ALEXANDER SCHADENBERG, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



IN THE PHILIPPINES 



By Otto Scheerer 



Of the University of the Philippines 



Botanists and zoologists in the Philippines know of a number 

 of plants and animals that bear specific names derived from 

 the family name of their discoverer, Schadenberg, and the 

 ethnographer not unfrequently comes across this appellation 

 in his literature on Luzon, Mindanao, and Mindoro; yet, of 

 the man who bore that name practically nothing is known to 

 the present generation of residents in the Islands. It may there- 

 fore be of interest to present here a short biographical sketch of 

 this precursor of our present-day research workers, a man who 

 in his day sealed his devotion to the scientific exploration of the 

 Philippines with his life. 



Alexander Schadenberg was born in Breslau, Germany, on 

 June 27, 1851, the son of a court dignitary. 1 After graduating 

 from the gymnasium of that city he was apprenticed for some 

 time to a local pharmacist and later, with the practical knowl- 

 edge thus acquired, entered Breslau University for the study- 

 mainly of chemistry, pharmacy, and botany. His great talent 

 and predilection for all branches of the natural sciences soon 

 made him a favorite with his teachers, among whom were such 

 eminent men as Goeppert, the botanist. His record in chemistry 

 under Doctor Loewig was so excellent that at the early age of 

 23 years, young Schadenberg, having achieved the degree of 

 Doctor of Philosophy, was appointed assistant director of the 

 Potassic Salt Works at Stassfurt, where he worked until 1876 

 to the satisfaction of his employers. An inborn longing, how- 

 ever, for the exploration of unknown countries overseas did not 

 allow him to remain long at home. A position as chemist being 



* I am following notes kindly furnished me by a member of Schadenberg's 

 family now living in Europe, but I see that Blumentritt in an obituary 

 notice in Int. Arch. f. Ethn. Leyden 5 (1896) 151 gives the date of birth 

 as May 27, 1852. 



