Alexander Schadenberg His Life And Work In The Philippines

IN < THE

r-
By Qrro Scbeeber
■ ': ■ ■' 1 .c'.• • .1
Of the University of the PIMippines Separate from ;;:^:u.^.;r:VP
THE PHILIPPINE JOURNAL
P
by tEe Bureau of Science of the Philippine Goverfimeiit
Manila, P. I.
Volume 22^ No,-1 4, April, 1923
MANILA: ■
BUREAU OF PRINTING
1923
ALEXANDER . SCHADENBERG, HIS LIFE AND WORK : " ' IN THE PHILIPPINES "
'■ 1 VS
By Otto Scheerer '
Oj the University of the Philippines ■■
- rjr
ONE PLATE ' '
. Botanists and zoologists in the of' plants and animals—-fehatrdSeaFl^ecific names deriv®§h from
* _ — 11 ' 1' "' ™ ^ the- ■family7’name of their discoverer^ Schadenberg, and gthe. ethnographer not' imfrequently comes across this appellation
Jn—his7'literature on Luzon, Mindanao, and. Mindoro; -yep of * * , the man jwho bore, that name' practically nothing is known to the present generation of residents in the Islands. It may there-
-i ■ . A fore be'of interest to present here a short biographical sketch ©L 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 .knowledge-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 ~2g _yearsT-yaung Schadenberg. having achieved the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, was appointed "assistant director of the
N
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
’ ^ v...
11 am following notes kindly furnished me by a member-of Sehadenberg’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. - • "
447
offered him by the wholesale drug* firm, of Pablo Sartorius in Manila/ he accepted the post and bade good-bye to Ms native land.3 - - -——— f

■ He remained with this firm-for three years and indicated Ms interest in. the exploration of the Islands by a number of excursions into,the interior, visiting among others the Negritos of Bataan, Zambales, and Pampanga. A severe attack of a pernicious fever compelled him to-return to Breslau in 187§, not, however, without Mmng..:-pre.vi.Q:.usly WQ:rked._ouMwitlL-a.---.. friend, Otto Koch, a plan for the exploration of southern Mindanao respecially~ the country groTmd~MouTitApo^iog^!Davio~Onlf': .For a while the execution- of--this plan seemed-eniangeredHby
Sehadenberg's engagement, in' the spring of 1881, to’a*pf>uhg countrywoman of his. The interest, however, which all parties for science:::: was~mifficientMo~iiiduce-thg~ young;, couple to agree to a temporary separation. Thus, in August, 1881, supplied with all necessary instruments and with articles of exchange for dealing with the natives, Schadenberg set out again vfortMe ^PMlippffl-eSi^eeompmMd—by-has-fi?iend-
TOjehr^fn- Mindanao the-Spanish authorities of .those- days, while ready to lend, every possible help, showed themselves sincerely concerned about the safety of the travelers ■ intent, on losing .themselves in. the wilds of - tha country behind'Davao, a region which in parts remains unexplored even to-day. . By December, ..however, the two friends had established themselves beyond
■*“ ’ J7>J the pale of civilization, in the Bagobo village Sibulan, south of
Mount Apo, where, in exchange for some coils, of brass wire,
■ ' * * they had purchased the handsome bamboo' cottage of one of the headmen. During their stay here of about six months they made the tribe among which they lived, and which was noto- rious for the practice of human sacrifice, the object of a close
-■Mtoographi^studywdrEwmg^up“also"^^crcalMlafyMfrtTiMlaii-b
guage.# They assembled an extensive-collection, both of ethno-
— .. ... * • • graphic objects and pf specimens of the local flora and fauna, u An uncle of Pablo Sartorius, F. Stock, was the first to devote himself . in Manila -to the distiHatbBr of ilaBg-flang--oiT-{Pli-®rm. Zetitealh. 9 (1868)
46]; the Sartorius brand of this essence, then the object of a flourishing -industry m'Manila/came to acquire a Worldwide fame: ' '
This vocabulary contains among other things the native names of nine
J 7 plants; also of forty-two birds, the skins of which Schadenberg brought home* - . - securing of butterflies alone some 20,000 specimens which they collected with the help of a young Bagobo specially trained by
-them for this work. From' Sibulan as., a base, they undertook

a number of exploring trips into the surrounding-. country; "the especially notable expeditions were two successful ascensions, of Mount Apo 4 on February 20 and March 16,' 1882, and a trip to the mountain Parag, north of the ’ volcano, which. led to the discovery of a new species of Rafflesia, a giant parasite, the open .flower of .which measured 80 centimeters in diameter; this, species was afterwards called Rafflesia sehedenbergiarm Gbep- the burial caves on the small island of Samal, which wa*-greatly . facilitated by' the authorities at the Spanish Naval- Station at Davao, who placed the gunboat Nuestra Senora del Buen Viaje at the disposal of the travelers.-—The--ex-pl©mtioBr-of - - this -island- was not less successful than had been that of the hinterlandr-of- •Davao, and Schadenberg enriched his collections with -a-number
1 V of skulls, prehistoric . dugout coffins, and many specimens of
-' equally old Chinese pottery. - ■ . . ~ -
The end of July of the same year saw Schadenberg and his : --treasures..:.,back in -Breslau. It was his intention, after having established his family, tcTfledicat© himself - primarily;:to the working• over of Ms' collections. Unwilling to'bind himself to any institution or museum, he secured the financial support for such work by purchasing the Hofapotheke6 in Glogau,
, Silesia, where he spent the following three years (1883 to 1885). It was mainly during this time that he entered into friendly. relations with several European museums and was made cor-
*
■ responding member of various anthropological and ethnographical societies in Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Deyden, and Paris. Official • recognition of his scientific zeal was - given by the bestowal of some orders _and_ crosses.. His publlcations^bh^le^ results of Ms trips he supplemented "with a number of lectures; ■ »
* On Mount Apo the explorers, at each, of their ascents, left their cartfe on the very apex in a bottle, placed- neck down in the ground, one of which was found some nineteen years later by Phelps Whitmarsh, as related

in his “Ascent of Mount Apo,w The Outlook-March 23,
‘ Two rather young buds of this plant growing close together on a stem, when roughly weighed in the field, were balanced by a heavy double-barreled rifle and six solid bullets. ' .
® A drug store, given official distinction by such title. . .

■^*1
~22n
-Sekeere^Alex&ndeF-Sc)mdenb&r-g^

1889, just at a time when the relations.between - these and the
, 1 2 *>
Christian lowlanders were at their worst. Though haMtmlly averse to any display of force, he had to consent, in this Instance, ~ to his Ilokano carriers arming themselvesstill, after reaching "the settlements around the present township of Bayag, in northern Apayao, it was not hostility on the part of the Apayaos, but. . much fever among his carriers that compelled him to desist ftom Ms plan to reach Malaueg in Cagayan, and return by way of the Saltan and Abra. - He had, however, the .satisfaction of being able to induce five of Ms newly won Apayao friends to come down with Mm to Dingras, in Hocos Norte, where their presence' caused considerable sensation. Mounted messengers having "‘harr|ed1tremews"tothe-provineiahgevera©r,..Ho.n...MantteL&i^tfi%= to improve the existing trade relations with the mountaineers.
'o
-These-had consisted' in a peculiar system of barter, according
■ tob-wMcfa the Apayaos deposited their chief product, 'tobacco, r -advice to the "eristianos” by signs and .shouts. The latter -earn©- an aQent'..of.Mount Haleon (2,587 meters) and a study of the
: Mangyans £ were uppermost, in his mind. He visited the island- forthe'first time in 1894, and a second time in the 'following year, bringing back valuable results, from each trip. In spite of the; germs"’of malaria lurking in his veins, he had planned a third' trip to Mindoro ‘which was to take him to the top of Mount,Haleon in. 1896, when death'overtook him on January 26 of that year, at the early age of forty-four years. At the time ■ he was staying, for the sake of recuperation, at the house of his friend, the Spanish governor Cadrana in Capiz, Panay.
Sehadenberg's work of exploration in the Philippines has borne fruit in a number of papers of which he was the author, ^asLJHaell as in a not inconsiderable literature on his discoveries othorn,. - AJhiMiocraphical jist of these- worksms ' appended— and it has' been made as nearly Complete “as possible?- -li-&xds^ mts natural supplement in Ms collections, which are found in the museums of Dresden, Vienna, Berlin, and. Leyden. How fruitful Htohaden1b>ergSLg; work-in--the-fieM-beeanie- for the_ scientist. ycOTrfeed-te^-his study at home may be shown by an example.
-fifim^^^^SE^ZScSaifeiiberg^s specialization lay in the field
- ^ r- “ ^ ™ - of natural sciences, it cannot well, be expected that linguistics r " 1 played more than a secondary role with him. Yet the Negrito - vocabularies collected by him in the Bataan-Zambales region were considered worth being twice made the obj ect of Very* painstaking examination by such an - eminent authority as the late H. Kern, of Leyden,10 whose findings are as yet the last word * that has been said regarding such interesting questions as the relation of Negrito speech to the Philippine languages, and the presence in the former of possibly unrelated elements suggesting remnants of ap earlier and now extinct language peculiar to this race of dwarfs. This is also true in regard to Schaden- berg?s^cbireetioii of^MangyaB-writiiigs^piy Mindoro, worked over-,, by Dr. W. Foy in Dresden.11 Among the~LrMto~Pjf~i^va€ter. that - so peculiarly fitted Schadenberg for his work as an explorer we distinguish, besides tenacity of purpose and fearlessness, that sterling and directly convincing integrity„ which alone ren- ' dered it possible for him to carry bn his work in the midst of a society of Filipinos, Spaniards of all classes, and crude moun- taineers with their widely divergent ideals. He was welcomed and given much aid in many a provincial convento or parsonage,
22,4 Scheerer: Alexander Schaderiberg ' ill
, * and he was a personal friend of Doctor Eizal in whom he took
:j t f ■ i
-great-interest recipient of all his writ- ings. Above all, however, he was possessed' of' an almost, passionate interest and zeal for scientific exploration which, when necessary, bade him sacrifice all that is generally heldr-dear-- by men and which make him worthy of emulation. Honor be to his memory I
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SCHADENBERGIANA
*
A. PUBLICATIONS OP A. SCHADENBERG
1880. Ueber die Negritos der Philippinen. ' Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. 12: 133-174,
2 pis.
, Contains a German-Negrito-Tagalog word- list, the Negrrito-
Tagalog word list with some words from the Bataan west coast. lie~1?'Mippinen-uB#-M —: T-a-galog-naBierals-lto-lOD-^aiicl-a-German=Canlaman
- daselbst. Grass, Barth- & -Do.—(W-.- -Friedrich-), Breslau, 1-3.
■ ■- Abstract of ^an address delivered on October 20 before the Natural . .. Science Section of - the Silesian^ Society for Native Culture;
1883. Leben, Sitten, und Gewohnhelten der wilden Stamme des Distriktes
Principe auf Luzon. ' Miinchen 1-23. Sep. fr. “Das Ausland,” 52. Based on personal experiences and on a Spanish—manasfeript-by^
Lillo de" Garcia.
1884. Ur- und Mischrassen der Philippinen. Correspondenzblatt d. Ges. f.
Anthr. Miinchen, 109-112. * ■ . - - -
1885. Die Bewohner von Siid-Mindanao und der Insel Samal. Zeitschr. f.
- Ethnol. Berlin 17: I. Siid-Mindanao, 8-37, 5 pis. II. Samal, 45-55,
2 pis. :‘
1886. Musik-Instrumente der Philippinen-Stamme. Zeitschr. f. Ethnol.
Berlin 18: 549-570. • - .
18,87. Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Banao-Leute und der Guinanen, Gran
Cordillera Central, Insel Luzon. Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. Berlin 19: 145-159. \ '
1888. Beitrage zur Ethnologie von Nord-Luzon (Filipinen). ; Mitt. d. Anthr.' . Ges, Wien 18: 7, 1 pi., 3 text fig. l
1888. Beitrage zur Kenntniss der im Innern Nordluzons lebenden Stamme. • Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. Berlin 20: 34-42*
Deals mainly with the people of “Buntac;—:—- :— :
•4 f
1889. Beitrage zur Kenntniss der im Innern Nordluzons lebenden Stamme.
Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. Berlin 21: 674-700, 1 pi.
On the Apayaos of Kalanassan. ; .
B. PUBLICATIONS OP a. SCHADENBERG-IN COLLABORATION WITH A. B. MEYEK
* i ■
1890. Die Philippinen.-, I. Nord-Luzon: Tingianen,"Banaos, Ginaanen, Sili- panen, Apoyaos, Kianganen, Igorroten, Irayas, und Ilokanen. Publ. d. Kf Ethn. Museums z. Dresden 8: 24: 18 pis.
1891. Album von Philippinen-Typen. Nord-Luzon. Negritos, Tingianen,
Banaos, Ginaanen, Silipanen, Calingas, Apoydos, Kianganen, Igorroten, und Ilokanen. Dresden 19r 50'pis. in photo typy?

#

A

-c? A
• !>. <

Scheerer: Alexander Schadenberg . 455
22,4
1893. Meyer, A. B. Die Philippinen. II. Negritos. Mit sprachvergleich-r
P * enden Bemerkungen von H. ' Kern. Dresden.‘ Separatabdr. a. d.
. Publ.yd. K. Ethn. Museums zu Dresden, 33=68.
Kern’s comparative notes comprise Sehadenberg’sNegrito vocab-
1896. Blumentritt, F. Dr. Alexander Schadenberg. Intern. Arch f. Ethnog.
9: 151, Leyden. ■
A memorial of Schadenberg.
1901-1904. BEoeze, G. A. Crania Ethnica Philippinica. Ein Beitrag zur
Anthropologie der Philippinen. Beschreibung der Schadelsammlung von Dr. A. Schadenberg. Mit Einleitung und unter Mitwirkung von Prof. J. Kollmann zu Basel. Veroffentl. d. NiederL Reichs- museums f. YolkerMMepSerie; If, No. 3,- Haarlem; title-pages' in

Dutch and , German, 6 pages without numbers, 1-245, one leaf blank, 2 pages without numbers, 25 plates with photographs and designs of skulls, 32 by 24 centimeters. ■
Dutch Department of the Interior and a number of scientific institutions of Amsterdam, Berlin, Haarlem, Leyden, Munich, and
HtoechtytooSSniS; i>esi'des~discussions: of tbAraciahafBmtjr-of-'fli*-- different Philippine tribes, a description of about 270 - skulls eoi- • lected by "Schadenberg from the Tagalog, Bisaya, Iloko, Igorot, Ting- 1 gian, Ginaang, Kiangan, Mangyan, Baluga, Tagbanua, including
V * " sixty Negrito skulls and a number collected from caves on Samar, Sibugey, Marinduque, etc. "
1904.
oyer, A. B. Album of Filipino Types. IIL Negritos, Manguianes, Bagohos. About 190 figures on 37 plates in heliotype. Dresden, 22; text in two. columns, German and English. . . ■
Plates are from negatives taken by Schadenberg.' , ■
05. Perkins, J. Fragmenta Florae Philippinae. Contribution to the flora of the Philippine Islands. Leipzig, 1-212, 4 • pis.
Contains on page 172 the original description of Rhododendron . Schadenbergii, based on specimens collected by Schadenberg in Abra.
ILLUSTRATION
Plate
191652
1. Alexander
Schadenberg, from a photograph.

AE7
SCI., 22, No. .4.
Scheerer: Alexander Schadenberg.] v-' [Philip
J OURN