Jadw iga G arbow ska (Poland)
G E O L O G IC A L S C IE N C E S IN T H E U N IV E R S IT Y O F V IL N IU S A N D IN T H E L Y C E U M O F K R Z E M IE N IE C
IN T H E Y E A R S 1 7 8 1 -1 8 3 2
The natural history, com prising botany, zoology and m in eralo g y 1, w as introduced to the M ain School of the G rand Duchy o f L ithuania not earlier than during a reorganization of the university in Vilnius done by the Com m is sion of National Education in 17812. At the time when the faculty was estab lished, Vilnius did not have its own staff o f the scientists who, after all, were not too num erous in the whole country where the natural science was cultivated to a very lim ited degree only, and the level o f knowledge in this particular field was very low. In this status quo it was decided to choose for the Head o f the Faculty a foreign scientist of well-established reputation; and so, the task of delivering lectures was entrusted to a French doctor and scientist Jean E m manuel Gilibert3, who was holding that post in the years 1781-1783. His successors to the Faculty of Natural History in Vilnius were, in turn: in the years 1784—1787 - a well-known scientist and traveller Johann Georg Forster4, in the years 1792-1802 - a doctor from Vienna Ferdinand Spitznagel5, and finally, in the academic year 1802/03 - a graduate from the M ain School of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Stanisław Bonifacy Jundziłł6. The attention of those scientists was mainly focussed on biological sciences.
In V ilnius the individual branches o f natural history w ere not developing in a uniform way; botany developed m ost quickly and was the first one to becom e independent, w hile m ineralogy was definitely lagging behind. The reason was not only the degree to w hich all those sciences w ere advanced in Europe but, to certain extent, also personal interests o f the successive lecturers. T he curricula w ere, in prevailing part, o f a utilitarian character. W hat was em phasized in them was the necessity o f studying the natural resources for their practical exploration.
W ithin the scope o f natural history, the lectures on geology were delivered in the years 1781-1783, 1784-1787, 1791/93, 1799/1800 and
86 J. Garbowska
1801/02. The education was based on the classification o f m inerals and rocks and, probably, the students were instructed how to assim ilate the skill for their recognition. Basing on the preserved syllabus, it is difficult to ascertain w hat principles o f m ineralogical classification were adopted by G ilibert and Forster as a basis o f their studies. Spitznagel was using the system atic schem e o f Ignatius B orn7. G ilibert restricted him self to teaching the rudi m ents o f m ineralogy (in a m odern m eaning o f this w ord). The problem s related with geology were discussed in a m ost com prehensive way by Forster who enriched his lectures with geographical m ineralogy and, w hat was even m ore im portant, with elem ents o f geology understood in a broad m eaning o f this w ord (the theory o f an origin o f our Earth, the description o f an internal structure of the Earth, the origin o f m inerals and rocks) and with the know ledge o f fossil fauna. This deserves special attention in view o f the fact that the first attem pts aim ing at the creation o f som e foundations o f m odern geology were m ade as late as in the latter part of the 18th century, initiated by the works o f Johann G ottlob Lehm ann, G eorg C hristian Ftichsel and others, and constructively developed since 1775 by A braham G ottlob W erner. Due to F orster’s lectures, in the late eighties o f the 18th century, the first - still very m odest, elem ents o f our know ledge o f the structure o f lithosphere, supported by the field investigations, started to be dissem inated in the circles o f Vilnius. Spitznagel lim ited the scope o f his lectures to the rudim ents o f m ineralogy; he also paid som e attention to the problem s of m ining and m etallurgy (m ining o f ores and m ethods o f obtaining m etals out of them ) and, though incidentally, to the fossil fauna8.
In the newly started process o f the form ation o f geology as a separate branch o f know ledge, som e o f its elem ents were at that tim e included into the scope o f teaching of the chemistry and physics. As it follow s from the program m e of education prepared by Jo zef Sartoris, in his lectures on chem istry, delivered in the years 1785-1793, he paid quite a lot o f attention to the problem s of m ineralogy9, teaching his students the classification of m inerals, their properties (with regard to the chem ical characteristics), and the applicability in industry and m edicine. He was also teaching the rudi m ents o f m etallurgy, disclosing the m ethods used in the preparation o f ores for sm elting, and describing the process o f refining and extraction o f m etals, including the basic and m ost indispensable equipm ent used to this end. In this w ay, the lectures on chem istry delivered by Sartoris ensured a continuity in teaching o f the essentials o f m ineralogy at the tim e when the post at the faculty o f natural history in Vilnius was vacant.
Since the very beginning o f the existence o f natural science in the M ain School o f the G rand Duchy o f Lithuania, the need for m aking a naturalistic collection was understood very well. The collection o f natural history was form ed as early as in 1781, using the specim ens w hich, presented by King Stanislaus A ugustus to the M ain School o f V ilnius after the dissolution of
M edical School, were brought by Gilibert from Grodno. The collection included about 10 000 pieces of minerals. In the subsequent years the collection was enriched with Forster’s specimens picked up during his voyage around the world, with the collection o f Saxon minerals purchased by Prim ate M ichał Poniatowski (a gift o f the W ielkopolskis family), and with the collections pre sented by M ichał Ogiński (stones and conches), by Jan W ichert (a collection o f jaspers, agates and rock crystals), and by Joachim Chreptow icz (the collec tions o f volcanic products from Vesuvius). Yet, all those collections, though precious, were usually of a purely incidental character, and as such represented little scientific and didactic value. Gilibert and Forster appreciated the im por tance of naturalistic collections, and they took care to enlarge and preserve them. Spitznagel, on the other hand, was not interested in the collection of natural history; he did nothing to protect it, and during the ten years when he was professor the collection was partially destroyed10.
In the period which preceded the establishm ent of a faculty o f the natural history in V ilnius, the know ledge o f the geological structure and raw m ate rials in eastern territories o f the Polish R epublic was very poor and based m ainly on the publications o f Gabriel Rzączyński (17 21 -1 74 2), Jean B aptiste D ubois (1778) and Jean Etienne G uettard (1 7 6 4 )11. T he need for starting physiographic researches was acknow ledged in V ilnius alm ost at the very beginning o f an existence o f the faculty o f natural history, and the requ ire m ent of m aking the didactics utilitarian favoured the com m encem ent o f such researches. The nature in L ithuania was w aiting for its discovery, and all the investigations, even those carried out in order to satisfy the m ost urgent needs in the scope o f raw m aterials, prom oted the developm ent o f a w ork shop for the scientific activities. Yet, the scientists in V ilnius w ere, first o f all, biologists, and no w onder that they were m ainly interested in the fauna and flora of Lithuania. This, as well as the difficulties w hich w ere faced by the newly established faculty (frequent changes in personnel, lack o f the back up facilities, etc.), contributed to the fact that in the M ain School o f L ithuania the geological investigations w ere carried out on a very small scale only, and w ere usually reduced to checking the places of occurrence o f som e raw m aterials, like rock-salt, peat and bog iron ores. From that period orig inate only three printed geological works and three hand-w ritten reports o f the jo u rn e y s12. Am ong them , of the greatest cognitive value is G ilib e rt’s treatise published in 1783, in which he described the drifts in the territories of East Lithuania and in the district o f N ovgorod, now adays reckoned am ong the form ations o f the Q uaterternary Period, along w ith their genesis and age, reported on the raw m aterials present there, and touched certain problem s related with the dynam ic geology (e.g. river erosion, the erosive action of rain waters, the form ation o f sand dunes). It was the m ost m ature treatise on geology that had ever been created in the society o f the scientists from the M ain School o f Vilnius.
88 J. Garbowska
The scientific works on geology written by the professors o f natural history w ere very m odest. Yet, their individuality laid the first foundations o f the developm ent o f natural science in V ilnius; they were not only able to arouse interest and create a good clim ate for further progress in this field, but also knew how to im plant the conviction that the m ain duty o f a scientist is to study the Earth and its natural resources. D ue to that attitude, it becam e possible to educate the staff o f the first Polish naturalists from am ong w hom recruited the later lecturers o f natural history and m ineralogy in V ilnius: S.
__ 1 0
B. Jundzill, Rom an Sym onow icz and Ignacy H orodecki
*
A very im portant step forw ard in the developm ent o f natural science w as taken along with the transform ation in 1803 o f the M ain School of L ithuania into an E m peror’s U niversity of V ilnius and the related reorgani zation w hich, preserving Polish as a language o f instruction, initiated a m od ern developm ent o f the university, achieved through stabilization o f its legal and financial rights and a far-reaching autonom y.
In this four-faculty U niversity, natural science was included into the Faculty o f Physics and M athem atics where, am ong the ten divisions provided in the syllabus, natural history and botany form ed separate disciplines. It was also assum ed that there would be additional subjects, i.e. new disciplines not included into the m ain curriculum but still recognized by the university authorities as necessary for the com pletion o f a general education o f the students. T he university authorities took alm ost im m ediately this opportunity to extend the program m e o f education, the opportunity which, at the same tim e, opened new ways for the developm ent o f natural science. C on sequently, as early as in 1803 the decision w as taken to start at the Faculty o f Physics and M athem atics additional classes in zoology and m ineralogy . In this way, there was a practical division o f natural history into the three separate branches o f botany, zoology and m ineralogy, w hich signified the beginning o f an independent existence of these branches o f science in the U niversity. The structure o f the Faculty still included, form ally, the depart m ent o f natural history, but the post was alw ays vacant. Tw o tim es only, during the rectorate o f Hieronim Strojnow ski, an unsuccessful attem pt was m ade to fill this p o st15. Later on, the attem pts were not repeated because with increasing specialization o f the natural science, it rather becam e nec essary to raise the status o f additional classes in m ineralogy and zoology to the rank o f faculties.
The division of the Faculty o f Natural H istory into three separate branches caused a form al increase in the num ber o f the classes assigned for teaching o f natural science. A ccording to the university statutes, teaching o f
the m ain subjects, i.e. o f those w hich form ed separate faculties, should take 5 -6 classes in a week, and o f additional subjects - 2 or 3 classes, depending on the individual requirem ents o f a given discipline. From the very beg in ning, for the lectures on m ineralogy m ore hours w ere assigned than it m ight follow from the status o f this science, recognized as an additional subject; in som e years m ineralogy was even taught in the num ber o f hours corre sponding to m ain subjects16. T he reason was, probably, on one hand, a rapid developm ent o f this branch o f science in V ilnius, and - on th e oth er - the attem pts o f the successive lecturers o f m ineralogy to increase the num ber o f classes, because they w ere not able to teach the w hole m aterial during the classes assigned for additional subjects.
T he first lecturer o f m ineralogy in the U niversity becam e adjunct Rom an Sym onow icz, graduate from the M ain School o f Lithuania, doctor o f p h ilo s ophy and m edicine, appointed to that post in 1803. Sym onow icz started his lectures at the beginning of 1804. A fter one y e a r’s break w hich took place in the academ ic year 1804/05, due to his com plem entary studies under W ern er’s supervision at the M ining A cadem y o f Freiberg, S ym onow icz re sum ed his lectures in autum n 1805 and delivered them regularly until F e b ruary 1813. T he next lecturers were: M akary B o g atk o 17 (February - June
1813), Feliks D rzew in sk i18 (1814-1817), Ignacy H orodecki (1 8 1 7-18 24 ), Feliks D rzew inski (April - June 1824), Jo zef Ju n d z ill19 (1 8 2 4 -1 8 2 5 ) and Ignacy Jakow icki20 (1825-1832). All the lecturers o f m ineralogy in th e U n i versity o f V ilnius w ere graduates from this U niversity. M oreover, in the years 1827-1831, the H ead o f the Faculty o f Zoology and C om parative A n at om y w as Karol Edw ard E ichw ald21, w ho took a keen interest in the problem o f geology and palaentology.
It is not an easy task to m ake now an exact reconstruction o f the contents and scope o f the lectures on m ineralogy w hich w ere delivered in the U n i versity o f V ilnius. A n attem pt o f this kind can be m ade basing on the analysis o f rather scarce source m aterials, i.e. the syllabi w hich have been preserved until now , 76 sets o f questions for the exam inations entered to obtain aca dem ic degrees, a few dissertations22, the academ ic handbooks used at that tim e, and the back-up facilities available in the university (m ineralogical collection, library acquisitions, etc.).
The lecturers in the University of Vilnius, the followers o f W erner’s ge ology, well-informed on the European problems o f geology, were teaching their students the neptunistic approach o f their master, focussing their attention, first o f all, on teaching o f oryctognosy (mineralogy - in the m odem m eaning of this word) and geognosy (geology). Quite often they com pleted and enlarged the scope o f their lectures with the practical knowledge o f geology acquired during the excursions with students to the surroundings o f Vilnius.
Sym onow icz delivered his lectures using his ow n notes o f W e rn e r’s lectures, a hand-w ritten sextem which, in the first version, w as prepared as
90 J. GarbowsJca
early as in 1804, and his treatise “On the present state o f m in eralogy ”, which w as the first Polish presentation o f W erner’s neptunistic theory23. The scien tific views o f Sym onow icz w ere not changing in any m ore im portant way, and till the end o f his life he rem ained a faithful and rather uncritical ad vocate o f W ern er’s doctrine. In his lectures he m ainly laid em phasis on teaching o f oryctognosy and on the theoretical fundam entals o f neptunism . He spoke about the form ation of the Earth in a process o f the solution in w ater and the subsequent precipitation of chem ical and m echanical deposits from the w aters of a first ocean, about the distribution o f m etals in the lithosphere and about their genesis. He was also teaching the rudim ents of stratigraphy, follow ing W ern er’s approach to that problem . Even then when he was discussing the points o f view different from those confessed by W erner, e.g. the crystallographic classification o f m inerals elaborated by R ené-Just H aiiy24, he did it from the position o f defending his m aster’s opinions.
At the beginning o f the 19th century teaching was done during the lec tures w hich served not only for the dem onstration o f collections but also for practical experim ents, e.g. in chem istry. Therefore, it has to be em phasized that Sym onow icz was fully aw are o f how im portant it w as for the students to be in direct contact with the m ineralogical specim ens not only during the dem onstrations m ade in the course o f the classes but also later in the study- room, open for the students for a couple o f hours in a week. He also at tem pted, though to no effect, to divide the students into less num erous groups and to give them , in this way, an opportunity to study closer the dem onstrated
2 5
specim ens .
The successors of Symonowicz sticked, in a general outline, to the same curriculum. Drzewinski was teaching from the handbooks written by André Brochant, Alexander Brongniart and others26. He paid m ore attention to teach ing of oryctognosy, but, compared with Symonowicz, was less adamant on m aking his students fam iliar with the theoretical fundam entals o f neptunism.
Horodecki based his lectures on W ern er’s works and on the handbooks w ritten by C hristian H offm ann, Haiiy and D rzew inski27. This teacher o f physics and natural history, working for so m any years at the G ym nasium o f Vilnius and adjunct at the Faculty of C hem istry o f the U niversity o f Vilnius, possessed an outstanding knowledge of geology, great pedagogical experience, and w ell-m astered elem ents o f physics and chem istry. His lec tures com prised a system atic course in m ineralogy, understood in the co n tem porary m eaning o f this word. Yet, it was no longer the uncritical W ern er’s neptunism , confessed by Sym onow icz and - to a great extent - also by D rzew inski. In teaching the rudim ents o f W ern er’s classification of m inerals, Horodecki paid due attention to all the advantages and draw backs o f that system . As a very experienced chem ist he could not disregard and underestim ate the contem porary know ledge o f chem istry, or debase the part
that the chem ical analysis played in the studies and division o f m inerals and rocks. It seems that he was able to m ake his students fam iliar, in a m uch m ore extensive way, with the classification o f m inerals based on the chem i cal principles.
H orodecki was vividly interested in the problem s w hich at that tim e took up the attention o f all the geologists in Europe and gave rise to num er ous scientific disputes, viz. the genesis o f veins and o f the m etals present in them as well as the genesis of som e m agm atic rocks, regarded by W erner as sedim entary form ations, e.g. basalts. Since, at least, the academ ic year 1818/19 in his lectures he was speaking in favour o f the theory o f a vulcanic origin o f basalts. His opinions on the genesis of veins also proved his critical approach to the theoretical generalizations in geology. H e did accept W ern er’s theory o f the genesis o f veins, considering it to be m ost convenient and close to reality at the contem porary stage o f know ledge, but - at the sam e tim e - he also suspected the w hole problem to be o f a m uch m ore com plex nature than it m ight result from the teaching o f the m aster from Freiberg, and he thought that it was unreasonable to accept quite unciritically only this one m echanism o f their form ation. Because the neptunistic theory could not explain in an adequate way the form ation o f num erous veins, then - according to H orodecki - it seem ed advisable to assum e that the process of their form ation m ust have been affected by other factors w hich had ex erted, at least, an indirect effect. In geognosy H orodecki rem ained faithful to W ern er’s opinions; he was also teaching W erner’s stratigraphie schem a, developed by the French geologists, and various theories on the form ation of our Earth.
A one-year series o f the lectures on m ineralogy prepared by J. Jundzill was very traditional, probably the least com prehensive of all the lectures delivered during the entire period of an existence o f this subject in the U ni versity. The lecturer lim ited h im self to oryctognosy, a short presentation o f various theories of the form ation o f our Earth, starting with B uffon, and to W erner’s principles o f stratigraphy.
In his didactic activities Jakow icki was using his own handbook and the works o f Jean D ’A ubuisson, Johann Breithaupt, François Sulpice Beudant, Carl Leonhard, and A lexander H um boldt28. As regards oryctognosy, the scope o f his lectures resem bled the lectures delivered by H orodecki. In g eog nosy he em phasized the research m ethods applied in the description o f the terrestrial globe, and o f the processes w hich had been occurring there. Jakow icki was particularly interested in the processes w hich took place on the surface o f the Earth, in the forces w hich m ade them take place, and in the effects o f their occurrence, expressed by the successive changes o f this surface noted in the course of an existence o f our G lobe. A t that tim e, those problem s aroused a lot o f interest in the w hole Europe. The reason were num erous geological travels, the investigations undertaken on a scale
un-92 J. Garbowska
heard o f until then, and the form ation o f new theoretical generalizations in the geological history o f the Earth, especially C uvier’s theory o f cataclysm s and the works o f L eopold von Buch and H um boldt. Jakow icki was also teaching his students the structure o f the terrestrial globe and the stratigraphic schem a o f D ’A ubuisson, w hich was a further developm ent o f W ern er’s ideas o f stratigraphy. H e em phasized the significance o f fossil organism s in the process o f reconstruction o f the history o f our Earth and in, occasionally, the determ ination o f a relative age o f the exam ined form ations.
The syllabus o f Jak o w ick i’s lectures was w ider and m ore system atic than those o f his predecessors, and the proportions betw een teaching o f oryc- tognosy and geognosy were chosen in a m uch better way. M ost probably, Jakow icki sticked to this program m e w ithout any m ore serious changes till the end of an existence o f the U niversity. He was only introducing additional inform ation and m odernized the program m e to some extent, e.g. since the academ ic year 1826/27 he had been paying m ore attention to other system s o f oryctognosy (Fischer, Beudant and Breithaupt); he introduced B reith au pt’s scale o f the m inerals hardness (12 degrees), he lectured on the history o f crystallography and extended the scope o f the know ledge o f geology and probably also that of palaeontology. At the last stage o f his lectures, anyw ay, he disclosed to the students in a slightly m ore extensive way G eorge C u v ie r’s opinions on geology and his theory o f cataclysm s. He was less interested in the theoretical generalizations and spent less tim e on them . He was teaching the students various m ethods o f researches, show ed them how to pick up the geological observations and how to put them in a system atic order. In teaching o f oryctognosy he still used W erner’s classification, but the reason was not exactly his conviction o f its perfection but rather a belief that, using the sim plest m ethods for distinction betw een the m inerals, it was m ost co n venient in teaching the rudim ents of oryctognosy.
A nalysing the curriculum o f teaching geology in the U niversity o f V ilnius, one cannot om it the lectures on zoology and com parative anatom y, and not only due to the significance that m astering o f the fundam entals of the contem porary know ledge of zoology and palaeontology had for the adepts in geology, but also and m ainly ow ing to E ichw ald’s personality and his contribution to a developm ent o f this branch o f science in V ilnius. In his program m e o f education he paid a lot of attention to the fossil fauna, he disclosed to his students the principles o f C uvier’s com parative anatom y, and he gave a critical review o f the num erous system s o f zoological classi fication, am ong others, o f those elaborated by Johann Blum enbach, Jean B aptiste L am arck and C uvier29. It is to be supposed that the fragm ents o f E ich w ald ’s lectures on fossil fauna were presented by him against a w ider background, i.e. speaking about the im portance of this fauna in a reconstruc tion o f the history o f our Earth and in the evolution of organic life. Eichw ald w as not only an excellent lecturer but also and m ainly the scientist o f a
w ell-established in Europe reputation and a m ost em inent palaeontologist o f that epoch.
In recapitulation o f the twenty nine years o f the pedagogical activities of the lecturers who taught m ineralogy it has to be em phasized that now here else but in the U niversity o f V ilnius had they laid the foundations o f the Polish geology. That division was started by the creator o f W e rn e r’s m in- eralogical school in Vilnius - Sym onow icz, continued by D rzewiriski and H orodecki, and finished by Jakow icki. The lectures on m ineralogy were delivered “after W erner’s pattern”, but a considerable evolution in the re spective view points can be traced: from very “orthodox” W e rn e r’s science in S ym onow icz’s lecturers to preservation of only those o f the opinions w hich had survived and entered the contem porary science, w ith attention focussed every tim e m ore carefully on the European achievem ents, disclosed in the lectures of the successors o f the author of a treatise “On the present state o f m ineralogy”. M ore em phasis was laid on oryctognosy. T he scope of teaching geognosy was gradually extending, until in his lectures Jakow icki discussed those problem s in a m ost com prehensive way.
A t that tim e, in the universities in Europe, oryctognosy, geognosy and m ining w ere usually taught separately during the classes w hich som etim es took from 2 to 3 years. In Vilnius the w hole o f the contem porary m ineralogy w as taught in the course of one year. No w onder that in this way the scope o f the im parted know ledge suffered quite considerable reductions, and som e o f the problem s were ju st m entioned. Therefore, in geology the lecturers paid relatively less attention to the theoretical trend, fixing their m inds on the practical know ledge w hich was applicable in life, and on m aking their students fam iliar with the research m ethods used by the contem porary ge ology. In spite o f all those restrictions they were still able to keep the lectures on a high European level, though they did not avoid certain, fortunately not very great, delays in respect to a developm ent of this discipline in the world.
The num ber o f the students attending the lectures on m ineralogy was quite considerable, and it did not differ in any particular way from the at tendance observed during the lectures on other m athem atical and natural sciences. It varied betw een 60 students in the academ ic year 1814/15 (with the total of 146 students attending the Faculty o f Physical and M athem atical Sciences) and 210 students in the academ ic year 1827/28 (with the total of 509 students attending the Faculty at that tim e). A ltogether, during the tw enty one years which the collected num erical data cover, the classes in m ineralogy were attended by 2619 students which m akes slightly m ore than 1/4 of the total num ber o f pupils studying at that tim e in the U niversity 30. Q uite high was also the percentage o f the students who took m ineralogy as a subject o f their exam inations passed in order to obtain the scientific degrees (m inim um 537 students)31. These num bers are a good evidence that m iner alogy quickly established its position in the university, becam e a popular
94 ./. Garbów ska
and useful science, and in its developm ent was attracting the students with its problem s.
Q uite soon they also thought in Vilnius about the publication o f Polish handbooks on geology. Consequently, as early as in 1806, S ym onow icz’s book “On the present state o f m ineralogy”32 was published. It was the first com prehensive Polish exposition o f W ern er’s ideas. In 1816 D rzew iński p u b lished the first in Poland university handbook on m ineralogy “The rudim ents o f m ineralogy after W ern er’s principles com pilated”33, in w hich he also took into consideration the investigations o f other w ell-know n E uropean m iner alogists. T he book was in com m on use till the late thirties o f the 19th cen tury. In the third decade o f the 19th century a few m ore handbooks based on W erner’s ideas were issued. Those were, am ong others, the books written by Jakow icki34 and N orbert Alfons K um elski35, a graduate from the U n i versity. The handbooks represented the sam e level and had the inform ation arranged in the sam e sequence as the w ork w ritten by D rzew iński, but they w ere provided with num erous addenda and supplem ents w hich proves that their authors were carefully tracing the progress m ade in the geological science in Europe, and that they knew how to use the contem porary reference books on m ineralogy and geology. One should also m ention the first Polish handbook on palaeontology, edited by K um elski in 182636.
In the period o f 1806-1829, seventeen university and school handbooks w ere published in the Polish language on the above m entioned subjects, out o f this num ber - eleven in Vilnius. The handbooks published in V ilnius represented a scientific level higher than the rem aining w orks, and their authors - Sym onow icz, D rzew iński, Jakow icki and K um elski - played an im portant part in the history of the Polish geology.
All the teachers of m ineralogy in V ilnius had one feature in com m on, viz. they fully appreciated the significant part played in the didactic process by a rich and possibly com plete geological collection, and consequently they tried to enlarge and protect in a best way the existing specim ens. In 1803 the m ineralogical collection, though already quite abundant, w as still inade quate to the needs o f the didactics. The specim ens w ere not put in a sy s tem atic order, and there was no catalogue. Due to the generosity o f people (the donations m ade by, am ong others, M ichał W alicki, Jędrzej Śniadecki, Stefan Zienow icz) and the purchases done by the U niversity, the collection was system atically increasing. The m ost im portant acquisition of the U ni versity, purchased in 1813, was the collection left by Rom an Sym onow icz and com posed o f 14 867 specim ens. This illustrious set o f great didactic value raised the rank of the U niversity collection o f m ineralogy to a level equal with the m ost significant collections of this type in E urope37.
Out o f the collection o f more than 30 000 specim ens, 28 school collec tions o f a total num ber o f 14 000 specim ens were form ed. In the study-room o f the U niversity rem ained 20 800 specim ens which w ere used for the for
m ation o f tw o collections: m ineralogical (m ore than 18 000 specim ens), and geognostic (m ore than 1200 specim ens). Both collections had th eir ow n cat alogues. T he m ineralogical collection had a catalogue prepared by J. Jundziłł in 1826, the geognostic one - a catalogue prepared by Jakow icki in 1 83 138. The works on the arrangem ent and listing o f collections w ere accom panied by discussions on the range o f collections, m ethods o f their acquisition, and the system o f classification. In the m ineralogical collection they adopted W erner’s schem a o f m inerals classification, while in the geognostic co llec tion, the rocks and fossils were arranged geographically, according to the places (provinces) of their occurrence, using D ’A ub uisson ’s stratigraphic schem a.
It is difficult to determ ine now to w hat extent the university library was provided with professional literature on geology. O bviously, the sufficient and relatively com plete stock o f publications w as not available. A nd yet, the good know ledge of the European literature, specially French, G erm an and Russian, which the nkturalists from V ilnius had certainly acquired, proves that the supply o f books to the library was, at least in respect to the basic treatises and handbooks, quite good. It seem s that the publications were pouring in after a short delay only. The geologists from V ilnius were not rich people, their salaries were but very m odest, and their personal co n tacts with foreign scientists were rather lim ited. Therefore, the m ain m eans of access to the foreign geological literature rem ained the item s purchased by the U niversity.
*
In discussion of the part which the centre of natural science in V ilnius played in the developm ent o f the Polish geology, one cannot om it the G y m nasium o f V olhynia (since 1818 - a Lyceum ), established at K rzem ieniec in 1805 on the initiative o f Tadeusz Czacki, and with participation o f H ugon Kołłątaj. Czacki and Kołłątaj were experts in the problem s o f geology, the people w ho were vividly interested in the developm ent o f natural science and physiographic investigations. They m anaged to g ather at K rzem ieniec and excellent, though sm all, team o f the lecturers teaching the subjects re lated with natural science39. Until the m iddle o f 1807, m ineralogy w as taught during the classes o f natural history by Franciszek Scheidt40 from the Jagel- lonian U niversity. A fter his death, in 1810 the lectures on natural history were taken over by a graduate from the Jagellonian U niversity - W ilibald Besser41. H e refused to teach m ineralogy, claim ing not to be p repared well enough for this task. In his lectures on botany and zoology he was paying quite a lot o f attention to the problem s of palaeontology. In spite o f C zack i’s efforts to ensure a continuity in teaching o f m ineralogy at K rzem ieniec, the
96 J. Garbów ska
subject was given up, and a break o f eight years follow ed. In 1815 the lectures on m ineralogy w ere taken by a teacher o f chem istry in the G ym nasium - Stefan Zienow icz42. This graduate from the U niversity o f Vilnius, a keen collector o f geological items, was - with his thorough know ledge of the subject received from Sym onow icz - w ell-prepared for the lectures on m ineralogy, which he was teaching w ithout any interruption until the disso lution o f the Lyceum.
Scheidt’s m ineralogy43 was based on the solid basis o f chem istry. In its scope and approach to the subject, his syllabus w as sim ilar to the m iner- alogy-related part o f Sartoris’ lectures on chem istry delivered in the M ain School o f the G rand D uchy o f Lithuania. It seem s that Scheidt paid little attention to the problem s o f geology, lim iting him self only to a few obser vations on the “types o f m ountains” . Scheid t’s program m e differed to a con siderable extent from the lectures on m ineralogy delivered in the sam e period by Sym onow icz in the U niversity o f V ilnius, w here the theoretical fun dam entals and the contem porary know ledge o f geology were given m uch m ore attention. In com parison with the m ineralogy taught in the U niversity, S cheidt’s program m e was outdated.
Z ieno w icz was teach in g W e rn e r’s m ineralogy usin g D rz e w in sk i’s handbook and the w orks o f B rochant, B rongniart, Jons Jacobs B erzelius, and H aiiy44. He m ade his students fam iliar w ith the term inology and c h ar acteristics (external, chem ical and physical) o f m in erals as w ell as with the essen tials o f W e rn e r’s and H atiy’s sy stem atics. H e taug ht them , first o f all, o ryctognosy, w hile in geognosy he lim ited h im se lf to a d escrip tio n o f all the rocks m en tion ed in D rz e w in sk i’s handbook; he also spoke about the p rin cip les o f W e rn e r’s stratig raph y 45. T he lectu res d e liv e re d by Z ien o w icz w ere a faithfu l, though shortened, copy o f the cu rricu lu m of teach ing m ineralogy h eld at the U niversity o f V ilnius. T he lim itatio n was caused by a m uch sm aller num ber o f the classes in a w eek and by the level o f know ledge o f the pupils w ho fo r the first tim e w ere in contact w ith this branch o f science. Z ieno w icz was a g eo lo gist full o f zeal, and a teach er very devoted to his pupils. H e was p rep arin g very carefu lly the teaching aids for his lessons.
For the didactic purposes was also used the m ineralogical study-room with separate collections o f oryctognostic and geognostic specim ens, open for the pupils in som e definite hours. The m ineralogical collection at K rzem ieniec was very rich. It was based on the collection o f King Stanislaus Augustus, com prising 7703 specim ens and purchased for the G ym nasium in 1805. T he collection was next enriched further with purchased acquisitions and donations (am ong others, a set o f labradorites o f K ołłątaj, the collection of Prim ate M ichał Poniatow ski presented by Prince Jó zef Poniatow ski, and the gifts o f W alicki) as well as with the specim ens picked up by the scientists from K rzem ieniec during their field investigations.
In 1824 the catalogued collection o f the Lyceum o f K rzem ieniec in cluded 12 194 specim ens; m oreover, there w ere also the collections o f fo s sils, m inerals, rocks and crystals (the gift o f W alicki) as w ell as a “referen ce” collection o f m inerals to serve the didactic purposes. So, altogether th e n u m ber of items included in the mineralogical collection went far beyond 12 000 specim ens46.
The m ineralogical collection in the Lyceum o f K rzem ieniec w as not the only collection o f this type in that city. The rich private collections, origi nating m ainly from the territories o f V olhynia and Podolia, w ere ow ned by the teachers, m ainly by W ojciech Zborzew ski47 (about 20 000 specim ens, this including over 1000 pieces o f fossils), Zienow icz and A ntoni A ndrze- jo w sk i48.
Thanks to the fact that natural science was taken into consideration in the program m e o f education, the staff o f the teachers was excellent, and the back-up facilities were good (collections, library), the L yceum o f K rzem ieniec was not only efficient in giving the solid fundam entals o f nat ural science to the youth learning there, but quite soon it also becam e the second after the U niversity of Vilnius centre o f physiographic investigations.
*
Full understanding o f the need for field investigations in geology, though appreciated and vivid, was nevertheless being m aterialized in the circles o f V ilnius rather slow ly and not w ithout difficulties. The reasons w ere n u m er ous, but the m ost im portant ones w ere inherent in, firstly, the w eakness of the “faculty” o f m ineralogy itself, w hich throughout the entire period o f an existence o f the U niversity had as a staff o f lecturers one person only and, secondly and m ainly, in the lack o f m aterial m eans for excursions and o r ganization o f m ore extensive field investigations.
A t first, the field investigations w ere carried out occasionally and on a small scale only49. The persons responsible for them were: in 1803 S. B. Jundzill in the D istrict o f O szm iany, Sym onow icz in V olhynia (1 8 0 5 -1 8 0 7 ) and in the estate o f C hancellor R um iancev in the Province o f M ohylev (1810-1811), in the years 1817-1822 - H orodecki in the D istrict o f V ilnius, in 1817 - B ogatko in the D istricts o f Kaunas and Trokai, and since 1820 - Jakow icki in som e regions o f the Provinces o f V ilnius, G rodno and M insk. In 1821 the first physiographic travel around Lithuania w as m ade by J. Jundzill, and in 1828 - by Eichwald.
By the end o f the tw enties o f the 19th century the geologists from V ilnius had acquired quite a good know ledge o f the geological structure o f Lithuania and o f som e regions in the present B yelorusia. The field inves tigations in those territories m ainly covered the Q uaternary form ations and
98 J. Garbowska
not too numerous outcrops o f older deposits, nowadays included into the Ter tiary Period and the M esozoic Era. Because the Pre-Quaternary sediments were outcropped to a very small degree only, those territories were not an object quite proper for geological investigations, while the determination o f a strati- graphic sequence was, with the data so incomplete, not an easy task at all.
In a m uch better situation were the scientists from K rzem ieniec. First of all, the progress in geological investigations was m uch easier there due to the geological structure itself of V olhynia and the nearby Podolia, where on the surface there were num erous w ell-form ed series o f the Pre-Q uaternary sedim ents. The quicker and better organization o f the field investigations w as also due to C zacki’s personal interest in the problem s o f geology, and to greater possibilities o f getting the funds for scientific expeditions, financed in great m easure by the citizens from V olhynia and Podolia.
The system atic investigations had been carried out at K rzem ieniec since 1810. They were started by Besser w ho every year m ade botanic excursions and trips, alone or with A ndrzejow ski. Besser was interested in a relation betw een the plants and a substratum , and therefore in his observations he was taking into account the geological structure in the investigated territories o f V olhynia, Podolia and the Province of Chersoń.
The m ost im portant and most productive geologist at K rzem ieniec was Andrzejowski who, in the years 1814—1824, made 8 physiographic travels in Volhynia, Podolia and Pobereże. The results of his observations he published in 1823 in his “Outline of botany”50. The geological investigations were also carried out by Zienowicz and Zborzewski. The hand-written treatise of Zienowicz entitled “A geognostic description of the mountains o f Krzem ieniec”, sent to the W arsaw Society of the Friends o f Sciences, was lost.
Zborzew ski, held in high repute by his contem poraries as an excellent expert in the fossil fauna in V olhynia and Podolia, published a few papers in the Russian journals. The lot o f his handw ritten treatise on geology in V olhynia and Podolia has rem ained unknown.
A good occasion for the exploration of m uch m ore interesting terrains with varied geological structure and a good degree o f outcrop o f the Pre- Q uaternary sedim ents was offered to the geologists from V ilnius not earlier than during an expedition to the South provinces o f the Russian E m pire sent by the U niversity of Vilnius in 1829. The expedition was organized on the initiative o f Eichwald. A part from the initiator him self who was, at the same tim e, also chief of the expedition, other scientists took part in it as well, viz. Jakow icki, A ndrzejow ski and a student of the T raining C ollege - Józef M ałecki - by that tim e already a graduate in philosophy. The target o f the expedition was to carry out various investigations in geology (Jakow icki), botany (A ndrzejow ski), zoology (Eichw ald) and topography, geodesy and geography (M ałecki). The investigations were m eant to cover a vast area betw een the rivers Boh and D niester up to the Black Sea. For the scientists
from V ilnius the choice o f the terrains for exploration was very opportune, because they were covered by the w ell-outcropped and diversified series o f deposits dated from the Pre-C am brian to Q uaternary Periods (in the present nom enclature). M oreover, there were som e beautifully shaped form ations from the C retaceous and Tertiary Periods w hich had already aroused the interest of the European scientists.
The expedition proved to be particularly useful for learning the geolo gi cal structure o f V olhynia, Podolia and the Province of C hersoń, m ostly b e cause the geological observations were m ade by all those who participated in it. A part from a rich collection o f the specim ens o f natural science (over 1000 specim ens w ere gathered), the output o f the expedition w ere three im portant scientific works written by: E ichw ald - “N aturhistorische Skizze” , Jakow icki - “G eognostic observations”, and A ndrzejow ski - “An outline o f botany” , as well as two papers w ritten by E ichw ald and published in the Russian and G erm an jo urn als51. The m ost com prehensive and im portant dis sertation seem s to be the work “G eognostic observations” w ritten by Jakow icki which is, to som e extent, a recapitulation o f the know ledge o f geological structure in eastern territories o f the form er Polish R epublic. The author included into that work not only his ow n m any y e a rs’ observations but also the results o f investigations carried out in L ithuania in 1825 by Johann U llm ann52, the descriptions of profiles m ade by A ndrzejow ski, M ałecki and M aciej Przybylski, the inform ation on the fossil fauna in the described regions com piled by Z borzew ski, Z ienow icz and A ndrzejow ski as well as the designations o f fauna m ade by Eichw ald.
The output o f this, more than thirty years lasting, work o f the geologists from Vilnius and K rzem ieniec turned out to be quite im portant. They co l lected an enorm ous m aterial based on observations, m ade the com prehensive and correct descriptions o f num erous outcrops and geological profiles, left a rich collection o f m inerals, rocks and fossils, and gave the designations and descriptions of num erous species o f the fossil fauna, especially o f the phylum M ollusca from the Tertiary and C retaceous Periods. They w ere car rying out their investigations in the same territories, so it is quite obvious that the scope o f their works was sim ilar, the descriptions o f the rocks - convergent, and the conclusions - generally consistent. In the explored terri tory two separate geological zones (system s) w ere distinguished: a region lying betw een the rivers Niem en and W est D źw ina (Lithuania), and a region betw een the rivers D nieper and D niester (V olhynia, Podolia, Pobereże). A p plying one o f the generally accepted stratigraphie schem ata, viz. that of D ’A ubuisson, they distinguished in the explored territory five geological ages, w hich they called m ountains: prim ary, transitive, secondary (stratified), tertiary and alluvial; within the individual ages they distinguished num erous form ations. They described the sedim ents included into those form ations and determ ined the range o f their geographic expansion. This picture o f the
ge-100 J. Garbów ska
ological structure o f the exam ined territory was com pleted w ith a collective stratigraphic profile prepared by Jakow icki53.
Into the deposits of prim ary m ountains they included the m agm atic and m etam orphic rocks in V olhynia and Podolia w hich, according to the opinions prevailing at that tim e in som e circles o f the geologists in Europe, were considered to be the oldest sedim entary rocks. They distinguished three generations o f granites.
Am ong the transitive m ountains they reckoned the loam y-greyw acke and calciferous-m arl sedim ents with an abundant fauna o f the Corals, Bra- chiopoda, phylum M ollusca and Trilobita, present in P odolia on the river D niester, and its left-bank tributaries: Seret, Zbrucz, Sm otrycza, Studennica and U szyca.
According to the geologists from Vilnius and K rzem ieniec, the deposits o f the secondary m ountains w ere widely spread in V olhynia and Podolia, betw een the rivers Ikwa, upper Horyn, upper Boh, D niester, and its tribu taries: the rivers Zbrucz, Ladaw a and M urafa; they also occurred in L ithuania on the rivers, M inia, W indaw a, M usza, Ław enna, N iem enek, Św ięta, Du- bissa, W ilia and Niemen. The geologists from V ilnius distinguished in V olhynia and Podolia three form ations o f the secondary m ountains: the gy psum form ations on the river Zbrucz, the rocky chalk with flints and a fauna of, m ainly, the phylum M ollusca in Podolia, and the form ation o f white chalk with flints and an extrem ely rich fauna o f the phylum M olusca, Bra- chiopoda and sea urchins, w idely spread on the rivers Ikw a and Horyń in Volhynia. In L ithuania they distinguished four form ations: the form ation of A lpine lim estone (red sandstones and m ottled lim estones with beautiful fauna o f am m onites) on the rivers W indaw a, M inia and M usza, the form ation o f shell lim estone with griffithites in the regions of Pozw olę and K iejdany, the form ation o f new sandstone on the river M usza and o f the chalk with the fauna o f Terebratula, belem nites and sea urchins in the region o f Grodno.
The Tertiary m ountains, w idely spread in V olhynia, Podolia and Pobereże, had been shaped in the form of alternately lying, m arine and fresh w ater series o f sands, sandstones and carbonate sedim ents, often containing an extrem ely rich fauna o f the phylum M ollusca. A dopting the schem a o f a division of the Tertiary Paris basin54, Jakow icki distinguished five form a tions here. He had, however, som e doubts as to w hether the distinguished form atio n s did form the su ccessiv e series from various ages. He supposed th at they w ere rather partial links in one and the sam e huge form ation of the m arine lim estone, form ed in various w ays in the in d iv id u al parts o f this en orm ou s T ertiary basin und er the in fluence o f d iffe re n t conditio ns o f sedim entation. E ichw ald, on the other hand, divided the ex am in ed se d i m ents into tw o form ations: an o ld er form ation (the T e rtiary d eposits in V olh y n ia and P odolia) and a younger form ation (spongy lim esto nes o c
cu rrin g along th e northern coast o f the B lack S ea, from the riv e r D n ie ste r to the riv er D nieper).
The sedim ents of the alluvial m ountains - sands, clays and erratic boulders - w ere noted by the geologists from V ilnius and K rzem ieniec to occur all over the exam ined area. Jakow icki distinguished tw o form ations there: local and general. According to him, the local form ation was form ed from parts of the Tertiary rocks crushed down by the strong erosive sea currents with the successive sedimentation o f this material on the elem ents o f this for m ation or in its nearest vicinity. The deposits o f the general form ation were said to be m ade during the last great sea flood, while the erratic boulders present there, very sim ilar to the Scandinavian rocks, were a proof that the last flood cam e to those terrains from the North-W est direction, i.e. from the Baltic Sea.
The geologists from Vilnius and K rzem ieniec covered by their field in vestigations a vast, and at that tim e alm ost unknow n, area lying betw een the river N iem en, the Baltic Sea, the low er D zw ina, the low er D nieper, the B lack Sea and the river D niester. They carried out the regional investigations follow ing a m odel that was com m only adopted at that tim e by all the scien tific centres in Europe. They were neptunists, and their neptunism w as an effect o f not only the knowledge acquired at the university, but it seem ed to be additionally strengthened by the geological structure o f the terrains they were exploring. They applied the general stratigraphic criteria accepted at that tim e in geology, w hich m eans that they w ere exam ining the sequence o f strata in a profile, and the direct interrelations betw een them . W hen the sequence o f the strata could not be determ ined, they adopted as a criterion for the determ ination o f a stratigraphic position the resem blance in a litho- logical form ation of the sedim ents exam ined in various spots, and the p re sence or absence o f fossils, typical o f a given form ation. They distinguished three stratigraphic units: strata, form ations (petrographic or petrographic- faunistical com plexes) and m ountains (terrains). Though they w ere aw are o f the significance that the presence o f fauna had in the determ ination o f a relative age o f the deposits, they were not able to use, to a full extent, the biostratigraphic m ethod in levelling out o f the exam ined profiles.
T heir publications provided the first in the Polish literature picture o f a geological structure of the eastern territories o f the form er Polish R epublic, and in this way form ed a proper back-ground for further explorations - re gional, stratigraphic and palaeontological. T he conditions o f their w ork w ere not easy. The developm ent o f research was ham pered and disturbed by the com plicated political and econom ic situation; certain confinem ents in their scientific activities were im posed by the lack o f direct and broad contacts w ith the European geology. They form ed a team o f the young scientists who w ere ju st m aking their first steps in the independent researches carried out on a w ider scale. The com piled m aterial m ight have been a good basis for the future studies and research o f a m uch m ore general nature. T he
disso-102 J. Garbowska
lution o f the U niversity o f Vilnius and o f the Lyceum o f K rzem ieniec in terrupted suddenly the continuous stream o f researches, cut o ff an access to the back-up facilities and m ade any further progress in the investigations im possible.
The m aterial m eans of the research centres and o f the team s o f the scientists were dissipated. Eichw ald and Jakow icki found an occupation at the service faculties of zoology, com parative anatom y and m ineralogy of the M edical and Surgical A cadem y in Vilnius, w hile the team o f scientists from K rzem ieniec m oved to the U niversity o f St V ladim ir in Kiev.
1 A t th a t tim e , the te rm “m in e ra lo g y ” d e n o te d th e w h o le c o n te m p o ra ry k n o w le d g e o f th e in an im ate n a tu re , n o w a d ay s in c lu d e d in to th e sco p e o f g e o lo g ic a l scie n c e s (g e o lo g y , m in e ra lo g y , p e tro g ra p h y , s tra tig ra p h y , p a la eo n to lo g y , etc.).
2 T h e p lace and sco p e o f n atu ral h isto ry in the stru c tu re a n d sy ste m o f e d u c a tio n in th e M ain S chool
o f V iln iu s w a s d iscu ssed by , a m o n g o th ers. J. B ie liń sk i, The U n iversity o f V iln iu s 1 5 7 9 -1 8 3 1 , W a rsa w -C ra c o w 1 8 9 9 -1 9 0 0 , v o l. 1 -2 ; J. K o ło d z ie jcz y k , N a tu ra l s cie n c e in the a c tiv itie s o f th e C o m m issio n o f N a tio n a l E d u
c a tio n , W arsa w 1936; Z. F e d o ro w ic z , The o r g a n iza tio n o f n a tu ra listic s tu d ie s in the U n iv e r s ity o f V iln iu s in the y e a r s 1781-1832-, "S tu d . M at. D ziejó w N. P o l.” 1957, series B, no . 1, p. 3 -7 1 ; Id e m , T h e F a c u lty o f N a tu ra l H is to ry in the fo r m e r U n iv ersity o f V ilnius, ib id e m , p. 7 0 -1 2 6 ; J. G a rb o w sk a , G e o lo g ic a l s c ie n c e s a t the h ig h e r s c h o o ls o f V iln iu s a n d K rze m ien ie c in th e y e a r s 1 7 8 1 -1 8 4 0 . “ P race M u ze u m Z ie m i” 1993, z. 42,
p. 5 -1 1 2 .
3 T h e scie n tific a ctiv itie s o f G ilib e rt (1 7 4 1 - 1 8 1 4 ) w ere d isc u sse d in d etail b y , a m o n g o th e rs, W . S taw iń sk i, D r Jea n E m m an u e l G ilib e rt. P ro fe sso r a n d fo u n d e r o f the B o ta n ic a l G a rd en in V ilnius. A b io g ra p h ic
co n trib u tio n to the h isto ry o f th e U n iversity o f V iln iu s. V iln iu s 1925; Z. F e d o ro w ic z , T h e F a c u lty o f N a tu ra l H isto ry , p. 7 9 -8 7 .
4 T h e scie n tific b io g ra p h y o f F o rste r (1 7 5 4 -1 7 9 4 ) w as g iv en b y , a m o n g o th e rs, Z . F e d o ro w ic z , The
F a c u lty o f N a tu ra l H isto ry , p. 9 3 - 9 6 ; Idem , G e o rg F o r s te r 's sp ee c h u n d e r the h e a d in g o f " L im ite s n a tu r a lis " m a d e ill V iln iu s in 1785, “ M e m o ra b ilia Z o o lo g ic a ” 1963, no. 10, p. 5j 10.
5 A n in fo rm a tio n n o te on th e d id a c tic a ctiv itie s o f S p itzn a g e l (1 7 5 7 - 1 8 2 6 ) w a s p u b lish e d b y Z. F e d o ro w ic z , The F a c u lty o f N a tu ra l H isto ry, p. 9 9 -1 0 1 .
6 A m o st c o m p re h e n siv e scien tific b io g ra p h y o f Ju n d zill (1 7 6 1 -1 8 4 1 ): W. S ła w iń s k i, T he R e v e re n d
S ta n isła w B o n ifa c y Ju n d zill. p r o fe s s o r o f n a tu r a l h is to ry in the U n iv ersity o f V iln iu s, “ A n n a les U M C S ” L u b lin
1947, series E , su p p l. I
7 T h e c u rric u la o f th e le ctu res d e liv e re d b y G ilib e rt, F o rste r a n d S p itzn a g e l w e re p u b lish e d by Z. F ed o ro w ic z , The F a c u lty o f N a tu ra l H isto ry, pp. 8 1 -8 2 , 9 3 -9 6 , 101-1 11.
s T h e sco p e and c o n te n ts o f te a ch in g g e o lo g y d u rin g th e le c tu re s d eliv e re d by th e p ro fe sso rs o f n atural h isto ry in V iln iu s w ere d iscu ssed in d etail b y J. G a rb o w sk a , G e o lo g ic a l s c ie n c e s a t the h ig h e r s ch o o ls o f
V iln iu s a n d K rze m ien ie c .
9 T h e te x t o f S a rto r is ’ c u rric u lu m w as p u b lish e d by J. B ie liń sk i, op .cit., vo l.. 2, p. 9 5 -9 6 .
10 D etailed in fo rm a tio n o n th e c o lle ctio n o f natu ral h isto ry in the M ain S c h o o l o f th e G ra n d D u ch y o f L ith u an ia in: J. B ie liń sk i, o p .cit., v o l. 1, p. 1 5 2 -1 5 3 ; Z. F ed o ro w ic z , T h e F a c u lty o f N a tu r a l H is to ry , pp. 84, 9 7 , 114; S. B. Ju n d zill, T h e C o llectio n o f N a tu ra l H isto ry a n d the B o ta n ic a l G a rd e n , “ B ib l. W a rsz .” 1850, vol. 1, p. 3 9 -4 2 .
11 G . R zą c z y ń sk i, H istó ric a n a tu r a lis cu rio sa R e g n i P o lo n ica e , M a g n i D u c a tu s L ith u a n ia e (...), S a n d o m ie rz 1721; Id em , A u c tu a r iu m h isto ria e n a tu ra lis c u rio su e R e g n i P o lo n ia e, G e d a n i 1742; [J. B. D u b o is],
E ssa i s u r l ’h isto ire litté ra ire d e P o lo g n e p a r M . D. R e fle x io n g é n é r a le s s u r les p r o g r è s d e s s c ie n c e s e t arts. H isto ire n a tu relle e t g é o g ra p h ie , B erlin 1778; J. E. G u e tta rd , M é m o ir e s u r la n a tu r e d u te rra in d e la P o lo g n e e t d e s m in é ra u x g u ’il r en fe rm e (...), “ H isto ire d e l'A c a d é m ie R o y ale d es S c ie n c es A n n é e 17 6 2 ” , P a ris 1764,
pp . 2 3 4 -2 5 6 , 2 9 3 -3 3 6 , V I illu stra tio n s, a m in e ra lo g ic a l m a p o f Po lan d .
12 J. E. G ilib e rt, M in é ra lo g ie . “ M é m o ire ” 1783; J. S a rto ris, J. M ick iew ic z , A re p o r t o f th e m in e ra lo g ic a l
trip a lo n g the b a n k o f the rive r N ie m e n a n d o f an e xa m in a tio n o f th e sa lin e m in e ra l w a te rs a t S to k lis z k i in 1 7 8 7 , (In :) M . B aliń sk i, T h e F o rm e r A c a d e m y o f Vilnius, P e te rsb u rg 1862, p. 5 2 9 -5 3 0 ; S. B. J u n d z ill, O n the sa lin e sp rin g s a n d the s a il o f S to k liszk i, V iln iu s 1792; Idem , A re p o r t o n th e p e a t in th e P r o v in c e s o f V iln iu s a n d M iń sk , V iln iu s 26 Ju n e 1799, B U W il. m a n u sc rip t, F. 2 D C 35 , p. 2 ; Idem , A r e p o r t (...) o f th e jo u r n e y m a d e to B irżu a n d o th e r p la c e s to d is c o v e r s a lt; to the A c a d e m y o f V iln iu s 31 M a y 1802, ib id e m , D C 13, p.
3; Idem , A m in e ra lo g ic a l a n d g e o g ra p h ic a l d isse rta tio n o n the p la c e s w h ere the m e ta ls c a n b e f o u n d a n d o n
th e ir a n n u a l o u tp u t, p re sen te d on the first d ay o f th e c o m m e n c e m e n t o f p u b lic le ss o n s in th e M ain S c h o o l o f
L ith u an ia . V iln iu s 1798.
The scientific achievem ents o f the professors o f natural history in th e field of geology were d iscu ssed in detail by J . Garbowska. G e o l o g i c a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n s c a r r i e d o u t b y t h e S c i e n t i f i c C e n t r e o j V i l n i u s i n t h e y e a r s 1 7 8 1 - 1 8 3 2 , (In:) A c o n t r i b u t i o n o f t h e S c i e n t i f i c C e n t r e o f V i l n i u s to t h e n a t u r a l i s t i c e x p l o r a t i o n s o f t h e c o u n t r y . 1 7 8 1 - 1 8 4 2 . A collective work under the supervision o f J. Babicz and W. Grębecka. "Mon. Dziej. N. i T .” 1988, vol.
141, p. 7 9 -8 0 .
13 In fo rm a tio n on th e s c ie n tific a ctiv itie s o f S y m o n o w ic z (1 7 6 8 - 1 8 1 3 ) w as g iv e n by I. S k u o d ie n é (R o m a n
S im o n o w ic z - p ie r w y j p r ie p o w o d a tie l m in e ra lo g ii w W iln ju sk o m U n iw ie rsitie tie , (In :) R u s s k o -p o lsk ije s w ia zi w o b la sti n a u k i o zie m lie , M o sc o w 1975, p. 2 2 -2 6 ) , and o n the s c ie n tific a ctiv itie s o f S y m o n o w ic z and
H o ro d e c k i (1 7 7 6 -1 8 2 4 ), d o c to r o f p h ilo s o p h y and sin c e 1823 p ro fe s so r o f m in e ra lo g y in th e U n iv e rs ity - b y J. G a rb o w sk a (G e o lo g ic a l scien ces a t th e h ig h e r s c h o o ls o f V ilnius a n d K rze m ien ie c ).
14 B U W il.., m a n u sc rip t, F. 2 K C 2 3 2 , p. 118 (A re p o rt fo r th e y e a r 1803 s u b m itte d b y R e c to r H. S tro jn o w sk i).
15 In 1804 S tro jn o w sk i w a n ted to re d u c e th e sco p e o f su b je c ts ta u g h t a t th e F a c u lty o f N a tu ra l H isto ry to m in e ra lo g y , m in in g a n d m e ta llu rg y , a n d to en tru st the F a c u lty to A . G . W e rn e r - p ro fe s s o r at the M in in g A c ad e m y in F re ib e rg (C V IA L i t , m a n u sc rip t, F. 72 1 , op. 1, je d . sk r. 4 0 1 , no. 27 , p. 1 0 -1 1 , W e r n e r’s le tte r to S tro jn o w sk i o f 8th Ju n e 1805). In 1806, fo llo w in g the sam e p rin c ip le s, h e w a n te d to e n tru s t th e F a c u lty to S y m o n o w ic z w h o w a s fav o u red and re c o m m e n d e d by W e rn er, J ó z e f M ic k ie w ic z a n d C arl C h ris tia n L a n g sd o rt. T h e p ro b le m o f S y m o n o w ic z ’s n o m in a tio n starte d q u a rre ls a n d d isp u te s at th e U n iv e rsity . A s a c o n se q u e n c e , th e sch o o l su p e rin te n d e n t A d am C za rto ry sk i did n o t a p p ro v e o f the d e c isio n o f th e D e p a rtm e n t o f P h y sical and M ath e m a tic a l S c ie n c es to m ak e the c an d id ate p ro fe so r o f n a tu ra l h isto ry (C V IA L it., m a n u sc rip t, F. 72 1 , op. 1, je d . skr. 40 1 . no. 27 , p. 1 -1 4 ). It is d iffic u lt to u n d e rstan d th a t d e c isio n b e c a u s e S y m o n o w ic z w a s not on ly a v ery ta le n te d m an and a full o f zeal m in e ra lo g ist, b u t he w as a lso e x te n siv e ly e d u c a te d a n d w e ll-p re p a re d fo r ta k in g o f th e F a c u lty .
16 B U W il., m a n u sc rip t, F. 2 D C 176 b, p. 45 5 an d a p rin ted text, T h e tim e -ta b le o f c la sse s in the E m p e ro r’s U n iv e rsity o f V iln iu s in th e y e a rs 1816/17, 1 825/26, 182 6 /2 7 , 1827/28, 18 2 8 /2 9 , 1 929/30, 1930/31.
17 M. B o g a tk o ( 1 7 5 5 - ? ) , m a ste r o f p h ilo so p h y , w a s at th a t tim e assistan t in th e s tu d y -ro o m o f n atu ral h isto ry . A fte r 1813 he w as p e rfo rm in g th e d u ties o f a sch o o l te a c h e r in th e D istric t o f V iln iu s.
18 F. D rz e w iń sk i (1 7 8 8 - ab o u t 1850), d o c to r o f p h ilo so p h y , o b ta in e d in 1813 his d o c to r’s d e g re e a fte r su b m issio n o f a d isse rta tio n on m in e ra lo g y . S in ce 1819 - ad ju n c t, a n d th e n p ro fe s so r o f p h y sic s in th e U n i v ersity.
19 J. Ju n d z ill (1794—1888), m a ste r o f p h ilo so p h y , sin ce 1823 - a d ju n c t a n d le c tu re r o f b o ta n y .
2,1 J. Jak o w ic k i (1 7 9 4 - 1 8 4 7 ), c an d id ate o f p h ilo so p h y , p a sse d th e e x a m in a tio n s re q u ire d fo r ta k in g his m a s te r’s d e g re e in 1819 a n d su b m itte d his d isse rta tio n on m in e ra lo g y . H is m a s te r’s d e g re e w a s, a t first, c o n firm ed by th e M in iste r o f E d u c a tio n o n th e 14th o f A p ril 1820 (B U W il., m a n u sc rip t, F . 2 K C 3 2 3 , p. 2 5 ), b u t
