Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Gundlach, Juan

GUNDLACH, Juan, Cuban naturalist, b. in Marburg, Hesse-Cassel, in 1810. His father was professor of physics and mathematics of the university of his native city. Young Gundlach was graduated there as doctor of philosophy in 1837 and in 1839 went to Cuba, where he began to make collections in natural history. He has continued this work to the present time (1887), with the exception of a few years before 1875, when the insurrection in the island compelled him to reside in Porto Rico. In 1867 he arranged the Cuban collections at the Paris exposition, receiving a silver medal for his services. His name is associated with over sixty species, including one of land mollusks called “Gundlachia Hjalmarsoni,” and two called “Unio Gundlachi.” At his death his large and valuable collections will become the property of the island of Cuba. Gundlach is a member of scientific societies in all parts of the world, and has published numerous papers on natural history, which have been reprinted in the annals of the “Academia de Ciencias de la Habana.”