Peter Simon Pallas

PALLAS, Peter Simon (1741–1811), a celebrated traveler and naturalist. Born in Berlin. In 1760, Pallas published a dissertation on a parasitological topic ("De infestis viventibus intra viventia", Lugdunum Batavorum, 1760). In subsequent years, he published a number of works in which, after providing an accurate and richly illustrated description of many new animal species, he advanced bold generalizations for that time. Thus, contrary to the views of Bonnet and Linnaeus himself, Pallas perceived a sharp qualitative difference between minerals, on the one hand, and animals and plants, on the other, while denying the possibility of a strict demarcation between animal and plant organisms. In an era dominated by the idealistic theory of spontaneous generation, Pallas—ahead of his contemporary science by decades—taught that infection of humans and animals with worms occurs through eggs entering their organism via food, drinking water, and inhaled air. This viewpoint, as well as the description of numerous species of parasites and the first reliable case of human fascioliasis, defines the significance of Pallas in the history of parasitology and helminthology in particular. In 1768, Pallas was invited to St. Petersburg as an adjunct of the Academy of Sciences and collegiate assessor. In 1768–1774, Pallas traveled along the route of the Volga, Yaik (Ural River), the Caspian Sea, the mountainous regions of the Urals and Altai, the Ob, Yenisei, Angara, and the Caucasus, laying the foundation for the scientific geography of the regions he visited. During this expedition, Pallas collected and in subsequent years processed the richest collections and observations on zoology, botany, paleontology, mineralogy, geology, topography, medicine, ethnology, linguistics, archaeology, agriculture, and technology. Pallas's collections formed the basis of the collections of the academic Kunstkamera, from which grew the current, world-class museums of the institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences. To Pallas belongs the credit for the acclimatization of grapes in the Crimea. Pallas published a total of over 170 works, predominantly in Latin and German. The most important of them, published in Russian, include: "Travels through Various Provinces of the Russian State" (St. Petersburg, 1773–88); "Description of Plants of the Russian State with Their Illustrations" (St. Petersburg, 1786); "Topographical Description of the Tauride Oblast" (St. Petersburg, 1795).