Judith Brouwer
was not granted membership. For the next two years, Martinus Slabber did not
make any new recruitments for the ZGW. The experience of Slabber shows that
offering membership to a person and the ZGW not admitting him could poten
tially be damaging to social relationships.
Another member who was responsible for recruiting new members for the
ZGW was Eduard Sandifort. Sandifort, a professor of anatomy in Leiden, was a
member of the ZGW since 1769 until his death in 1814 - notwithstanding a small
mistake in the copy of the Register of the ZGW, which records his death in 1844.79
Sandifort was responsible for recruiting two renowned scientists: Pieter Jonas
Bergius, who was a professor in physics and pharmacy in Stockholm, and Alex
ander Monro Secundus, who was a professor in autopsy in Edinburgh.80 In both
cases, it was Sandifort who sent them the 'diploma' of the ZGW, as the secretary
of the ZGW - Justus Tjeenk - was not in direct contact with these members.81 He
also sought membership for his son Jan Bernard Sandifort - who succeeded him
as city doctor in The Hague - which was granted by the ZGW.82
Pieter Boddaert is also an example of a member that used his network to enlarge
the network of the ZGW. Boddaert was a lecturer in natural history in Utrecht
and joined the ZGW in 1768.83 Martinus Slabber requested the ZGW to make
Boddaert a member, sending in an essay written by Boddaert to prove his abili
ty in the sciences.84 Boddaert's most notable contribution to the network of the
ZGW was the membership of Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778). Linnaeus, a Swed
ish botanist who is most famous for introducing a classification system for both
plants and animals, became a member in 1771.85 In Boddaert's letter of acceptance
of membership of the ZGW, he writes that he is in contact with several renowned
109
79 ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 121, scan 5.
80 ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 121, scan 5; Peter Jonas Bergius. KZGW Online, https://kzgwonline.
nl/persoon/peter-jonas-bergius (accessed June 1, 2020).
81 ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 58, scan 358; ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 60, scan 22; ZA, Arch.
KZGW, inv. nr. 60, scan 28.
82 ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 60, scan 28; ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 121, scan 6.
83 ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 121, scan 4; ZA 26 KZGW, (1.1.58) Ingekomen Stukken 1768-1770, 219;
Huib J. Zuidervaart, De Vlissingse Burgemeester Johannes Mauritz (1724-1796): Aanstichter
van het Naturaliënkabinet van het Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen? In: Arjan van
Dixhoorn, Henk Nellen, and Francien Petiet (eds), Een hoger streven, 192; Pieter Boddaert.
KZGW Online, https://kzgwonline.nl/persoon/pieter-boddaert (accessed June 1, 2020).
84 ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 58, scan 12.
85 ZA, Arch. KZGW, inv. nr. 121, scan 6; Charles T. Ambrose, Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné),
1707-1778: The Swede Who Named Almost Everything. In: The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha-
Honor Medical Society 73, No. 2 (2010), 5.
