George Franklin Gaumer

George Franklin Gaumer in 1917

George Franklin Gaumer (1850–1929), was a doctor and naturalist born in Monroe, Indiana in the USA. In 1868, in Kansas, he entered the university, where he graduated in 1876. He travelled to Cuba in 1878, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula from 1878 to 1881, and the US Southwest from 1882 to 1884. During these travels he collected many biological specimens, especially birds.

In 1884 he moved permanently to the Yucatan Peninsula where he practiced medicine in Izamal while continuing with his extensive biological collecting. Often he discovered species not yet known to science. Many of his collections were sent to specialists at the British Museum in London and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He published his scientific observations in both English and Spanish.

As a Doctor in Yucatan

In Izamal, Gaumer created a chemical and botanical laboratory, which he named The Izamal Chemical Company. Upon Gaumer's death, his two sons continued with the company. An interesting catalog, in Spanish and dated 1908, lists the company's services and products. The catalog begins by listing fluid extracts of medicinal plants sold by the company in half-liter bottles.

For example, the first listed item is an extract of Adiantum tricolipis Fee" (sic). Adiantum tricholipis is a species of maidenhair fern occurring throughout much of Mexico, and traditionally is reputed to be medicinal. In Spanish known as cilantrillo, its extracts are swished in the mouth for tooth abscesses and other dental problems, and applied to the skin for "scabs caused by filth," and fungal skin infections.

The Izamal Chemical Company was so appreciated by government officials that it was awarded a silver medal and a special diploma, while Gaumer and his son George, also a doctor, received a bronze medal and a diploma.

As a Naturalist

When Gaumer visited Cuba, Mexico and the US Southwest he focused largely on collecting bird specimens, though also some plants, for Godman and Salvin's Biologia Centrali-Americana (1888). Later, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, mainly he concentrated on plants, though also many animals. Organisms collected and preserved by Gaumer now are found in institutions around the world, such as the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, Spain's Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid, London's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, St. Louis's Missouri Botanical Garden, Germany's Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum and Free University of Berlin, and Mexico City's Herbario Nacional.

Using specimen data from GBIF, the Bionomia website lists 14,881 specimens collected and/or identified and deposited by George F. Gaumer. The list makes clear that Gaumer was interested in everything. Currently the first item mentioned is a mushroom.

Collecting Plants in the Yucatan Peninsula

Nowadays Gaumer mostly is remembered for his botanical collections from the Yucatan. Overall, and sometimes helped by his two sons, possibly more than 24,000 of his collections have been preserved as pressed and dried herbarium specimens, and shared with numerous institutions.

Of these collections, about 226 have been designated as types on which species new to science have been described and published. As years passed, some of these names have been recognized as synonyms of already named plant species, and have dropped out of usage. Nevertheless, researchers have expressed their gratitude for Gaumer's collections by naming about 50 plants after him. For example, there the large cactus Pilosocereus gaumeri

The general importance of Gaumer's plant collections can by judged by looking at just one plant group, the orchids. In Carlos Ossenbach's 2009 review of 500 years of orchidology in Central America., two orchid species are listed as having been introduced to science by Gaumer's collections: Triphora yucatanensis Ames and Epidendrum yucatanense Schltr. {now Encyclia xipheres (Rchb.f.) Schltr.}

Further he lists these Gaummer-collected orchid species:

• Ionopsis utricularioides (Sw.) Lindl.
• Rhyncholaelia digbyana (Lindl.) Schltr.
• Leochilus scriptus (Scheidw.) Rchb. f.
• Harrisella porrecta (Rchb. f.) Fawc. & Rendle
• Oncidium sphacelatum Lindl.
• Psygmorchis pusilla (L.) Dodson & Dressler
• Lophiaris oerstedii (Rchb. f.) R. Jiménez & Carnevali (now Trichocentrum oerstedii (Rchb.f.) R.Jiménez & Carnevali
• Encyclia belizensis (Rchb. f.) Schltr. (soon to be Encyclia alata virella]

Collecting Animals in the Yucatan Peninsula

Similarly, Gaumer made important contributions regarding the Yucatan's animals. For example, in 1917 he published a detailed monograph consisting of well over 300 pages focusing on the mammals of the Yucatan Peninsula. Gaumer's Spiny Pocket Mouse is named after him.

Also Gaumer must have been a prodigious collector of seashells, for the Internet website Conchology.be features him on its Shellers From the Past and the Present page.

Gaumer's Work in Historical Context

Gaumer's contributions from the Yucatan Peninsula should be considered in the context of the difficulty, and sometimes danger, of his collection trips. Writing in 1891, the geologist Angelo Heilprin wrote that "It is currently believed that no white man, except at extreme risk to his life, can penetrate into the interior either from the west or from the north; but the experience of Consul Thornpson (sic) (Edward Herbert Thompson), as proved by his travels, shows that good judgment and a knowledge of the Maya language may effectually protect a non-Mexican from the dangers of assault which are certainly intended to be directed solely against the Mexicans and their supporters -- in other words, against those to whom the revolted Indians decline to recognize allegiance." However, Heilprin continues that it's easier to enter from the side of the British possessions along the Caribbean coast; "It is from that side that Dr. Gaumer, the well-known collector of birds (now a resident of Izamal), and his wife penetrated."

The "revolted Indians" Heilprin mentions were the more traditional groups of indigenous Maya peoples who sought to retake land from those of Spanish descent, the criollos, and the mestizo population during the horrific Caste War of Yucatán of 1847–1915.