Cover not available
Part of
Translation in Knowledge, Knowledge in Translation
Edited by Rocío G. Sumillera, Jan Surman and Katharina Kühn
[Benjamins Translation Library 154] 2020
► pp. 59–80

Chapter 3
Travelling knowledge in nineteenth-century science

Jacob Moleschott and materialism in translation

| University of Siegen

Focusing on the work of the materialist Jacob Moleschott (’s-Hertogenbosch 1822-Rome 1893), this chapter argues for the fundamental role played by translation in the development and dissemination of scientific knowledge and scientific epistemology in nineteenth-century Europe, with Moleschott’s transnational biography illustrating practices of translation as well as the dynamics of negotiation and circulation of knowledge. Three aspects that exemplify processes of translation will be considered: first, Moleschott’s work as a translator (e.g. of Gerrit Jan Mulder) and the translation of his work by Cesare Lombroso; second, his role as a disseminator, involving the transfer of concepts between science and politics; and third, his engagement in practices of cultural translation between disciplines and nation-states.

Keywords: Jacob Moleschott, materialism, epistemology, translation, politics, science, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, travelling knowledge
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From materialism to criminal anthropology: Cesare Lombroso translates Moleschott
  • 3.Translation and the origins of Moleschott’s materialism
  • 4.Translation, epistemology, and popularisation
  • 5.Translating science into politics
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 October 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.154.03men
References
Adamo, Sergia
2006 “Microhistory of Translation.” In Charting the Future of Translation History, ed. by Paul F. Bandia and Georges L. Bastin, 81–100. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ash, Mitchell G., and Jan Surman
(eds) 2012 “The Nationalization of Scientific Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century Central Europe: An Introduction.” In The Nationalization of Scientific Knowledge in the Habsburg Empire, 1848–1918, ed. by Mitchell Ash and Jan Surman, 1–29. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Assis Rosa, Alexandra
2018 “Forms and Formats of Dissemination of Translation Knowledge.” In A History of Modern Translation Knowledge. Sources, Concepts, Effects, ed. by Lieven D’hulst and Yves Gambier, 203–213. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bachmann-Medick, Doris
(ed.) 2014 The Trans/National Study of Culture: A Translational Perspective. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 “Introduction: The Translational Turn.” Translation Studies 2 (1): 2–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 “Translation – A Concept and Model for the Study of Culture.” In Travelling Concepts for the Study of Culture, ed. by Birgit Neumann and Ansgar Nünning, 23–44. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bal, Mieke
2002 Travelling Concepts in the Humanities: A Rough Guide. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Beckman, Jenny
2016 “The Publication Strategies of Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848). Negotiating National and Linguistic Boundaries in Chemistry.” Annals of Science 73(2): 195–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre
1994 Raisons pratiques. Sur la théorie de lʼaction [Practical reasons. On the theory of action]. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
Buden, Boris, Stefan Nowotny, Sherry Simon, Ashok Bery, and Michael Cronin
2009 “Cultural Translation: An Introduction to the Problem, and Responses.” Translation Studies 2(2): 196–219. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burke, Peter
2012 From the Encyclopédie to Wikipedia, vol. 2 of A Social History of Knowledge. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Buzelin, Hélène
2018 “Sociological Models and Translation History.” In A History of Modern Translation Knowledge. Sources, Concepts, Effects, ed. by Lieven D’hulst and Yves Gambier, 337–346. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
D’hulst, Lieven, and Yves Gambier
(eds.) 2018 A History of Modern Translation Knowledge. Sources, Concepts, Effects. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Daston, Lorraine, and Peter Galison
1992 “The Image of Objectivity.” Representations 40: 81–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007 Objectivity. New York: Zone Books.Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques
1962 L’origine de la géométrie, de Husserl. Introduction et traduction. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Dietz, Bettina
2016a “Introduction: Special Issue ‘Translating and Translations in the History of Science’.” Annals of Science 73(2): 117–121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016b “Linnaeus’ Restless System. Translation as Textual Engineering in Eighteenth-Century Botany.” Annals of Science 73(2): 143–156. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dinçkal, Noyan
2017 “Zerstreute Gelehrte und heldenhafte Forscher: Zwei Vorstellungen von Naturwissenschaftlern im 19. Jahrhundert [Chaotic scholars and heroic researchers: Two representations of natural scientists in the nineteenth century].” In Streitfall Evolution. Eine Kulturgeschichte, ed. by Angela Schwarz, 259–272. Cologne, Weimar, Vienna: Böhlau.Google Scholar
Duggan, Christopher
2002 Francesco Crispi, 1818–1901: From Nation to Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dupré, Sven
2018 “Focus: “Translating Science over Time.” Isis 109(2): 302–307. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fleck, Ludwik
1980 Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache: Einführung in die Lehre vom Denkstil und Denkkollektiv [Genesis and development of a scientific fact: Introduction to the theory of thought style and thought collective], ed. by Lothar Schäfer and Thomas Schnelle. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
2011 Denkstile und Tatsachen. Gesammelte Schriften und Zeugnisse [Thought styles and facts. Collected writings and documents], ed. by Sylwia Werner and Claus Zittel. Berlin: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Frigessi, Delia
1995 Introduction to “La scienza della devianza [The science of deviance].” In Cesare Lombroso. Delitto, Genio, Follia. Scritti scelti, ed. by Delia Frigessi, Ferruccio Giacanelli, and Luisa Mangoni, 333–374. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri.Google Scholar
Goltermann, Svenja
1998 Körper der Nation. Habitusformierung und die Politik des Turnens 1860–1890. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gordin, Michael D.
2015 Scientific Babel: The Language of Science. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gordin, Michael D., and Joshua T. Katz
2018 “The Walker and the Wake: Analysis of Non-Intrinsic Philological Isolates.” In Pataphilology. An Irreader, ed. by Vincent W. J. van Gerven Oei and Sean Alexander Gurd, 61–92. Punctum Books.Google Scholar
Gramling, David
2016 The Invention of Monolingualism. New York: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Jeanblanc, Helga
1998 “Carl Vogt et la propagation du matérialisme scientifique en France [Carl Vogt and the propagation of scientific materialism in France].” In Carl Vogt: Science, Philosophie et Politique (1817–1895), ed. by Jean-Claude Pont, Daniele Bui, Françoise Dubosson, and Jan Lacki, 177–196. Chêne-Bourg: Georg.Google Scholar
Kemper, Dirk
2019 “Transfer and Transformation: Methodical Thoughts on ‘Translating’ as a Branch of Publishing.” In Circulation of Academic Thought: Rethinking Translation in the Academic Field, ed. by Rafael Y. Schögler, 145–159. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Kohlrausch, Martin
2014 Building Europe on Expertise: Innovators, Organizers, Networkers. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Langenohl, Andreas
2014 “Scenes of Encounter: A Translational Approach to Travelling Concepts in the Study of Culture.” In The Trans/National Study of Culture, ed. by Doris Bachmann-Medick, 93–118. Boston: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Link, Fabian
2019 “Norbert Elias’s Struggle to ‘Civilize’ Translators: On Elias’s Frustrations with Being Translated and Interpreted.” In Circulation of Academic Thought: Rethinking Translation in the Academic Field, ed. by Rafael Y. Schögler, 161–183. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Lombroso, Cesare
1894 Lʼantisemitismo e le scienze moderne [Anti-Semitism and modern sciences]. Turin, Rome: Roux.Google Scholar
Martin, Alison E.
2016 “Outward Bound. Women Translators and Scientific Travel Writing, 1780–1800.” Annals of science 73 (2): 157–169. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meneghello, Laura
2017 Jacob Moleschott – A Transnational Biography. Science, Politics, and Popularization in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moleschott, Jacob
1846a “Bijdrage tot de leer der ademhaling en van het korrelig pigment [Contributions to the theory of respiration and of the granular pigment] (Körniges Pigment, Henle).” Tijdschrift voor natuurlijke geschiedenis en physiologie 12: 140–157.Google Scholar
1846b “Nieuwe bijdrage tot de kennis der fijne stuctuur van de longen [New contribution to the knowledge of the fine structure of the lungs].” Tijdschrift voor natuurlijke geschiedenis en physiologie 12: 225–232.Google Scholar
1850a Lehre der Nahrungsmittel: für das Volk [Theory of food: For the people]. Stuttgart: Enke.Google Scholar
1850b Physiologie der Nahrungsmittel. Ein Handbuch der Diätetik [Physiology of Food. A handbook of dietetics]. Darmstadt: Leske.Google Scholar
1852 Kreislauf des Lebens. Physiologische Antworten auf Liebigs ‘Chemische Briefe” [The circulation of life. Physiological answers to Liebig’s “Letters on Chemistry”]. Mainz: von Zabern.Google Scholar
1864 Unʼambasciata fisiologica esposta nella società torinese per letture scientifiche e letterarie, il dì 21 marzo 1864 [A physiological embassy held at the Turin society for scientific and literary readings, on 21st March 1864]. Turin: Loescher.Google Scholar
1866a La circulation de la vie. Lettres sur la physiologie en réponse aux lettres sur la chimie de Liebig [The circulation of life. Letters on physiology in response to Liebig’s letters on chemistry], trans. by E. Cazelles. Paris: Baillière.Google Scholar
1866b Consigli e conforti nei tempi di colera diretti alle singole persone ed in specie ai padri di famiglia [Advice and comfort in times of cholera addressed to individuals and especially to family fathers]. Torino: Loescher.Google Scholar
1866c Rath und Trost für Cholerazeiten. Giessen: Roth.Google Scholar
1869 La circolazione della vita. Lettere fisiologiche in risposta alle lettere chimiche di Liebig [The circulation of life. Physiological letters in response to Liebig’s chemical letters], trans. by Cesare Lombroso. Milan: Brigola.Google Scholar
1884 Dobrá rada a útěcha v dobách cholery, trans. by A.K. Prague: Tiskem a nákladem knihtiskárny dr. Ed. Grégra.Google Scholar
1889 “De oprichting van het standbeeld voor Giordano Bruno [The erection of the statue of Giordano Bruno].” In Giordano Bruno, een martelaar der vrije gedachte, ed. by E. Morselli et al., 82–85. Amsterdam: Vereeniging “De Dageraad”.Google Scholar
1894 Für meine Freunde. Lebens-Erinnerungen von Jacob Moleschott [For my friends. Memoirs of Jacob Moleschott]. Giessen: Roth.Google Scholar
Molfese, Franco
1964 Storia del brigantaggio dopo l’unità [History of brigandage after unification]. Milano: Feltrinelli.Google Scholar
Montgomery, Scott L.
2000 Science in Translation. Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Time. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mulder, Gerrit Jan
1844 Versuch einer allgemeinen physiologischen Chemie [General physiological chemistry], trans. by Jacob Moleschott. Heidelberg: C. F. Winter.Google Scholar
1845 Rede über die Welt der Materie, als ein Mittel zu höherer Entwickelung: gehalten bei der Einweihung des chemischen Laboratoriums der Universität zu Utrecht, am 22. September 1844 [Lecture on the world of matter, as a means to higher evolution: Held at the inauguration of the chemical Laboratory of Utrecht University, on 22nd September 1844], trans. by Jacob Moleschott. Düsseldorf, Utrecht: Bötticher.Google Scholar
1847 Die Ernährung in ihrem Zusammenhange mit dem Volksgeist. Eine Uebers. von Gerard Johannes Mulder's Schrift: de Voeding in Nederland in verband tot den volksgeest [Nutrition in its relation with the national spirit. A translation of Gerard Johannes Mulder’s writing: Nutrition in the Netherlands in relation to the national spirit], trans. by Jacob Moleschott. Utrecht, Düsseldorf: Bötticher.Google Scholar
Nyhart, Lynn K.
2017 “The Political Organism: Carl Vogt on Animals and States in the 1840s and ’50s.” Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 47 (5): 602–628. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Olohan, Maeve
2014 “History of Science and History of Translation. Disciplinary Commensurability?” The Translator 20(1): 9–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Olohan, Maeve, and Myriam Salama-Carr
2011 Introduction to the Special Issue “Translating Science”. The Translator 17(2): 179–188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Östling, Johan, Erling Sandmo, David Larsson Heidenblad, Anna Nilsson Hammar, and Kari Nordberg
2018 “The History of Knowledge and the Circulation of Knowledge. An Introduction.” In Circulation of Knowledge. Explorations in the History of Knowledge, 9–33. Lund: Nordic Academic Press.Google Scholar
Patrizi, Mariano Luigi
1930 “Documenti e Ristampe, 1.A. Lettere inedite di Cesare Lombroso a Jac. Moleschott [Documents and reprints, 1.A. Unpublished letters from Cesare Lombroso to Jac. Moleschott] (1861–1875).” In Addizioni al “Dopo Lombrosoˮ: ancora sulla monogenesi psicologica del delitto, 206–232. Milan: Società editrice libraria.Google Scholar
Renn, Jürgen, and Malcolm D. Hyman
2012 “The Globalization of Knowledge in History: An Introduction.” In The Globalization of Knowledge in History, ed. by Jürgen Renn, 15–44. Berlin: Edition Open Access.Google Scholar
Rundle, Christopher
2014 “Theories and Methodologies of Translation History. The Value of an Interdisciplinary Approach.” The Translator 20(1): 2–8. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rupke, Nicolaas
2000 “Translation Studies in the History of Science: The Example of Vestiges.” British Journal for the History of Science 33: 209–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sakai, Naoki
2018 “The Modern Regime of Translation and its Politics.” In A History of Modern Translation Knowledge. Sources, Concepts, Effects, ed. by Lieven D’hulst and Yves Gambier, 61–74. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scheidt, Tobias
2016 “Erfinderhelden im Kulturtransfer. Transnationale Konstruktionen in populären britischen Zeitschriften des 19. Jahrhunderts [Inventors as heroes and cultural transfer. Transnational constructions in British journals of the nineteenth century].” In Helden über Grenzen. Transfer und Aneignungsprozesse von Heldenbildern, ed. by Heike Bormuth, Sebastian Demel, and Daniel Franz, 95–116. St. Ingbert: Röhrig Universitätsverlag.Google Scholar
Schögler, Rafael Y.
2019 “Circulation of Academic Thought: Rethinking Translation in the Academic Field”. In Circulation of Academic Thought: Rethinking Translation in the Academic Field, ed. by Rafael Y. Schögler, 9–28. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwarz, Angela
1999 Der Schlüssel zur modernen Welt. Wissenschaftspopularisierung in Großbritannien und Deutschland im Übergang zur Moderne [The key to the modern world. Popularisation of science in Great Britain and Germany in the transition to modernity] (ca. 1870-1914). Stuttgart: Steiner.Google Scholar
Snell, Karl Christian Philipp
1842 Philosophische beschouwingen der natuur [Philosophical observations of nature], trans. by Jacob Moleschott. ’s-Hertogenbosch: Palier.Google Scholar
Speich Chassé, Daniel, and David Gugerli
2012 “Wissensgeschichte. Eine Standortbestimmung [History of knowledge. An appraisal].” Traverse: Zeitschrift für Geschichte / Revue dʼhistoire 1: 85–100.Google Scholar
Strauss, David Friedrich
1839 Zwei friedliche Blätter [Two peaceful papers]. Altona: Hammerich.Google Scholar
Surman, Jan
2016 “Linguistic Precision and Scientific Accuracy: Searching for the Proper Name of ‘Oxygen’ in French, Danish, and Polish.” In Language as a Scientific Tool. Shaping Scientific Language Across Time and National Tradition, ed. by Miles MacLeod, Rocío G. Sumillera, and Jan Surman, 131–148. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tribe, Keith
2019 “Style and Substance in Non-Literary Translation.” In Circulation of Academic Thought: Rethinking Translation in the Academic Field, ed. by Rafael Y. Schögler, 55–75. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
van der Hoeven, Jan
1847 Handbuch der Zoologie [Handbook of zoology], trans. by Jacob Moleschott. Düsseldorf: Bötticher.Google Scholar
Wakabayashi, Judy
2018 “Connected History and histoire croisée.” In A History of Modern Translation Knowledge. Sources, Concepts, Effects, ed. by Lieven D’hulst and Yves Gambier, 261–265. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig
1980 [1953] Philosophische Untersuchungen. 2. Auflage. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Wolf, Michaela, and Alexandra Fukari
(eds) 2007 Constructing a Sociology of Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Woollacott, Angela, Desley Deacon, and Penny Russell
(eds) 2010 Transnational Lives. Biographies of Global Modernity, 1700–Present. Basingstoke England, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar