Traveling Olms: Local and Global Perspectives on the Research on Proteus anguinus (1700-1930)

• Main Author: Johannes Mattes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fabio D'Angelo 2018-05-01
• Series: Viaggiatori
• Subjects: Circulation; Animal; Local & Global; Slovenia
• Online Access: http://www.viaggiatorijournal.com/cms/cms_files/20181107054241_qmbe.pdf

Firstly mentioned by the Slovenian scholar Johann Valvasor in 1689, Proteus anguinus, also called «blind cave salamander» or «human fish» by locals because of its rose skin color, represents Europe’s only cave-dwelling amphibian. In contrast to its restriction to approximately 200 localities in Slovenia and the surrounding karst areas in Italy and Croatia, Proteus soon became a world-famous model for troglobites and attracted the attention of locals, visitors, and scholars. After its first scientific description and illustration in 1768, specimens of Proteus began to «travel» through Europe physically in small fish tanks, as scientific objects, gifts or in form of colorful illustrations, which aroused interest in this strange-looking animal. Based on a cultural-historical approach, the paper examines these long-distance networks, cycles of exchange and regimes of accumulation as a process of local and global knowledge circulation.