The ANTHROPOLOGIST

Anthropology

• Anthropology is the "science of humanity.“

• Anthropology is a ‘four-field’ discipline, encompassing archaeology, social and cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and even linguistics.An anthropologist is a person with an extensive knowledge of anthropology who uses this knowledge in their work, typically to solve anthropological problems.

Rizal’s Dapitan correspondence displays his seemingly boundless curiosity and the wish to write on all topics, even anthropology.

• He attended some lectures in the University of Leipzig and befriended Professor Friedrich Ratzel, a famous German historian, and Dr. Hans Meyer, German anthropologist.

• Dr. Feodor Jagor,author of Travels in the Philippines, a book that Rizal admired because of its keen observances in the Philippine setting, introduced Rizal to Dr. Rudolf Virchow, famous German anthropologist, and also to the latter’s son, Dr. Hans Virchow, professor of Descriptive Anatomy.

Dr. Rudolf Virchow

• At Dresden,Rizal met Dr. Adolph Meyer, the director of the Zoological, Anthropologicaland EthnolographicMuseum in Dresden. He stayed only two days in the city.

Rizal in Germany

• He was offered membership in these organizations on condition that he present an original research work on any subject. In perfect German, he wrote a treatise on Tagalog verse, the Taglische Verkunst(Tagalog Metrical Art). This received great praise from all the members, particulary, the President.

Rizal in Germany

• Rizal became a member of the Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte or BerlinSociety for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory founded 1869 by Dr. R. Virchow upon the recommendation of Dr. Jagor and Dr. Meyer in 1887.

Rizal was the first Asian to be recognized by Europe’s scientists.

Only Asian member of Berlin Anthropological

Society.

Oscar Almgren

Richard Andree

Ferdinand Leopold von Andrian-Werburg

Bernhard Anchorman

Paul Friedrich August Ascherson

Karl Ernst von Baer

Adolf Bastian

Robert Behla

Heinrich Ernst Beyrich

Franz Boas

Official List of Members Berlin Anthropological Society

Gustav Nachtigal ,Richard Neuhauss ,Gotthard Neumann ,Georg von Neumayer ,Hans Never man ,Carsten Niemitz ,Peter II ,Georg Pfeffer,Rudolph Amandus Philippi ,Konrad Theodor Preuss ,Nathanael Pringsheim ,Gustav Radde ,Johannes Ranke ,

Rizal as an Anthropologist

• Once he wrote Meyer:

“I anxiously await my liberty so that I can

live for a few weeks among the Subanons, the mountaineers, and the Moros of this island [Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte]. I am convinced that there is still much to be studied [here. You can] count on a good remittance of heads for anthropology.”

San Francisco, California

30 April 1888 Dear Friend:

We are anchored in this port under quarantine. We don't know how long it will last although there are no sick passengers aboard and the ship did not come from a filthy port. The reason for this is that we have 643 Chinese passengers and, as elections are approaching, the government wants to be in the good graces of the people. We protest, but it is useless for, as the Spaniards say, it is like exercising the right to kick.

The voyage from Yokohama has been fine; I did not get seasick. On board are many Englishmen, some Japanese and three Filipinos.

I see that many folklorists and future anthropologists are appearing in Ilocos. Here is Mr. Deloserre(1) with whom you have had some dealings. There is something that attracts my attention: In view of the fact that the majority of Filipino folklorists are Ilocanos and they use the epithet Ilocano, anthropologists will classify authentic Filipino customs and usages as Ilocano; but that is our fault. I have Isabelo's works and from Europe I will bring to your attention his observations. He has committed some errors because he does not speak Tagalog

There is something that attracts my

attention: In view of the fact that the

majority of Filipino folklorists are Ilocanos

and they use the epithet Ilocano,

anthropologists will classify authentic

Filipino customs and usages as Ilocano; but

that is our fault. I have Isabelo's works and

from Europe I will bring to your attention

his observations. He has committed some

errors because he does not speak Tagalog

well.

Letter to Blumentritt, San Francisco, California, 30 April 1888

Rizal as an Anthropologist

• Rizal was a profound student of anthropology and ethnology. He was driven to master these studies by the boorish behavior of the colonial Spaniards, who treated Filipinos as though they were by nature inferior.

• The new discipline of anthropology was of special interest to him; he was committed to refuting the friars' stereotypes of Filipino racial inferiority with scientific arguments.

Rizal as an Anthropologist

• While studying Psychology in Leipzig University in Germany, He rented a cheap room there and studied Anthropology and Entomology.

Virchow’s farewell message to Rizal

• At the annual general meeting of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Pre-history in 1897, no less a personage than Professor Rudolf Virchow, world-famous founder of cellular pathology, spoke in memory of the "highly esteemed ordinary member, Dr. José Rizal from Luzon, Philippines", taken by death from the Society for Anthropology. Virchow in his obituary:

• "Don José Rizal was one of our members 10 years ago. He spoke at the meeting on 23 April 1887 on the art of Tagalog poetry. Although already a doctor of medicine, he was completely filled with patriotic ideas. The unhappy fate of his homeland under the rule of the Spaniards and the oppression of an all-powerful clergy made up the content of his literary products, mostly dressed in the garb of belles lettres. When, after a lengthy voluntary exile, he returned home, he accordingly became the object of incessant persecution. The growing discord in the Philippines and the ultimate outbreak of the revolution, not yet quelled even now, were largely ascribed to him. He was finally arrested and interned in Mindanao; when he was brought back from there to Manila, simultaneously with the replacement of the Governor, regarded as too lenient, by General Camilio de Polavieja, the direst rumours immediately began to spread as to the fate awaiting him. This concern was converted all too soon into reality: on 30th December, without judicial sentence and apparently without proof of guilt, as public opinion has it, he was shot.

• On the night before his death Rizal wrote his "last farewell" in prison. I received a copy of this beautiful poem. Both the original text and the excellent metrical translation by Mr. E. Seler will be appended to this meeting report. The high poetic quality of this writing, and in particular its patriotic and humane vivacity will contribute to the preservation of the memory of this highly gifted, noble martyr.

• Mr. Ferdinand Blumentritt published in the International Archives for Ethnography 1897, X, an account based on authentic information of the development, goals and essential nature of Rizal. From this may be added here in conclusion that he was born at Calamba, a small town in the province of La Laguna de Bay on the island of Luzon. His parents were Tagalogs. Although originally destined for the priesthood, he soon turned to medicine, which he studied in Manila and Madrid, where he was awarded his doctorate of medicine and philosophy. His further studies led him to Paris, Heidelberg, Leipzig and Berlin. From here he returned home and wrote his novel Noli me tangere, later to become famous, but whose emphasis on freedom attracted the hatred of the old-style Spaniards, obliging him to emigrate. He then lived successively in Japan, North America, England, France and Belgium, where he wrote his second political novel El Filibusterismo. For a time he then practiced as a doctor in Hong Kong, where he married an Englishwoman; later he went to British Borneo, where he intended to found a Filipino farming colony. From there he gained permission to visit his homeland again, but he was arrested there and interned in Dapitan. When the revolt broke out in the Philippines he was accused of initiating it. He was tried three times and the third time he was condemned to death.

• In the penetrating psychological analysis of the man by Mr. Blumentrittthere is mention of Rizal's sensitivity as an artist, Mr. Blumentritt being the possessor of three terracotta statues: Prometheus bound, the victory of death over life and the triumph of the intellect over death.

• We are losing in Rizal not only a faithful friend of Germany and German scholarship but also the only man with sufficient knowledge and resolution to open a way for modern thought into that far-off island world."

"Don José Rizal was one of our members 10 years ago. He spoke at the meeting on 23 April 1887 on the art of Tagalog poetry. ……We are losing in Rizal not only a faithful friend of Germany and German scholarship but also the only man with sufficient knowledge and resolution to open a way for modern thought into that far-off island world."

He embraced the good parts of his own culture and saw what, in his mind, was that which was less than good. In fact he gave much of his life to what we might today call anthropology or ethnic studies.

• “What moral right has white man

to look down on the men who havesimilar thoughts, studies and abilitiesas they just because their skin isbrown or their nose is flat?.”

The ZOOLOGIST

Zoology

• Zoology or animal biology, is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct

• Zoologist • a specialist in zoology.

Interest in Zoology at an early age

• As a small boy, Rizal loved animals including birds, fish, insects, and other specimens of animal life. Fowls, rabbits, dogs, horses, and cats constituted his favorites.

• In his childhood, he would return to the orchard after study, where the study of insects and birds held his interest.

His records at Ateneo 1872-1877

Interest in Zoology in other Places

• He traveled to Frankfurt where he visited magnificent buildings like the StädelInstitute, the Opera House, Zoological Garden, and various coffee shops where he enjoyed reading the newspaper.

Modern-DayZoologischer GartenIn Frankfurt, Germany

Museums he went to

• Colombo’s Museum

Along with 4 spaniards, he saw stuffed sharks, saw fishes sword fishes, giant turtles, skeletons, of two elephants, and two live Peacocks.

• British Musem in London

• Vienna Museum in Austria with Professor Nordmann

• One would see how inquisitive Jose Rizal was, his love for biology and taxonomy ever growing. Take note that he used English to communicate to the people he met in Singapore:

• Dated May 10, 1882: “I met there a Malay who could not understand me. I went out looking for mammals, for I believed there were some and I found only a kind of cage-storehouse where I saw in different compartments two superb peacocks, an eagle, two marabous, turkeys, and Guinea hens, blue birds similar to the hoopoe in plumage, wild pigeons, cockatoos, and other birds whose names I didn’t know. I met another Malay and as he could not understand me, I drew a cow and showed it to him and he replied: Tadar. Tired of looking for it, I approached an Englishman who was playing with his dog. I greeted him and asked him for the zoological garden. He replied that there was none. I went away then, looked for a coach, and went back."

• This is a sketch Rizal made to depict the stingray as he remembered it when he was visiting the Botanical Garden at Singapore in 1882.

Rizal, the Zoologist in Dapitan

• He corresponded with his scientist friends, exchanging ideas on the fauna of Dapitan. One of these friends was Dr. Adolph B. Meyer,

• For his part Meyer did not fail to acknowledge that Rizal’s help was indispensable to his work, asking him “not to stop gathering specimens [for] one always finds something valuable”. whom he met in Dresden in 1886.

Specimens in exchange of books

• He was a regular contributor of specimens of reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates to The director of the Royal Zoological and Anthropological Museum in Dresden, Saxony, Doctor Karl von Heller, and Dr. Adolf B. Meyer, who was a great friend and admirer of Doctor Rizal.

Specimens in exchange of books

Rizal was paid for these specimens by scientific books and material.

109-110

Aeschylus

113-116

Sophocles

164-165

Ossians gedichte

50

Furgenjew (Iwan) Vater and Sohn

64

Furgenjew Rauch

1-3

V Serie Bismarck als Redner

Furgenjew (Iwan)Neoland

Rnazewsy (T.T.) Der Dichter and die Welt

The complete works of Gogol (in German) Valadimer Korolenko

Danilewsky

Dapitan, 8 June 1893

Dr. A. B. Meyer

Dear Doctor,

I have just received your letter dated 24 March and I agree heartily to your "Petition'' that I prepare for you scientific specimens. Only that as I am a deportee here, I am not free to go everywhere or use a rifle, etc. [01] In spite of this, I shall do everything possible to serve you. All the birds, reptiles, etc. that I can buy, I shall keep for you; I also know a little about their preservation. However, I should like to know if Dr. Schadenberg will accept any kind of animals, reptiles, and skulls, for you may already have the kind that are here. I would prefer that you send me a catalogue with prices so that I may not pay too much for them.

You have reminded me again of the

I have just received your letter dated 24

March and I agree heartily to your "Petition''

that I prepare for you scientific specimens.

Only that as I am a deportee here, I am not

free to go everywhere or use a rifle, etc. In

spite of this, I shall do everything possible to

serve you. All the birds, reptiles, etc. that I can

buy, I shall keep for you; I also know a little

about their preservation. However, I should

like to know if Dr. Schadenberg will accept

any kind of animals, reptiles, and skulls, for

you may already have the kind that are here. I

would prefer that you send me a catalogue

with prices so that I may not pay too much for

Rizal, Dapitan, 8 June 1893 || To Dr. Adolph B. Meyer

• Rizal sent specimens of “45 reptiles, 9 mammals, 13 birds, 9 fishes, and 68 crustaceans”. These were apart from his 346-species shell collection.

Some of the specimens gathered by Dr. Jose Rizal and Dr. Francisco Paula de Sanchez, his teacher in literary, in the Jesuit Museum

Dapitan, 24 October 1893

Dr. A. B. Meyer

My dear Friend,

Through the kindness of Dr. Schadenberg I have the pleasure to send you a little collection of reptiles, crustaceans, coleopteran [an order in the beetle family - rly], etc. that you will find named on the labels of the jars. I had a larger collection, I had a tortoise, gledes (Weigh?), Weihen (Meyer) birds, etc. but for lack of suitable containers they were eaten by rats. The expense of this remittance is more or less twelve pesos on account of the difficulty here of obtaining alcohol and jars. I have to get the alcohol from the drugstore and it is still of poor quality. I have written to Dr. Schadenbergasking him for alcohol and jars for they certainly cost less at Manila and in that way the cost of remittance would be very cheap. I should like to know if you want the skeletons of the mammals mounted or joined.

I have also my own collection of seashells of more than 200 species, already classified and arranged. Do you want it? How much would they give me for it? They are all shells of the district of Dapitan. I have no rifles yet.

With many regards to friend Blum, command at any time your servant and friend who kisses your hand,

Through the kindness of Dr. Schadenberg I have the pleasure

to send you a little collection of reptiles, crustaceans,

coleopteran [an order in the beetle family - rly], etc. that you

will find named on the labels of the jars. I had a larger

collection, I had a tortoise, gledes (Weigh?), Weihen (Meyer)

birds, etc. but for lack of suitable containers they were eaten

by rats. The expense of this remittance is more or less twelve

pesos on account of the difficulty here of obtaining alcohol

and jars. I have to get the alcohol from the drugstore and it is

still of poor quality. I have written to Dr. Schadenberg asking

him for alcohol and jars for they certainly cost less at Manila

and in that way the cost of remittance would be very cheap. I

should like to know if you want the skeletons of the mammals

mounted or joined.

I have also my own collection of seashells of more than 200

species, already classified and arranged. Do you want it? How

much would they give me for it? They are all shells of the

district of Dapitan.

Rizal, Dapitan, 24 October 1893 || To Dr. Adolph B. Meyer

*pertains to Dr. Alex Schadenberg, German

• He also sent shells to Dr. A. B. Meyer, Director of the Royal Saxony Ethnographical Institute, in exchange for much-needed books.

Rizal’s Collection of Shells displayed in the Jose Rizal Museum, Intramuros

A part of Jose Rizal’s shell collections while in exile in Dapitan.

Dapitan, 20 November 1893

Dr. A. B. Meyer

My very esteemed Doctor,

By the mail boat of last month I sent you a box of preserved animals through Dr. Schadenberg at Manila in accordance with your suggestion. The animals I sent you were the following: Three snakes, talig-bilao (Dupog), 1 sagita volans, 1 sea-horse, 2 scorpions, 2 ascarides, various coleoptera, 1 boa constrictor, 1 iho, 1 Iwo, 1 ataybia, (serpent), 1 kalasagan, 1 tipuso, 1 inagudlog, 1 kabankaban.

As their cost is very little and the remittance of small sums is difficult, I beg you not to bother about it and in exchange just send me the following works in the Spemann collection at 1 mark a bound volume:

50

Furgenjew (Iwan) Vater and Sohn

64

Furgenjew Rauch

1-3

V Serie Bismarck als Redner

Furgenjew (Iwan)Neoland

Rnazewsy (T.T.) Der Dichterand die Welt

The complete works of Gogol (in German) ValadimerKorolenko

Danilewsky

I would prefer that all the books be bound. If there should be any other work of some Russian writer that I do not know, I would appreciate it if you would send it to me.

Without anything more for the present, many regards and thanks in advance from your attentive servant who kisses your hand.

José Rizal

By the mail boat of last month I sent you a box of preserved animals through Dr. Schadenberg at Manila in accordance with your suggestion. The animals I sent you were the following: Three snakes, talig-bilao (Dupog), 1 sagitavolans, 1 sea-horse, 2 scorpions, 2 ascarides, various coleoptera, 1 boa constrictor, 1 iho, 1 Iwo, 1 ataybia, (serpent), 1 kalasagan, 1 tipuso, 1 inagudlog, 1 kabankaban.

Rizal, Dapitan, 20 November 1893 || To Dr. Adolph B. Meyer

Rare specimens he sent

• A list of rare specimens he sent to Dr. Adolf B. Meyer of Dresden and Dr. Napoleon M. Kheil of Prague were:

1. A green snake (Deudrophilis) which lives on trees. Dr. Meyer considered it non-poisonous.

2. A fish known locally as Kumi (Echenesis). This fish clings to ships.

3. Triburon, a parasitic fish belonging to the seahorse species.

Rare specimens he sent

1. 1 Sagita Volons2. 1Hipocampus3. 2 Alacranes4. 2 Ascarides5. 1 Iho6. 1Staybia7. 1 Kalasagan8. 1 Tipuso9. 1 Magudlog10. 1 Hao11. 1KabanKaban12. 1 Boa Constrictora13. 3 Culebras(Talig-Bilao)(Dupog)14. Tortuga Karey15. Milanos16. Birds of Prey17. 3Pajaros (Sparrow)18. Jabali19. Mariposas

1. 8 Phos Senticosus L.2. 1 Triton (Persona) anus. L. 3. 4 Ranella Rana. L.4. 10 Nassa Arcularia L.5. 4 Nassa (Niotha) Genunulata.6. 4 Nassa (Niotha) Verrucosa7. 25 Nassa (Arcularia) Thersites.8. 5 Nassa (Alectryon) Monile9. 2 Nassa (zeuxis) Taenia.10. 6 Pyramidella Terebellum.11. 4 Cancellaria Asperella12. 2 Cancellaria Crenifera13. 4 Cancellaria Lamellosa14. 1 Natica ala-papilionis15. 1 Natica (neverita) 16. 5 Cerithium Vertagus. L.17. 1 Cerithium Obeliscus Brug.18. 2 Potamides Fluvialitis Pot.19. 1 Potamides Sulcatus Brug.20. 1 Cassis Areola L.21. 2 Cassis Pila. Reeve22. 5 Dolium Variegatum23. 2 Dentalium24. 1 Tapes Textris25. 1 Anaitis Calophylla.

Rizal has shown interest in Ichthyology when he drew sketches of different species of fish along with

a baroto (sailboat).

Animals named in honor of Dr. Rizal

• During his Dapitan exile, Rizal collected specimens: sea shells, butterflies, flora, fauna, and other artifacts that he sent to scientists in Europe. Which explains why Rizal’s name appears in the classification for a winged lizard (dracorizali), a frog or toad (rachophorusrizali) and a bug or beetle (apogoniarizali).

Racophorus Rizali

• A rare frog which was sent to Frankfurt was christened Racophorus Rizali (Harlequin Tree Frog) by the famous German Amphibiologist Proffessor Oskar Boettger in honor of Rizal, which is a species of a toad once found in the forests of Mindanao.

Apogonia Rizali

• Another distinguished German zoologist, Dr. Carl. M. Heller, classified a small beetle belonging to the species coleoptera as Apogonia Rizali, a flying beetle less than an inch, in 1897.

Draco Rizali

• The third specie, bearing the name Draco Rizali (Philippine Gliding Lizard) named in 1893 by a biologist named BennoWandolleck, a flying Dragon, again in honor of the late Dr. Jose Rizal. [Critically Endangered]

Spatholmes Rizali

• Some points to reference a fourth specie named after Dr. Jose Rizal, the SpatholmesRizali which is a specie of Fungus Beetle.

• Dr. Meyer in return sent Rizal surgical instruments, and instrument for measuring the skull and books written by distinguished men like Gogol, Turgeniew, Danilewsky, Bismark, Sophokles and Aischylusete.

Did you know?

• He played a key role in theidentification of thePhilippine snail that harborsthe parasite that causesschistosomiasis, or snailfever, a deadly diseaseplaguing some areas inEastern Visayas?

• The Philippine snail, which carries the parasite that causes schistosomiasis, is known as Oncomelania Hupensis Quadrasi. This was named after a certain Mr. Cuadrasi, a renowned naturalist based in Manila, to whom Rizal sent his specimen of insects and animals for identification.

Is really Rizal an established Zoologist?

• While collecting did not automatically categorize Rizal as a bona fide botanist or zoologist, his efforts to promote the study of Philippine plants and animals, though focused only on Dapitan, were acknowledged by European and Filipino scientists.

At Dapitan, Rizal showed the importance of valuing life in all its forms and our country’s natural riches. Neither injustice nor despair could stop him from living a full life that was offered alone to his country, simultaneously seeking nature’s beauty and his country’s freedom, through her “treasures yet undiscovered”.

• “My country can offer him

treasures yet undiscovered. There aremany species still unknown in zoologyand botany, judging by thediscoveries that are being made.”

• “My country can offer him

treasures yet undiscovered. There aremany species still unknown in zoologyand botany, judging by thediscoveries that are being made.”