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J. E. Ortiz, O. Puche, I. Rbano and L. F. Mazadiego (eds.) History of Research in Mineral Resources. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero, 13.
Instituto Geolgico y Minero de Espaa, Madrid. ISBN 978-84-7840-856-6
Instituto Geolgico y Minero de Espaa 2011
TWO XIX CENTURY GERMAN CATALOGUES OF MINERAL COLLECTIONS
IN THE MUSEU DE HISTORIA NATURAL OF THE UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA
(PORTUGAL)
Manuel S. Pinto
1
, Pedro Callapez
2
and Claudia Schweizer
3

1
GeoBioTec, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal. mspinto@ua.pt
2
Departamento de Cincias da Terra, Universidade de Coimbra, 3000-272 Coimbra, Portugal. zepallac@gmail.com
3
Am Modenapark 13/11, A-10130 Vienna, Austria. c.schweizer@gmx.at
Abstract. In the rare books and manuscripts section of the library of the Department of Earth
Sciences of the University of Coimbra, two handwritten (in German) catalogues are kept that
refer to a total of some 1,900 numbered specimens of minerals and rocks. They were acquired
for the Museum of Natural History most probably around 1847 from Paulino de Nola Oliveira
e Sousa (1759-1831) who had used them in teaching metallurgy at Coimbra and must be the
author of the catalogues. These catalogues express some of Werners views on systematics of
minerals and rocks and to a small extent on geognosy, and so they are precious documents for
a better understanding of the history of the geological sciences in Portugal. Contrary to several
other catalogues of the Museum, the German catalogues do not show any inuence of the
French school of mineralogy.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the rare books and manuscripts section of the library of the Department of Earth Sciences (Departamento
de Cincias da Terra) of the University of Coimbra, two handwritten (in German) catalogues are kept that refer
to a total of some 1,900 numbered specimens of minerals and rocks. Such documents deserve more attention
than they have received so far, not only because they describe a relatively large number of specimens, but also
because they present classications of minerals and rocks according to A. G. Werners (1749-1817) concepts,
so being of interest from the point of view of the history of geological sciences in Portugal. Also some questions
have been raised about the possible authorship of the catalogues, about the use that was made of them and
about the origin of the collections and how and when they reached the University of Coimbra (see, for instance,
Monte-So, 1872 and Portugal Ferreira, 1998).
This paper is an attempt to give some answers to such questions as well as to describe very briey the
contents of the catalogues. For that effect it is necessary to present a few aspects of the history of the Faculty
of Philosophy (Faculdade de Filosoa) of the University of Coimbra, of its course in Philosophy and of the Uni-
versitys Museum of Natural History (Museu de Histria Natural MHN).
MANUEL S. PINTO, PEDRO CALLAPEZ AND CLAUDIA SCHWEIZER
214
2. THE MINERAL AND ROCK COLLECTIONS AND THE CATALOGUES OF
THE MHN (1772-1902) A BRIEF SUMMARY
The MHN was founded in 1772, when the university was reformed by the Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782),
prime minister to King Joseph I (1714-1777), and a Faculty of (Natural) Philosophy was also created. A four year
course in Natural Philosophy began to be taught in the Faculty using for practical classroom demonstrations
collections of natural objects that were kept in the Museum. The collections were catalogued according
to scientic criteria found in textbooks written by well-known authors (Portugal Ferreira, 1990; 1992; 1998;
Batista, 2000).
The use of the Museums mineral and rock collections from 1772 up to the beginning of the XX century was
successively made in demonstrations during lectures on Natural History (1772-1791), Zoology and Mineralogy
(1791-1835), Metallurgy (1801-1835), Mineralogy, Geognosy and Metallurgy (1835-1844), Mineralogy, Geol-
ogy and Mining (1844-1885) and Mineralogy and Petrology (1885-1902). The names of these courses subjects
were adopted when changes were introduced in the syllabuses of the Faculty as in 1791, 1835, 1844 and
1885, or when small changes were implemented, as in 1801, when Metallurgy (taught until then in Chemistry)
became an independent course endowed with a specic laboratory; this laboratory was incorporated in the
Museum around 1836 (Portugal Ferreira, 1998).
The Museum received its rst collections from Domingos Vandelli (1730-1816), professor of Chemistry and
of Natural History at the University, and from T. R. van Deck, a private collector. From then on it followed for
many years a policy of buying, of encouraging donations and of receiving specimens collected by naturalists
in Portugal and in its colonies. Around 1806 the Museum received a set of specimens from the Royal Ajuda
Museum, in Lisbon, which was headed by Vandelli. According to Portugal Ferreira, around 1847, the Museum
may have received a collection that had belonged to Paulino de Nola Oliveira e Sousa (1759-1831) after the
Faculty had decided to acquire it, as shown in the minutes of one of its meetings. The Brazilian-born Sousa,
a Discalced Carmelite monk, had been a member of the teaching staff of the University known to possess an
excellent private mineral collection (Ferreira, 1998).
As for catalogues, and apart, the list of specimens received by the MNH from the Ajuda Museum, the
following are known (Portugal Ferreira, 1998; Pinto & Marques, 1999): a) Mineralogia - 1 Sala (1
st
room),
dated around 1822, a manuscript referring to 1,300 specimens (the Ajuda ones included) of minerals and
rocks prepared by E. J. Barjona (1760-1831), who followed Brochands and Hays (1802-1822) ideas
on systematics; b) Catlogo mineralgico - 1 Sala, a manuscript dated around 1826, referring to 1,784
specimens (including the previous ones), prepared by C. R. Macedo (1790-1831); c) Catlogo dos Produ-
tos Mineralgicos de Portugal, dated 1829, prepared by J. J. Barbosa (1792-1855), which had some more
samples than the previous ones and in which a reference was made to rocks and incrustations kept in the
2 sala (2
nd
room); d) Catlogo da Coleco Mineralgica do Gabinete de Geognosia da Universidade de
Coimbra (manuscript), which is a translation, made in 1836 in Coimbra by H. C. Rivara (1809-1879), of a
German catalogue of minerals and rocks classied according to Werners concepts (see below); e) Catlogo
da Coleco Mineralgica do Museu da Universidade de Coimbra, dated 1850, prepared by H. C. dAlmeida
e J. M. dAbreu (1818-1871), who followed O. P. B. Dufrnoys (1792-1857) ideas on classication. Accord-
ing to Julio Henriques (1838-1928), this catalogue included the 1902 specimens mentioned in Catalogue
d) above 1574 described in the rst part (Mineralogie) and 328 in the second part (Geognosie) that
the MHN had received from Germany (forming the so-called German collections) in a date that he does not
indicate (Henriques, 1875). So the depreciative comments made in 1872 by the Visconde de Monte-So, the
professor in charge of the section of mineralogy of the MHN, about the state of collections have no apparent
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reason (Monte-So, 1872). Curiously Portugal Ferreira writes that the 1850 Catalogue did not include rocks
and listed 1987 specimens (Portugal Ferreira, 1998).
So four catalogues originally in Portuguese of the collections of the MHN were prepared that showed the
inuence of the French school of mineralogy on systematics of minerals. Possibly they were prepared just to fol-
low recommendations made at different times by the Congregao (Congregation) of the Faculty of Philosophy.
Portugal Ferreira (Ferreira, 1992) points out that the French school was dominant in the XIX century in Coimbra,
not only in teaching aspects, but also in the organization of the MHN.
Before that Werners ideas had reached Portugal also through his former Portuguese and Brazilian-born
students J. B. Andrade e Silva (1763-1838) and others who had studied under him in Freiberg, in the
late 1700s. But Andrada e Silva, who became full professor of Metallurgy in 1801, was never involved in the
preparation of catalogues.
Paulino de Nola O. Sousa and Joo Antnio Monteiro (1769-1834), the latter also a member of the teach-
ing staff of Coimbra University, who, supported by allowances paid by the University, went to Paris in 1804
and stayed for six years in Freiberg, from 1815 onwards, certainly were inuenced by Werners ideas (Ferreira,
1998). While Monteiro never returned to Portugal, Sousa came back, in 1821, and most probably it was him
who took the German catalogues to Coimbra.
3. THE GERMAN CATALOGUES AND COLLECTIONS
One of the German catalogues kept in the rare books and manuscripts section of the library of the Department
of Earth Sciences is a soft-cover volume of 116 pages, 20.532.8 cm each, not numbered, with the title
Verzeichnis zu einer aus 597 Nummern bestehenden orktognostischen Mineralien Sammlung, gefertiget im
Monat Januar 1818 (Catalogue of an oryctognostic mineral collection, consisting of 597 numbers, edited in
January 1818). The text has two parts, the rst one listing some 597 numbered specimens and the second
one, a supplement, adding new sample numbers and more information about many of the 597 numbered
specimens. The original numbers of the specimens, in black, had been replaced in both parts by different
numbers in sepia and numerous corrections and additions had been made to the text, also in sepia, in both
parts. The black and sepia handwritings seem to belong to the same person.
The other catalogue is a hardcover book of 142 numbered pages, 16.5 20.8 cm each, with no title in Ger-
man, but showing on the front page (handwriting different from the text) and on the spine (printed) Catalogo
Allemo Mineralogia e Geognosia. On the spine is also printed the word MUSEU meaning that the book
belonged to the library of the MHN. The catalogue has two parts, the rst one (Mineralogie) comprising a list
of minerals and some rocks, numbered 1 to 1574, presented in the hierarchic order of classes, families, genera,
species and varieties arranged according to Werners systematics. The minerals description follows their char-
acteristics as elaborated also by Werner. Most mineral species are represented by various samples (varieties),
differing in colour, crystal characteristics and the localities of their occurrence. The classes are four, the rst and
the fourth ones, Earths and earthy minerals (ca. 60% of the specimens) and Metallic minerals (ca. 38% of
the specimens), respectively, comprising the larger number of specimens.
The second part of the catalogue (Geognosie) is split up into two sections with the titles Samlung zur
Darstellung der Structuren der Gebirgsgesteine (Collection to illustrate the structures of mountain rocks,
describing the structures of rock formations as shown by 47 numbered samples), and Aufstellung der Gebirgs-
gesteine in systematischer Ordnung, wie solche der zweite oder angewandte Theil der Geognosie vortraegt
(Presentation of mountain rocks in systematic order, as it is documented by the second or applied part of
MANUEL S. PINTO, PEDRO CALLAPEZ AND CLAUDIA SCHWEIZER
216
geognosy, describing rocks in systematic order). That points to the fact that such collection served to docu-
ment in a practical way the lectures on geognosy. Like the mineralogical collection, the rock collection follows
the classication set up by Werner. Likewise the samples are continuously numbered (1 to 47 and 48 to 328)
throughout the catalogue, several samples representing the same rock type and its varieties. It is clear that the
description of the samples is based on and differentiated by their mineral content.
Specimens of rocks and minerals from all over the world make up the collections, notably from Germany
and particularly from the Freiberg area.
Both catalogues have exactly the same introduction (Einleitung) in which a reference is made to Christian
A. S. Hoffmanns (1760-1813) Handbuch der Mineralogie (1811), continued by August Breithaupt (1791-1873)
with three further volumes (18121818). The handwriting is the same in both catalogues. In fact, what the
author of the second, hardcover catalogue did was: a) he renumbering all the specimens in the soft-cover
catalogue and making corrections and additions in sepia (text of mineralogy of the hardcover book listing
1574 numbered specimens), and b) adding the information about the rocks listing 328 specimens (text on
geognosy).
As the soft-cover catalogue was written in January 1818, the hardcover catalogue (that practically incorpo-
rated it) is more recent than that dated 1818. On the other hand 1836, date of the translation of this catalogue
made by Rivara, is the latest date possible for its preparation. Rivara, who let the reader know that he had
felt difculties in translating the catalogue, does not make any mention on the date of the catalogue, certainly
because he could not nd any in it.
Who prepared the catalogues? Most probably Paulino de Nola Oliveira e Sousa, since: 1) he owned the
collections described in the catalogues until he died; 2) he had received the inuence of Werners ideas when
being in Freiberg; 3) he certainly had a good command of German after living for about six years in Germany;
4) he had the chance of looking for specimens during his travels in Europe; 5) he needed to have a collection
at hand in Coimbra to be used in his teaching of metallurgy, which he carried out from 1823 to about 1831.
The soft-cover catalogue was ready in 1818, that is three years after Sousas move to Freiberg. The hard-
cover catalogue was probably prepared here before his return to Coimbra. Joo A. Monteiro may have helped
him: the catalogues show a handwriting that has more similarities with Monteiros than with Sousas.
Sousa most probably brought the collection with him by ship since there is no indication that it was dis-
patched by sea, contrary to what happened with books and instruments that he conveyed to Coimbra.
In Coimbra, the collections and the catalogues must have been kept in the laboratory of metallurgy at least
until Sousas death in 1831. In 1835, the chair of Mineralogy, Geognosy and Metallurgy was created, and this
was followed by the incorporation of that laboratory into the MHN by decision of Professor Roque J. Fernandes
Thomaz (1808-1871) (Ferreira, 1998). In 1836, Rivara translated the hardcover catalogue; around 1847, Nolas
collections were acquired for the MHN, and in 1850 they were classied according to Dufrnoys ideas. A pen-
cil note written in 1880 on p. 328 of the hardcover catalogue let us know that 11 samples (less than 1%) were
missing (mostly minerals) which gives some evidence that the collections had been well kept for some 60 years.
4. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Werners concepts on the systematics of minerals and rocks, as expressed in the German catalogues, were
not used in the preparation of the other MHN catalogues. The works of his followers, Christian Hoffmann and
August Breithaupt, were not able to compete for that purpose with the ones authored by Brochand, Hay
and Dufrnoy. In fact, even the inuence of the French school of mineralogy in the organization of the MHN
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was over in 1878 when Danas systematics was used for that effect by Gonsalves Guimares (1850-1919) the
professor appointed to the chair of Mineralogy in that year (Portugal Ferreira, 1998).
Werners concepts on geognosy as shown in the hardcover catalogue (for instance when primitive, transi-
tion and other rocks are mentioned) lost gradually their inuence, and the catalogue could eventually serve for
teaching purposes, neither.
The German collections, with their 1,900 specimens from all over the world, certainly helped the MHN to
become one of the richest in Portugal in the XIX century, if not the richest. And certainly they have been used
for the good purpose of teaching generation after generation of students in classroom demonstrations.
The respective catalogues enriched the library of the Museum of Natural History, and they are precious
documents for a better understanding of the history of the geological sciences in Portugal.
REFERENCES
Batista, M.T. 2000 Gabinete de Histria Natural. In: Carreira, I., Reis, J.A., Batista, M.Y. and Ribeiro, R. (eds.), O Gabinete de
Histria Natural / Revivncias. Museu de Histria Natural, Fac. Cincias e Tecnologia, Univiversidade Coimbra, Coimbra,
9-17.
Henriques, J.A. 1875. Consideraes sobre o Folheto Intitulado Resposta do Visconde de Monteso. Imprensa da
Universidade, Coimbra, 40 pp.
Monte-So Visconde de 1872. Relatrio sobre a Seco Mineralgica do Museu de Histria Natural. In: Carvalho, J.S. (ed.),
Memria Histrica da Faculdade de Filosoa. Imprensa da Universidade Coimbra, 215-233.
Pinto, J.M.S. and Marques, J.F. 1999. Catlogo da Galeria de Minerais Jos Bonifcio dAndrada e Silva. Museu Mineralgico
e Geolgico-Museu de Histria Natural, Fac. Cincias e Tecnologia, Univ. Coimbra, Coimbra, 137 pp.
Portugal Ferreira, M.R., 1990. O Museu de Histria Natural da Universidade de Coimbra (Seco de Mineralogia e Geologia)
desde a Reforma Pombalina at Repblica. Memrias e Notcias do Museu Laboratorio Mineralogico e Geologico
Universidade Coimbra, 110, 53-76.
Portugal Ferreira, M.R. 1992. Pioneiros da Mineralogia em Portugal. Revista Colquio/ Cincias, 10 (5), 79-98
Portugal Ferreira, M.R. 1998. 200 Anos de Mineralogia e Arte de Minas: desde a Faculdade de Filosoa (1772) at
Faculdade de Cincias e Tecnologia. Fac. Cincias e Tecnologia, Universidade Coimbra. Coimbra, 188 pp.