Karl Ludwig Blume ( 1796 - 1862 )

By what means are we to judge the bearing and conduct of an individual pioneering in a new field? Can we afford to assess the merit of his contributions to be jdaded by considerations of his personality? These are questions which we must ask ourselves seriously in light of today's sophisticated scientific researches. Years ago ,when all branches of scientific investigation were in their infancy , the matter was far different . Pride and vanity often preceded the disrepute of investigators whose achievements were nonetheless worthy. Orchidology , too, has seen its share of dissension and dicord on this account . Among the earliest of orchidologists to become as well a known for his obstinacy and determination to adhere to his own principles as for his contributions, was Karl Ludwig Blume. frustration and conflict of opinion were his companions during a major portion of his life.

Karl Ludwig Blume was born in Brunwick , Germany , in 1796 ,and through numerous biographical references exist about him , little is known of his childhood years and early interests . It is known , however ,that he was educated for the medical profession . His inquiries into native medicines led him to Java in 1817, where he began to study botany . There he was appointed inspector of the vaccine and assistant director of the Buitenzorg Botanic Garden. It seemed that he had an astonishing capacityfor work and an ambition no less great, for the collected largely and began to publish while yet little acquinted with the work already done in the scientific institutions of Europe .

In 1822 he succeeded Reiwardt as director of the Botanic Garden . It was during this administration , in 1825 , that his Tabellen en Platen voor de Javaansche Orchideen appeared , providing the first exact orchid knowledge of the mainland of Java and adjacent islands . In this work he prepared a key to the Javanese orchids in which he various genera were divided into three groups according to the granular , powdery , or waxy nature of the pollen grains. Each genus was next listed in tabular form with descriptions of the sepals , lip, column , anther , polinia , and habit. Next he diagrammed a series of careful floral analyses of one or more species within most of the genera . As additions to the flora or Java , in that same year he published Bijdragen tot de Flora von Nederlandsch Indie (Cotributions to the Flora of the Dutch Indies), in which numerous new concepts were presented -detailed descriptions of teh genera and brief summaries of the component species . A number of the generic concepts (such as Agrostophyllum ,Spathoglottis ,a nd Phalaenopsis) are still recognized as good genera, though others (Dendrolirium )are still recognized as good genera though others (Dendrolirium and Trichotosia , for instance) have been reduced to synonymy or sections of larger genera .

In 1826 Blume left the Indies for reasons fo health and economy and went to Hollan ,where he was appointed directer of the state Herbarium at Leydin in 1829 . On this occasion the government gave him the honorary title of professor and decoratd him with the Order of the Dutch Lion . Both of these distinctions were motivated by the services Blume had already given the state . At buitenzorg he had done useful work in making a catalog of the Botanic Garden ,and by his Bijdragen he had established his reputation as a great botanist .His rich collections constituted the departure for the beginning of the new herbarium , which already ranked with the great collections of the period , and his appointment as director justified great hope.

But the way proved stormy . To begin with , Blume was extremely possessive of his collections and herbarium and was widely recognized as being overly vain and ambitious . Attaching great importance of opinions resulted . Then in 1844 the the Government decided to start an herbarium at the Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg. This occurrence seemed to be so dangerous , in Blume's mind , to the interests of the Leyden herbarium , that he believed he had to protest the action . He judged that it was a question of protecting a condition necessary tothe life of his own establishment . A second state herbarium of the Indies could only lessen the value of the herbarium of the Indies could only lesson the value of the herarium at Leydon as a centre of information for the study of the flora of the Dutch Indies . Moreover , it was inevitable that an institution situated in the colonies and identical to that at Leyden would gather the same specimens and distribute duplicates , thus detracting from the principal resources of the Leyden collections. This collision of interests results in a lively battle which was decided in favor of Buitenzorg ,without according compensation to the establishment ao Leyden . Perhaps fear fo bestwing too great a responsibility on an ambitious man was a factor . It was not incontestable that the decision in favour of Buitenzorg would do much to hurt the state herbarium by taking away its principal privilege : Monopoly.

Blume was especially reproached by his colleagues for having been so little disposed to permit others to profit from his precious collections . This rather questionable opinion grew little by little into real opposition , which ended by involving even members of the government .

Neither the official complaint , taken to the government by Miquel and de Vriese , nor even new regulations (1850) much lesser favorable to the Leyden institution , could modify the line of conduct Blume followed . With unflinching tenacity tenacity he clung to his particular principles ,even thogh he lacked the means to go his particularly principles , even though he lacked the means to go on with what constituted a dictatorial system . The determination of those vast collections demanded too mucn, even from the energy of a hard -working intellectual like Blume, and so the government appointed an assistant curator in 1854to aid with the work, no other means apparantly being at its disposal . Thus Blume ended by finding himself isolated among his colleaguesand deprived of gobvernament favor . The last years of his directorship were bitter , with continual conflict.

Nevertheless , Blume carried on his studies independently during those years of crisis . Among his principal orchid works of that period was Rumphia , vol. IV (1835-1848), his reorganization of Rumphius' work transposed into the Linnean system of classification . His Flora Javae et Insularum adjacentium appeared in 1858 as a small folio containing elaborate descriptions of many species previously described by himself and others . This work was elaborately illustrated by some of the most beautiful colored plates and most meticulous floral analyses to be found among the literature of the Old World orchids.

Blume died on 3 February 1862 , leaving to posterity a rich heritage upon which subsequent modern floras of the island of Java were based , the beautiful plates of his Flora Javae remaining as indispensable aids to investigators of the orchids of the entire East Indies .

Reference

Goddijn, W.A. 1863 .Mededeelingen Van's Rijks Herbarium , Leiden (in no . 62 A). Journal of Botany .1 ser.2.

Schweinfurth ,Charles . 1959.Classification of orchids .The orchids-A scientific survey .Chapter 2. New York : The Ronald Press Co.

van Steenis ,C.G. G.J. 1950 . Cyclopaedia of collectors .Flora malesiana .Vol. 1, ser. 1 .

Withner ,Carl L. 1959. Introduction and history of orchid culture. The orchids -A scientific survey . Chapter . 1 NewYork : The Ronald Press co.