- Pierre Barrère
Pierre Barrère (
1690 ,Perpignan –1755 , Perpignan) was a French physician andnaturalist .Pierre Barrère practised in Perpignan from 1717.In 1722, he voyaged to
Cayenne where he stayed for five years as aProfessor ofbotany and doctor in the military hospital.Ornithology
In 1745 he published his" Ornithologiae Specimen Novum, sive Series Avium in Ruscinone, Pyrenaeis Montibus, atque in Galliâ Aequinoctiali Observatarum, in Classes, genera & species, novâ methodo, digesta" at Perpignan.His classification, entirely based on the form of the beak and feet , divided the birds into four groups : les palmipèdes, les demi-palmipèdes, les fissipèdes et les demi-fissipèdes.Within these groups there was no rank above
genera andspecies and these were more or less disordered.His very artficial classification was soon abandoned. The work was dedicated to Buffon.Medicine
He published "Observations anatomiques tirées des ouvertures d’un grand nombre de cadavres" in 1753 at Perpignan.
Fossils
He published in 1746 his "Observations sur l'origine et la formation des pierres figurées, et sur celles qui, tant extérieurement qu'intérieurement, ont une figure régulière & déterminée" at Paris. He was interested in the origin and the nature of fossils and described many from
Catalonia and thePyrenees .He proposed that the fossils of marine Molluscs proved the presence of an ancient ocean.His account of Guyana
Barrère published two more works, these on his observations in
Guyana .These were "Essai sur l'histoire naturelle de la France équinoxiale, ou Dénombrement des plantes, des animaux et des minéraux qui se trouvent dans l'isle de Cayenne, les isles de Remire, sur les côtes de la mer et dans le continent de la Guyane" (1741)and "Nouvelle Relation de la France équinoxiale, contenant la description des côtes de la Guiane, de l'île de Cayenne, le commerce de cette colonie, les divers changements arrivés dans ce pays, et les mœurs et coutumes des différents peuples sauvages qui l'habitent ; avec les figures dessinées sur les lieux" (1743).References
Michael Walters (2003). "A Concise History of Ornithology". Yale University Press (New Haven, Connecticut) 255 p. Translated from French Wikipedia
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