Berikut adalah kajian dari seorang cendekiawan Barat Johann Friedrich Blumenbach pada 1779 mengenai 5 bangsa utama dunia.
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (11 May 1752 – 22
January 1840) was a German physician,
physiologist and anthropologist, one of the first to
explore the study of mankind as an aspect of
natural history, whose teachings in comparative
anatomy were applied to classification of what he
called human races, of which he determined five.
Biography
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach was born at Gotha,
studied medicine at Jena and then Göttingen,
graduating from the latter 1775 with his M.D.
thesis De generis humani varietate nativa (On the
Natural Variety of Mankind, University of
Göttingen, first published in 1775, re-issued with
changings of the title-page in 1776), which is
considered one of the most influential works in
the development of subsequent concepts of
"human races."[1][2]
He was appointed extraordinary professor of
medicine and inspector of the museum of natural history in Göttingen in 1776 and ordinary
professor in 1778. His later works included Institutiones Physiologicae (1787), and Handbuch der
vergleichenden Anatomie (1805). In 1812 he was appointed secretary to the Royal Society of
Sciences at Göttingen, in 1816 became Obermedizinalrat, in 1821 was made a knight-commander
of the Guelphic Order, and in 1831 was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. In
celebration of his doctoral jubilee (1825) traveling scholarships were founded to assist talented
young physicians and naturalists. In 1813, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences. In 1835 he retired. Blumenbach died in Göttingen in 1840.[2]
Blumenbach's racial classification system
Blumenbach divided the human species into five races in 1779, later founded on crania research
(description of human skulls), and called them (1793/1795):
* the Caucasian race or white race
* the Mongolian or yellow race
* the Malayan or brown race
* the Ethiopian, or black race
* the American or red race.
His classification of Mongolian race included all East Asians and some Central Asians.
Blumenbach excluded peoples of Southeast Asian islands and Pacific Islanders from his definition in 1779, as he considered them to be part of the Malay race. He considered American Indians to be
part of the American (Indigenous peoples) race. He did not think they were inferior to the
Caucasian race, and were potentially good members of society. He included the peoples of subSaharan Africa in the Negro or black race.
Blumenbach argued that physical characteristics like skin color, cranial profile, etc., were depended
on geography and nutrition and custom.
Blumenbach's work included his description of sixty human crania (skulls) published originally in
fascicules as Decas craniorum (Göttingen, 1790–1828). This was a founding work for other
scientists in the field of craniometry.
Blumenbach encountered in Switzerland in 1783 "eine zum Verlieben schöne Négresse" ('a negro
woman so beautiful to fall in love with'). Further "anatomical study" led him to the conclusion that
'individual Africans differ as much, or even more, from other individual Africans as Europeans
differ from Europeans'. Furthermore he concluded that Africans were not inferior to the rest of
mankind 'concerning healthy faculties of understanding, excellent natural talents and mental
capacities'.[3]
"Finally, I am of opinion that after all these numerous instances I have brought together of negroes
of capacity, it would not be difficult to mention entire well-known provinces of Europe, from out of
which you would not easily expect to obtain off-hand such good authors, poets, philosophers, and
correspondents of the Paris Academy; and on the other hand, there is no so-called savage nation
known under the sun which has so much distinguished itself by such examples of perfectibility and
original capacity for scientific culture, and thereby attached itself so closely to the most civilized
nations of the earth, as the Negro."[4]
These ideas were far less influential. His ideas were adopted by other researchers and encouraged
scientific racism.[5] Blumenbach's work was used by many biologists and comparative anatomists
in the nineteenth century who were interested in the origin of races: Wells, Lawrence, Prichard,
Huxley and William Flower are good examples of his influence on human biology.
Blumenbach and the Platypus
Blumenbach was also one of the first scientists to study the anatomy of the platypus. He gave the
scientific name Ornithorhynchus paradoxus to the animal not knowing that George Shaw had given
it the name Platypus anatinus. However, Platypus had already been shown to be used for the
scientific name for a genus of Ambrosia beetles so Blumenbach's scientific name for the genus was
used.[6]
Blumenbach and Natural History
Blumenbach wrote a manual of natural history entitled Handbuch der Naturgeschichte; 12 editions and some translations. It was published first in Göttingen by J. C. Dieterich in 1779/1780.
Blumenbach and the Chimpanzee
In his dissertation Blumenbach mentioned a name Simia troglodytes with a short description for the
Common Chimpanzee. This dissertation was printed and appeared in September 1775, but only for
internal use in the University of Göttingen and not for providing a public record. The public print of
his dissertation appeared in 1776.[7] Blumenbach knew that Linnaeus had already established a
name Homo troglodytes for a badly known primate, and in 1779 he discussed this Linnean name and concluded correctly that Linnaeus had been dealing with two species, a human and an
orangutan, none of them was a chimpanzee, and that by consequence the name Homo troglodytes
could not be used. Blumenbach was one of the first scientists to understand the identities of the
different species of primates, which were, excluding humans, orangutans and chimpanzees (gorillas
were not known to Europeans at this time). In Opinion 1368 the ICZN Commission decided in 1985
that Blumenbach's view should be followed, and that his Simia troglodytes as published by
Blumenbach in 1779 shall be the type species of the genus Pan and, since it was the oldest available
name for the Common Chimpanzee, be used for this species.[8] However, the Commission did not
know that Blumenbach had already mentioned this name in his dissertation. Following the rules of
the ICZN Code the scientific name of one of the most well-known African animals, currently
known as Pan troglodytes, must carry Blumenbach's name comined with the date 1776.[9]
Notes
1. ^ Biographical details are in Charles Coulston Gillispie, Dictionary of Scientific
Biography, 1970:203f s.v. "Johann Friederich Blumenbach".
2. ^ a b "Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
3. ^ Jack Hitt, "Mighty White of You: Racial Preferences Color America’s Oldest
Skulls and Bones," Harper’s, July 2005, pp. 39-55
4. ^ The anthropological treatises of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
5. ^ Fredrickson, George M. Racism: A Short History, p.57, Princeton University Press
(2002), ISBN 0-691-00899-X
6. ^ Platypus by Ann Moyal, pages 8 and 9
7. ^ Blumenbach, J. F. 1776. De generis hvmani varietate nativa liber. Cvm figvris aeri
incisis. - pp. [1], 1-100, [1], Tab. I-II [= 1-2]. Goettingae. (Vandenhoeck).
8. ^ p. 303 in ICZN 1987. Official lists and indexes of names and works in zoology. -
pp. 1-366. London. (The International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature).
9. ^ http://www.iczn.org/iczn/index.jsp ICZN Code Art. 8.1.1
Cfr.: Wikipedia.en - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_Blumenbach - This page
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