Der Darwinismus und die Probleme des Lebens. Zugleich eine Einfiihrung in das einheimische Tierleben [Of Darwinism and the Problems of Life. Also an Introduction to Native Animal Life]

Freiburg: Friedrich Ernst Fehsenfeld, 1905. Third edition.

INFLUENTIAL GERMAN POPULAR ACCOUNT OF DARWINISM BY SCHOLAR WHO WAS ACTIVE MEMBER OF NAZI PARTY--COPY OF PROMINENT PHYSICIAN-EXPLORER.

14.5x21.5 cm hardcover, paper covered boards, color printed jacket, handstamp of Aquatic Research Institute and bookplate of Robert L. Chevalier MD to free front endpaper, handstamp of Carl von den Steinen top of title page and signed and dated (1906) by him on half-title. xv, 468 pp. Light browning to endpapers and page edges, very good in very good jacket with minor edgewear, in custom archival mylar cover.

KONRAD GUENTHER (1874 - 1955) was a German zoologist, university teacher and one of the pioneers of Naturschutzbewegung. Guenther studied in Bonn, Leipzig and Freiburg and taught from 1902 first as a lecturer, from 1913 as an associate professor at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg. He was from 1919 to 1934 honorary director of the Natural History Museum of the City of Freiburg.He published numerous articles and books. Focusing on the animal and plant world, Guenther undertook study trips to Asia Minor (1907), India (1910–1911) and Brazil (1923–1924). He embarked on further expeditions in 1929, visiting Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Palestine. Together with Eugen Fischer and Karl Hegar, he supported the foundation of the Freiburg chapter of the Gesellschaft für Rassenhygiene (Society for Racial Hygiene). During the Nazi era, he offered guided tours and lectures for the party and party-related associations and gave lectures on local history. Guenther joined the NSDAP in 1937 and relinquished his teaching position at the University of Freiburg two years later. Review by H E Crampton in J Philos Psychol Sci Meth, 4 (11) (May 23, 1907), pp. 297-301: "This volume that had reached its third edition in the original by 1905 (offered here) is one that is certain to have a high degree of usefulness. It is planned by the author to present the 'range, foundation and value' of evolutionary theories, and in its appeal to the reading public it presupposes no special knowledge of science, beyond the observations of nature and the ideas that form part of the content of every intelligent and reflective mind."

PROVENANCE: KARL VON DEN STEINEN (1855 - 1929) was a German physician (with emphasis in psychiatry), ethnologist, explorer, and the study of Indian cultures of Central Brazil, and the art of the Marquesas. He laid the foundations for Brazilian ethnology.