- Armand David
Father Armand David (
September 27 ,1826 nearBayonne –November 10 ,1900 inParis ) was aLazarist missionary Catholic priest as well as azoologist and abotanist .Born in
Ezpeleta nearBayonne , in the north of Basque Country, inPyrénées-Atlantiques "département " ofFrance , he entered theCongregation of the Mission in 1848, having already displayed great fondness for the natural sciences. Ordained in 1862, he was shortly afterwards sent toBeijing , where he began a collection of material for amuseum ofnatural history , mainly zoological, but in whichbotany ,geology , andpalaeontology were also well represented.At the request of the French government, important specimens from his collection were sent to
Paris and aroused the greatest interest. TheJardin des Plantes commissioned him to undertake scientific journeys through China to make further collections. He succeeded in obtaining many specimens of hitherto unknown animals and plants, and the value of his comprehensive collections for the advance of systematic zoology and especially for the advancement of animalgeography received universal recognition from thescientific world.Father David summed up his labours in an address delivered before the International Scientific Congress of Catholics at Paris in April, 1888. He had found in China all together 200
species of wild animals, of which 63 were hitherto unknown to zoologists, and 807 species ofbird s, 65 of which had not been described before. He made a large collection ofreptile s,batrachia ns, andfish es and handed it over to specialists for further study. Also a large number ofmoth s andinsect s, many of them hitherto unknown, were brought to the museum of the Jardin des Plantes. What Father David's scientific journeys meant forbotany may be inferred from the fact that among therhododendron s which he collected no less than fifty-two new species were found and among theprimula e about forty, while the Western Mountains of China furnished an even greater number of hitherto unknown species ofgentian .The most remarkable of the animals found by David which were hitherto-unknown to
Europe were theGiant Panda andPère David's Deer . The latter had disappeared with the exception of a few preserved in thegarden s of the Emperor of China, but David succeeded in securing a specimen and sent it to Europe. In the midst of his work as a naturalist Father David did not neglect hismissionary labours, and was noted for his careful devotion to his religious duties and for his obedience to every detail of his rules.:"See also:
Buddleia ,Dove tree ("Davidia involucrata"),Chinese White Pine ("Pinus armandii")"ee also
*
Religion in China
*Jesuit China missions
*Christianity in China Catholic missionaries in China
*
Michel Benoist
*Giuseppe Castiglione
*Armand David
*Matteo Ricci
*Johann Adam Schall von Bell
*Ferdinand Verbiest
*St. Francis Xavier Protestant missionaries in China
:"See separate article
List of Protestant missionaries in China ".External links
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04641a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia]
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