CARL
LOUIS SCHWENDLER: HISTORY OF A POLYMATH
I had
recently visited Kolkata on wanderlust and tried to visit some important places
of interest. Being an animal lover, I went to the zoo ie, the Zoological Garden
, Alipore. Among mega charismatic fauna, I found pleasure in watching the
larger felines such as the tiger, the leopard, the jaguar and the asiatic lion.
But what I principally did not fail to notice was our sturdy and imposing
colonial past which revealed itself in every nook and corner of this great zoo.
I will draw attention towards one structure which is historically very
significant to the establishment of this zoo. It is an obelisk which was
erected in the memory of Carl Louis Schwendler. Schwendler, a German
electrician and one of the first proponents of the Tungsten based incandescent
light bulb, was the founder of this zoo. He worked in the Telegraph Department
of British India and was also the pioneer in setting up of the telegraph system
in India during the Raj. He was a member of Council of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal. Asiatic Society of Bengal still exists as a scholarly society founded
on Jan. 15, 1784, by Sir William Jones, a British lawyer and Orientalist, to
encourage Oriental studies. Schwendler, in his hey days, had extensively worked
on the science of telegraphy and had authored the book titled, "On the
General Theory of Duplex Telegraphy". In this book he had researched on
the method of sending messages simultaneously along the same wire in opposite
directions which was very new to the science of telegraphy during that time. This
method was previously only successfully used by an American Telegrapher named
Stearns on some of the American Telegraph lines. The greatest problem in
setting up of telegraph lines in India was to decide on the best possible
method available to calculate the resistance arrangements and the distribution
of condensers required for any given line, overland or submerged. Schwendler's theory
on Duplex telegraphy and his book came to the rescue of telegraphic engineers
of that time. Schwendler's work principally helped in designing and installing
submerged telegraph lines in India. He also worked on "Earth
Currents" or "Lines", as he called them, and believed that their
direction (drift) was from East to West in India and in Bengal. He held that
the accurate measurement of the direction and source of the electromotive force
producing them were a scientific necessity in setting up of the telegraphic
system in India. According to him, earth
currents were produced by difference of potentials between two points of the
earth with which the earth plates were in contact. He further mentioned in a
meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in 1874, that these earth currents
reach their full magnitudes when magnetic storms occur which coincide with
electromagnetic disturbance in the Sun's surface. During such magnetic storms the
entire telegraphic communication process tended to break down as had been
previously experienced during the autumn of 1849-50 and again in 1870 in The
British Isles. Schwendler fully understood that in a country as large as India,
such a situation would cause immense problems. So he recommended the then
British Government of India to introduce a system of measurement of these
currents. Thus two projects namely the "Porcupine" and
"Challenger" were initiated by the British government for dredging
the Indian seas and to procure sophisticated instruments for measuring Earth
currents. But due to lack of administrative will the procurement of the
required instruments was deplorably slow. Hence these projects perished in
their infancy. While in India, he worked in several committees of finance,
library, natural history and physical sciences of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
During this period, he and other prominent persons fully understood the need of
establishing a "proper" zoo in Kolkata since as early as 1841, but
this need only did finally materialize in 1873 when a sub-committee of the
Society was formed exclusively for the purpose of discussing the prospects of
establishing a zoo in Calcutta. Mr. Schwendler headed this committee, which composed
of members of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and the Bengal Agri-Horticultural
Society. Finally in 1875, did the Zoological Gardens, Alipore finally get
established after three decades of contemplation and debate. Schwendler was an engineer but he also was an
animal enthusiast which we infer from the large collection of animals that he
owned in his menagerie. He convinced the then Indian Viceroy, Lord Thomas
Northbrook, that instead of constructing large and expensive houses for animals
in the Indian climate, simple sheds but surrounded by luxuriant vegetation was
all that was required for animal husbandry, thus making the housing of animals
both scientific and simple. An honorary managing committee of the zoo was
formed in December 1875, headed by C. Buckland (he was the private secretary to
the then lieutenant Governor, Sir Richard Temple) as honorary secretary. Mr. Schwendler
and Dr. George King (superintendant of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens) were
members. Schwendler's long experience and knowledge in exotic animal husbandry
and handling helped the zoo attain laurels in the fields of zoo organization
and animal husbandry in England, Australia and several European countries. When
the zoo was established, the then Government of Bengal had promised to pay
twenty thousand rupees a year as a grant for management of the zoo. However,
during the period between July 1876 and July 1877, the grant stopped thus
making the financial position of the zoo shaky. During this time Mr. Schwendler
had to direct the Managing Committee's vision of the objectives of the zoo not
only towards the already existing ones of research and education, but towards a
new one that was of public entertainment in order to stabilize the zoo's
financial condition. Thus revenue in the form of gate receipts (from tourists),
boating and fishing in the great serpentine lake of the zoo accrued which
strengthened its economic status. While all members of the Zoo Managing Committee had
specific roles given to them, Mr. Schwendler was given the duty of looking
after the housing and comfort of the animals, especially the exotics, as his
experience was mainly with animals exotic to India. Carl Louis Schwendler donated his private
collection of animals which consisted of 31 mammals and 57 birds to the zoo. In
1877, during its golden era, this zoo had 756 mammals, birds and reptiles. The
zoo successfully carried out captive breeding programs for lemurs, mongoose,
short spined porcupine, agouti, tiger and leopard under his supervision. The
vision of this zoo had changed from mere displaying of animals to maintaining
sustained breeding groups of animals by proper study and analysis of their
behavior and ecology. Thus the greatest shift in objective of this zoo was realized.
Study of behavior of animals for their husbandry and educating the public about
the importance of wildlife conservation had gained precedence over the sheer
unscientific display of fauna. The point
which I want to stress from this story is that it is really not compulsory
whether one has a degree or any academic accolade in a particular field in
order to serve that field. One only need have the bona fide interest in it. In
fact developing true passion for a field has little to do with official
degrees. Degrees only bind our imagination to a particular subject or area,
whereas interest liberates us from such mundane restraints and drives us
towards more intriguing pastures. Even research shows that people who are
skilled in diverse fields or people having flair in multiple facets of the same
field show a higher percentage of brain usage than others, for example people
who speak multiple languages or people who play different musical instruments.
There are numerous examples of famous persons such as Benjamin Franklin, Dr.
Albert Schweitzer and Isaac Asimov who were prolific polymaths and went on to
become shining examples in the history of mankind. I believe that we owe our
sincerest gratitude towards Carl Louis Schwendler who was instrumental in
establishing one of the oldest organizations devoted to the cause of wildlife
research and conservation in India. His diligent efforts to stabilize the
future of the zoo when it faced dire economic crisis is laudable. Till today,
Zoological Gardens, Alipore continues to serve as a nodal centre for
conservation breeding of the Manipur Brow Antlered Deer and Bhutan Grey Peacock
Pheasant. The zoo functions under a society called “West Bengal Zoo Authority”.
More work can be done if the “Central Zoo Authority” takes over the charge of
management of this zoo.