KHOLDOVSKY

KHOLDOVSKY Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1858-1921), outstanding Russian zoologist. In 1897 he was elected professor at the Military Medical Academy. Here he began the study of parasitic worms, collected an extensive collection of them, and published an original atlas of helminths 'Atlas of Human Helminths' (in folio, issues 1-3, St. Petersburg, 1898-99). K. was a very prolific and talented scientist, leaving over 180 scientific works in different languages. His articles on parasitic insects of humans also have medical significance. K. compiled a number of textbooks: a two-volume course in entomology (3 editions during his lifetime, one posthumous) and 'Course in Zoology and Comparative Anatomy for Higher Educational Institutions, Primarily for Medical Students' (1st ed., St. Petersburg, 1905), which went through four editions during his lifetime and posthumously (in somewhat abridged form) in two editions (2nd posthumous ed., edited by E. Pavlovsky, Moscow-Leningrad, 1933). These books are basic guides for the study of entomology and zoology. K. published a number of brilliant popular science articles in journals on the theory of evolution and on general questions of biology. Most of them were published posthumously after the revolution in a separate book edited by E. Pavlovsky ('Biological Sketches', Moscow-Petrograd, 1923). Together with Silantyev he compiled a monumental work 'Birds of Europe' (St. Petersburg, 1901). Kholdovsky was an excellent linguist and in addition possessed poetic talent. His poetic translation of Goethe's 'Faust' went through 12 editions. In addition he translated Byron, Milton, Shakespeare and many other authors. His poetic translation of Erasmus Darwin's 'The Temple of Nature' is very interesting. In ideological terms K. was a staunch opponent of vitalism and adhered to a mechanistic worldview.