“Too Late For Action.” A.G. Huntsman, M.L. Fernald and the Belle Isle Strait Expedition of 1923
A. G. Huntsman’s Belle Isle Strait Expedition of 1923, the first oceanographic expedition organized by a Canadian, was modeled on the Canadian Fisheries Expedition of 1915, in which Huntsman had been a junior partner to the Norwegian fishery biologist Johan Hjort. Examination of Huntsman’s documents...
Published in: | Scientia Canadensis |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
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Consortium Erudit
2020
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Online Access: | http://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/scientia/2020-v42-n1-scientia05473/1071265ar.pdf https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/scientia/2020-v42-n1-scientia05473/1071265ar.pdf https://doi.org/10.7202/1071265ar https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/scientia/2020-v42-n1-scientia05473/1071265ar/ https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/3087782665 https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1071265ar |
Summary: | A. G. Huntsman’s Belle Isle Strait Expedition of 1923, the first oceanographic expedition organized by a Canadian, was modeled on the Canadian Fisheries Expedition of 1915, in which Huntsman had been a junior partner to the Norwegian fishery biologist Johan Hjort. Examination of Huntsman’s documents shows that the 1923 expedition had more than one aim. For example, Huntsman hoped that one of the participants would be M.L. Fernald, a botanist from Harvard University. Although Fernald did not take part, his reason for interest in the expedition was to document his hypothesis that the flora of northeastern North America had spread along an emergent borderland after the last glaciation or had remained in unglaciated areas. Huntsman’s aims were less transparent, but in addition to the oceanography they appear to be early steps in developing his concept of biapocrisis, the response of organisms as a whole to their individual environments, in which his collection of land plants during the expedition could play a part. L’expédition d’A. G. Huntsman dans le détroit de Belle Isle en 1923 constitue la première expédition océanographique organisée par un Canadien. Celle-ci s’inspire de l’Expédition canadienne de recherche sur les pêches de 1915, qui avait eu lieu alors que Huntsman était l’associé de Johan Hjort, un biologiste norvégien. L’examen des documents de Huntsman révèle que l’expédition de 1923 avait plusieurs objectifs. Huntsman espérait notamment que M. L. Fernald, un botaniste de l’Université Harvard, y participe. Bien que ce dernier n’ait pas pris part à l’expédition, il s’y est intéressé afin de documenter la trajectoire de la flore du nord-est de l’Amérique du Nord. Se serait-elle répandue le long d’une bande de terre ayant émergé après la dernière glaciation ou serait-elle demeurée dans des zones non englacées? Les objectifs de Huntsman étaient moins clairs; au-delà des travaux océanographiques, il en était aux premiers stades de l’élaboration du concept de biapocrisis, qualifiant la réaction des ... |
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