Contemplation de la nature
, two volumes, 1764.
[17]
[18]
A German translation was made by Jakob Friedrich Klemm.
- La palingenesie philosophique
[archive]
, 1769.
[19]
An English translation of certain portions of the
Palingenesie philosophique
was published in 1787, under the title
Philosophical and Critical Inquiries concerning Christianity
.
[20]
- Œuvres d'histoire naturelle et de philosophie
, 8 volumes 1779?1783.
[21]
- Memoires autobiographiques
, Paris, Vrin, 1948
.
[22]
- Memoires d'histoire naturelle
(in French). Vol. 2. Neuchatel: Samuel Fauche. 1779.
- Ecrits d'histoire naturelle
(in French). Vol. 5. Neuchatel: Samuel Fauche. 1781.
- Lettres sur divers sujets d'histoire naturelle
(in French). Vol. 5. Neuchatel: Samuel Fauche. 1781.
-
1766 German edition of
Contemplation de la Nature
, or,
Betrachtung uber die Natur
, translated by
Johann Daniel Titius
-
First page of the 1766 German edition of
Contemplation de la Nature
, or,
Betrachtung uber die Natur
, translated by
Johann Daniel Titius
Correspondence
[
edit
]
- Lettre de M. Charles Bonnet. Au sujet du discours de M. J. J. Rousseau de Geneve, sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inegalite parmi les hommes.
[23]
Reproduction, in Rousseau's
Works
, of Bonnet's letter published in the
Mercure de France.
- Two letters in French from Bonnet to Lazzaro Spallanzani.
[24]
- Jean-Paul Nicolas,
La correspondance Charles Bonnet?Michel Adanson
, Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, 1969
- Letters published by the Duke of Caraman, including an exchange with Gabriel Cramer on human freedom.
[25]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Biogra
phy
[
edit
]
- A Lemoine,
Charles Bonnet
(Paris, 1850)
- Victor Antoine Charles de Riquet de Caraman,
Charles Bonnet, philosophe et naturaliste
(Paris, 1859)
[25]
- Max Offner,
Die Psychologie Charles Bonnet
(Leipzig, 1893);
- Joh. Speck, in
Arch. f. Gesch. d. Philos x.
(1897), xi. (1897), pp. 58 foIl., Xi. (1898) pp. 1?211
- Jean Trembley,
Vie privee et litteraire de Charles Bonnet
, 1794.
Secondary work
[
edit
]
- Isaac Salomon Anspach,
Discours du citoyen Isaac Salomon Anspach, prononce le jeudi 8 d'aout 1793 l'an 2 de l'Egalite, apres le placement de l'inscription en l'honneur de Charles Bonnet
.
[26]
- Peter J. Bowler, " Bonnet and Buffon : theories of generation and the problem of species", dans
Journal for the history of biology
, 6, 1973,
p.
259-281.
- Marino Buscaglia and Rene Sigrist (ed), " Charles Bonnet, savant et philosophe (1720-1793)". Actes du Colloque international de Geneve (25-27 novembre 1993)
, Geneve, 1994 (
Memoires de la Societe de physique et d'histoire naturelle de Geneve
,
vol.
47).
- Jacques Marx,
Charles Bonnet contre les Lumieres (1738-1850)
, Oxford, The Voltaire Foundation, 1976 (2 vol.)
- Georges Cuvier and Madeleine de Saint-Agy, "De Bonnet et de ses travaux",
Histoire des sciences naturelles : depuis leur origine jusqu'a nos jours
, Volume 4, 1843,
p.
244?263.
[27]
- Raymond Savioz,
La philosophie de Charles Bonnet de Geneve
, Paris, Vrin, 1948
.
[22]
- Rene Sigrist, " L'experimentation comme rhetorique de la preuve : l'exemple du
Traite d'insectologie
de Charles Bonnet", in
Revue d'Histoire des Sciences
, 54/4, 2001,
p.
419?449.
[28]
- Rene Sigrist,
La Nature a l'epreuve. Les debuts de l'experimentation a Geneve (1670-1790)
, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2011, p. 225-263, 292-309 et 536-576.
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Livio, Mario
(2003) [2002].
The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number
(First trade paperback ed.). New York City:
Broadway Books
. p. 109.
ISBN
0-7679-0816-3
.
- ^
Lang, Harry G.; Santiago-Blay, Jorge A. (2012).
"Contributions of deaf people to entomology: A hidden legacy"
.
Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews
.
5
(3?4): 223?268.
doi
:
10.1163/18749836-05031052
.
ISSN
1874-9828
.
- ^
Gisela Luginbohl-Weber (6 April 2011).
"Charles Bonnet"
.
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
.
- ^
Stott, Rebecca (2012).
Darwin's Ghosts
. New-York: Spiegel & Grau. pp. 89?92, 96?98.
ISBN
978-1-4000-6937-8
.
- ^
Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab 1742?1942 ? Samlinger til Selskabets Historie
, vol. 1, Copenhagen, 1942, p. 386.
- ^
Berrios G E & Brook P (1982) The Charles Bonnet Syndrome and the problem of visual perceptual disorders in the elderly.
Age and Ageing
11: 17?23
- ^
Bonnet Charles (1760)
Essai Analytique sur les facultes de l’ame
. Copenhagen: Philibert, pp 426?428
- ^
William Knight,
Lord Monboddo
and some of his contemporaries
, Thoemmes Press, Bristol, England (1900)
ISBN
1-85506-207-0
- ^
Anderson, Lorin (1976).
"Charles Bonnet's Taxonomy and Chain of Being"
.
Journal of the History of Ideas
.
37
(1): 45?58.
doi
:
10.2307/2708708
.
ISSN
0022-5037
.
JSTOR
2708708
.
PMID
11615700
.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1745).
ETH-Bibliothek / Traite d'insectologie ou observations sur quelques especes de vers d'eau douce, qui coupes par morceaux deviennent autant d'animaux complets
. Durand.
doi
:
10.3931/e-rara-9827
.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1754).
Recherches sur l'usage des feuilles dans les plantes, et sur quelques autres sujets relatifs a l'histoire de la vegetation
(in French). chez Elie Luzac, Fils.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1755),
Essai de psychologie
, pp. TdM
, retrieved
1 March
2020
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1760).
ETH-Bibliothek / Essai analytique sur les facultes de l'ame
. chez les freres Cl. et Ant. Philibert.
doi
:
10.3931/e-rara-24193
.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1762).
Considerations sur les corps organisaes: oau l'on traite de leur origine, de leur daeveloppement, de leur raeproduction, &c., & aou l'on a rassemblae en abraegae tout ce que l'histoire naturelle offre de plus certain & de plus intaeressant sur ce sujet
(in French). Chez Marc-Michel Rey.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1762).
Considerations sur les corps organises: ou l'on traite de leur origine, de leur developpement, de leur reproduction, &c. & ... tout ce que l'histoire naturelle offre ... sur ce sujet .
(in French). Marc-Michel Rey.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1769).
Contemplation de la nature
(in French). Chez M.-M. Rey.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1769).
Contemplation de la nature
(in French). Chez Marc-Michel Rey.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1769).
La palingenesie philosophique : ou Idees sur l'etat passe et sur l'etat futur des etres vivans : ouvrage destine a servir de supplement aux derniers ecrits de l'auteur et qui contient principalement le precis de ses recherches sur le christianisme
. Duke University Libraries. Geneve : C. Philibert.
- ^
Charles Bonnet (1803).
Philosophical and critical inquiries concerning Christianity, tr. by J.L. Boissier
. Oxford University.
- ^
Bonnet, Charles (1779).
ETH-Bibliothek / Oeuvres d'histoire naturelle et de philosophie
. Fauche.
doi
:
10.3931/e-rara-8551
.
- ^
a
b
Sarton, George (1952). "Review of Memoires autobiographiques de de Geneve, ; La philosophie de Charles Bonnet de Geneve, Raymond Savioz".
Isis
.
43
(3): 277?280.
doi
:
10.1086/348128
.
ISSN
0021-1753
.
JSTOR
227482
.
- ^
Bibliotheque de Geneve / Collection complete... [469]
. 1780
. Retrieved
1 March
2020
.
- ^
"ETH-Bibliothek / Fisica animale e vegetabile... [170]"
.
www.e-rara.ch
. 1782
. Retrieved
1 March
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Caraman.), Victor Antoine Charles RIQUET (Duke de; Bonnet, Charles (1859).
Charles Bonnet, philosophe et naturaliste, sa vie et ses œuvres
(in French).
- ^
Anspach, Isaak Salomon (1793).
Discours Du Citoyen Isaac Salomon Anspach, Prononce le Jeudi 8 d'Aout 1793, l'an 2e. de l'Egalite: Apres Le Placement De L'Inscription En L'Honneur De Charles Bonnet
(in French).
- ^
Cuvier, Georges (1843).
Histoire des sciences naturelles: depuis leur origine jusqu'a nos jours, chez tous les peuples connus
(in French). Fortin, Masson.
- ^
Sigrist, Rene (2001).
"L'experimentation comme rhetorique de la preuve : L'exemple du Traite d'insectologie de Charles Bonnet / Experiment as rhetoric of proof : The example of Charles Bonnet's Traite d'insectologie"
.
Revue d'histoire des sciences
.
54
(4): 419?449.
doi
:
10.3406/rhs.2001.2133
.
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