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JOHANN GEORG See also:ADAM See also:FORSTER (1754-1794) , See also:German traveller and author, was See also:born at Nassenhuben, a small See also:village near See also:Danzig, on the 27th of See also:November 1754 . His See also:father, Johann See also:Reinhold See also:Forster, a See also:man of See also:great scientific attainments but an intractable See also:temper, was at that See also:time pastor of the See also:place; the See also:family are said to have been of Scottish extraction . In 1765 the See also:elder Forster was commissioned by the empress See also:Catherine to inspect the See also:Russian colonies in the See also:province of See also:Saratov, which gave his son an opportunity of acquiring the Russian See also:language and the elements of a scientific See also:education . After a few years the father quarrelled with the Russian See also:government, and went to See also:England, where he obtained a professorship of natural See also:history and the See also:modern See also:languages at the famous non-conformist See also:academy at See also:Warrington . His violent temper soon compelled him to resign this See also:appointment, and for two years he and his son earned a See also:precarious livelihood by See also:translations in See also:London-a See also:practical- education, however, exceedingly useful to the younger Forster, who became a thorough See also:master of See also:English, and acquired many of the ideas which chiefly influenced his subsequent See also:life . At length the turning point in his career came in the shape of an invitation for him and his father to accompany See also:Captain See also:Cook in his third voyage See also:round the See also:world . Such an expedition was admirably calculated to See also:call forth Forster's See also:peculiar See also:powers . His See also:account of Cook's voyage (A Voyage round the World, London, 1777; in German, See also:Berlin, 1778-178o), is almost the first example of the glowing yet faithful description of natural phenomena which has since made a knowledge of them the See also:common See also:property of the educated world . The publication of this See also:work was, however, impeded for some time by See also:differences with the See also:admiralty, during which Forster proceeded to the See also:continent to obtain an appointment for his father as See also:professor at See also:Cassel, and found to his surprise that it was conferred upon himself . The elder Forster, however, was soon provided for elsewhere, being appointed professor of natural history at See also:Halle . At Cassel Forster formed an intimate friendship with the great anatomist Sommerring, and about the same time made the acquaintance of See also:Jacobi, who gave him a leaning towards See also:mysticism from which he subequently emancipated himself . The want of books and scientific apparatus at Cassel induced him to resort frequently to See also:Gottingen, where he became betrothed to Therese See also:Heyne, the daughter of the illustrious philologist, a See also:clever and cultivated woman, but See also:ill-suited to be Forster's wife .
To be able to marry he accepted (1784) a professorship at the university of Wilna, which he did not find to his See also:taste
.
The penury and barbarism of See also:Polish circumstances are graphically described in his and his wife's letters of this See also:period
.
After a few years' See also:residence at Wilna he resigned his appointment to participate in a scientific expedition projected by the Russian government, and upon the relinquishment of this undertaking became librarian to the elector of See also:Mainz
.
He actively promoted the See also:incorporation of the See also:left See also:bank of the See also:Rhine with See also:France and in 1793 went to See also:Paris to carry on the negotiations
.
Meanwhile, however, the Germans seized Mainz, and Forster—already disheartened by the turn of events in France—was cut off from all return
.
Domestic sorrows were added to his See also:political troubles and he died suddenly at Paris on the loth of See also:January 1794
.
Forster's masterpiece is his Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von See also:Brabant, Flandern, See also: Leitzmann, Halle, 1893); Leitzmann has also published (See also:Stuttgart, 1894) a selection of Forster's Kleine Schriften, which originally appeared in 6 vols . (1789-1797) . His See also:correspondence was published by his wife (2 vols., Leipzig, 1829) ; his Briefwechsel mit Sommerring by H . See also:Hettner (See also:Brunswick, 1877) . See J . Moleschott, G . Forster, der Naturforscher See also:des Volks (1854; 3rd ed., 1874) ; K . See also:Klein, G . Forster in Mainz (See also:Gotha, 1863) ; A . Leitzmann, G . Forster (Vorlesung) (Halle, 1893) . |
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