John Cassin

John Cassin (September 6, 1813 – January 10, 1869) was an American ornithologist from Pennsylvania. He worked as curator and vice president at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and focused on the systemic classification of the academy's extensive collection of birds. He was one of the founders of the Delaware County Institute of Science and published several books describing 194 new species of birds. Five species of North American birds, a cicada, and a mineral are named in his honor.

Early life and education

Cassin was born in Upper Providence Township, Pennsylvania on September 6, 1813. He was educated at the Westtown School in Westtown Township, Pennsylvania.<ref name=minerals>Template:Cite web</ref> His great Uncle, John Cassin, was a commodore in the U.S. Navy and served in the War of 1812.<ref name=Campbell/>

He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was held prisoner in the infamous Confederate Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Cassin moved to Philadelphia in 1834 and became the head of a lithographing business in which many of his illustrations of birds were later printed.Template:Sfn He served for a brief time in the Philadelphia City Council.Template:Sfn He was a member of the Zoological Society, the American Philosophical Society and the Pennsylvania Historical Society.<ref name=Campbell/>

In 1833, Cassin, along with 4 colleagues, founded the Delaware County Institute of Science in Media, Pennsylvania.Template:Sfn

In 1842, he was elected curator of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.Template:Sfn From 1846 to 1850, Thomas Bellerby Wilson, a wealthy patron of the academy, became interested in the department of ornithology and procured a collection of over 25,000 birds.Template:Sfn The academy had the largest ornithological collection in the United States at the time and included an extensive collection of non-North American species.Template:Sfn This exceptional collection of birds allowed Cassin to become the leading ornithological taxonomist in the world.<ref name=Campbell>Template:Cite book</ref>

Cassin worked almost exclusively at the academy, focused on research and the systematic classification of species rather than field work.Template:Sfn He described 194 new species of birdsTemplate:Sfn and revised a number of families in the academy's publications. His publications include Birds of California, with descriptions and colored engravings of fifty species; Synopsis of the Birds of North America; Ornithology of the United States Exploring Expedition; Ornithology of the Japan Expedition; Ornithology of Gillis's Astronomical Expedition to Chile; and chapters on raptorial birds and waders in Ornithology of the Pacific Railroad Explorations and Surveys.Template:Sfn He also co-authored Birds of North America (1860) with Spencer Fullerton Baird and George Newbold Lawrence.

John Cassin gravestone in Laurel Hill Cemetery

Specimens collected from the Pacific Railroad Surveys and the Mexican Boundary Surveys were sent to the academy and further supplemented the collection. Cassin helped revise the publications that arose from these surveys.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Martha Maxwell was a student of Cassin at the Academy of Natural Sciences from 1862 to 1869.Template:Sfn

Cassin was elected vice president of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1864.Template:Sfn

He died in 1869 of arsenic poisoning caused by his handling of bird skins preserved with arsenic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His collection of 4,300 birds was purchased for $500, Template:Inflation dollars, by John Whipple Potter Jenks for Brown University's museum of natural history.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

He is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.<ref name=Campbell/>

Legacy

Cassin's Kingbird

Five birds from North America are named in his honor: the Cassin's auklet, Cassin's kingbird, Cassin's vireo, Cassin's sparrow, and Cassin's finch.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The periodic cicada Magicicada cassini and the mineral orthoclase variety cassinite are also named for him.<ref name=minerals/>

In 1901, the journal of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club was renamed Cassinia in his honor.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Bibliography

• Catalogue of the caprimulgidae in the Collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1851
• Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British, and Russian America. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1856
• United States Exploring Expedition. During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Under the Command of Charles Wilkins, U.S.N., Philadelphia, C. Sherman & Son, 1858

References

Citations Template:Reflist

Sources

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Works of John Cassin at the Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Cassin's Sparrow blog at CassinsSparrow.org – Long-running science blog that explores the history of Cassin's Sparrow's discovery, what we've learned about the species since, and why it matters.