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Science between Europe and Asia pp 177–191Cite as

Between Translation and Adaptation: Turkish Editions of Ganot’s Traité

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 275))

Abstract

In a petition sent to the Ministry of Education in 1870, Tahsin Bey, the Rector of Darulfunun (University) listed the instruments needed for physics lectures. The list included 130 instruments of 108 different types which were to be bought in France. At the end of the list, he added an unprecedented note concerning a specific instrument, the resonance pipe. According to this note, this instrument “should be the same as the one shown in figures 178, 180–184 of the 13th edition of Ganot’s book published in 1868”.1 Imagine an official of the Ottoman government walking through the streets of Paris with Ganot’s book in hand and visiting the shops of instrument-makers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    E. İhsanoğlu, “Darülfünun tarihçesine giriş: İlk iki teşebbüs”, Belleten, LIV, 210 (August 1990): 725; Ottoman Archives of the Turkish Prime Ministry (Başbakanlīk Osmanlī Arşivi, BOA), İ.DH, 618/43038.

  2. 2.

    The first edition of the book: A. Ganot, Traité Élémentaire de Physique Expérimentale et Appliquée, chez l'auteur, éditeur, Paris 1851.

  3. 3.

    J. Simon, “The Franco-British communication and appropriation of Ganot’s Physique (1851–1881)”, in J. Simon, N. Herrán et al., eds., Beyond Borders: Fresh Perspectives in History of Science. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2008, p. 141.

  4. 4.

    J. Simon and P. Llovera, “Between teaching and research: Adolphe Ganot and the definition of electrostatics (1851–1881)”, Journal of Electrostatics, 67 (2009): 536.

  5. 5.

    The relevant data was compiled from the catalogues of the libraries of Istanbul University and Istanbul Technical University as well as the National Library of Turkey (Ankara), Beyazıt State Library and Atatürk Library in Istanbul.

  6. 6.

    İlk Türk Materyalisti Beşir Fuad’ın Mektupları, C. Parkan Özturan, ed., İstanbul, pp. 28, 29, 36, 80.

  7. 7.

    Among his recommendations were Camille Flammarion’s (1842–1925) Astronomie Populaire, Louis Figuier’s (1819–1894) Les Merveilles de la Science. He also advised Faustino Malaguti (1802–1878) for chemistry, Auguste Axenfeld (1825–1876), Fréderic Paulhan (1856–1931) and Théodore Ribot (1839–1916) for medicine, physiology and psychology. See İlk Türk Materyalisti…, and O. Okyay, Beşir Fuad: İlk Türk Pozitivist ve Natüralisti, 2nd ed., İstanbul: Dergah pub., 2008, pp. 43–47.

  8. 8.

    These writers were Mehmed İzzet, İsmayıl Hakkı Baltacıoğlu and Tevfik Sağlam. See Mehmet İzzet, “Konferans 1- Salih Zeki”, Talebe Mecmuası, nr. 41 (March 1935): 6; C. Saraç, Salih Zeki Bey Hayatı ve Eserleri, Y. Işıl Ülman, ed., Istanbul, 2001, p. 172; Tevfik Sağlam, Nasıl Okudum, 3rd ed., H. Hatemi, A. Kazancıgil, eds., Istanbul: Nehir pub., 1991, p. 84.

  9. 9.

    Salih Zeki, Muhtasar Hikmet-i Tabiiye, İstanbul: Karabet Matb., 1312 (1894–1897), Vol. I: 426 pp. and Vol. II: 470 pp.

  10. 10.

    These books are Hikmet-i Tabiiye (trans. Hafız Mehmed, İstanbul, 1878/1879) and Dürus-ı Hikmet-i Tabiiye (trans. Ahmed Tevfik, İstanbul 1884/1885). They were translated from the textbooks of Prytanée National Militaire de la Flèche for Darüşşafaka high school in İstanbul.

  11. 11.

    The biography of Antranik Gırcikyan was compiled from following sources: 1948; 1950;Y. Çark,Türk Devleti Hizmetinde Ermeniler 1453–1953, İstanbul, 1953, pp. 105–106; Rıza Tahsin, Tıp Fakültesi Tarihçesi (Mir’ât-ı Mekteb-i Tıbbiye), İstanbul, 1991, Vol. I, p. 94; Y. Öztuna Şirin, “Osmanlı Sâlnâmelerinde 1908 tarihine kadar tıp eğitimi”, Yeni Tıp Tarihi Araştırmaları, nr. 5 (1999): 208–323; Arsen Yarman, Osmanlı Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Ermeniler ve Surp Pırgiç Ermeni Hastanesi Tarihi, Surp Pırgiç Hastanesi Vakfı, İstanbul 2001, p. 782; Meltem Akbaş, Osmanlı Türkiyesi’nde Modern Fizik (19. Yüzyıl), unpublished PhD dissertation, İstanbul University, İstanbul 2008.

  12. 12.

    It is intriguing why Antranik Gırcikyan studied medicine after the age of 30 and became a military doctor although he was an assistant physics teacher. In the Ottoman Empire military school teachers were generally recruited among the graduates of the school they were employed or other military schools. The ranks and salaries of those military officer-teachers increased in time as those of other military officers and they gained prestigious positions in terms of career and social status. Nevertheless, Gırcikyan did not graduate from a military school and started his career as a civilian assistant teacher. Perhaps for the advantage of being both an officer and a doctor, or due to the fact that physics was not yet recognized as a professional field at that period, he opted for obtaining a diploma from the Military School of Medicine, too.

  13. 13.

    The apparatus-keeper (muhafız-ı âlât) of the Imperial School of Medicine was responsible for the cleaning and the protection of physics and chemistry instruments. Carrying them to the classroom and setting them up for demonstration were among his duties. He was expected to have skills in fixing instruments. The duties of apparatus-keepers are defined in the 1857 Regulation of the Imperial School of Medicine. See F. Günergun and N. Yıldırım, “Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane’nin Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane’ye getirdiği eleştiriler (1857–1867)”, Osmanlı Bilimi Araştırmaları, III, (2001): 53–54. There have been similar positions in the other higher educational institutions such as Military Academy (Mekteb-i Harbiye). See Mehmed Esad, Mirat-ı Mekteb-i Harbiye, İstanbul 1310 (1892–1894), pp. 187, 205, 206.

  14. 14.

    In his autobiography, Dr. Tevfik Sağlam (1882–1963) provided a humorous reminiscence about a classroom experiment in physics held at the Imperial School of Medicine in late 19th century. This memory is illustrative of the roles played by the teacher, the apparatus-keeper and the student in the experiment: the apparatus-keeper brings the instruments to the classroom, sets them up for the experiment, operates them according to the directions of the teacher and does all the handiwork. The teacher gives directions to the apparatus-keeper and explains the physical phenomena observed while students act as spectators. The teacher mentioned above was İsmail Ali (1866–1913), the successor of Antranik Gırcikyan. See Tevfik Sağlam, Nasıl Okudum, pp. 85, 86.

  15. 15.

    A. Ganot, İlm-i Hikmet-i Tabiiye (trans. Antranik Gırcikyan), 2nd ed., Mahmud Bey Matb., Vol. I, Istanbul, 1886 (1303), 714 pages; Vol. II, Istanbul 1891 (1308), 959 + 32 pages.

  16. 16.

    A. Ganot, İlm-i Hikmet-i Tabiiye, trans. Antranik Gırcikyan, 3 vols., İstanbul: Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane Matb., 1293 (1876), 44+668 pp., 765 pp., and 52 double pages.

  17. 17.

    G. Genette, Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation, trans. J. Lewin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 1.

  18. 18.

    For a study in Canadian literature see S. T. de Zepetnek, in A. Barsch, ed., The Social Dimensions of Fiction: On the Rhetoric and Function of Prefacing Novels in the Nineteenth Century Canadas. Wiesbaden: Vieweg 1993.

  19. 19.

    S. Bozkurt, Tracing Discourse in Prefaces to Turkish Translations of Fiction by Remzi Publishing House in the 1930s and 1940s. Unpublished MA dissertation, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul 2007, p. 3.

  20. 20.

    Several terms are employed to denote preface in Ottoman Turkish: mukaddime (Arabic, a preliminary discourse, a preface, an introduction), dibace (Persian, a preface to a book, a prologue) and ifade-i meram (the exposition of wish, thought or intention). James W. Redhouse, A Turkish and English Lexicon, Constantinople 1890 (Facsimile 1992), pp. 153, 932, 1942.

  21. 21.

    Besmele is the Bismillah phrase meaning “in the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful”. Hamdala is the abridged version of “elhamdülillâh” meaning “thank God”. It’s also the name of the part in a literary text where the author presents his/her praises and gives glory to the God.

  22. 22.

    In the preface, he introduces himself in the following way; “…the present servant who has little knowledge, namely the assistant physics teacher at the Military School of Medicine and the physics teacher at the Civil School of Medicine and a permanent member of the Ottoman Medical Society, Lieutenant Colonel, Doctor Antranik Gırcikyan”.

  23. 23.

    A. Altıntaş, “Osmanlılarda modern anlamda tıp eğitiminin başlaması- Tıphâne-i Âmire”, Osmanlı, Vol. VIII, Ankara 1999, p. 528; E. İhsanoğlu and F. Günergun, “Tıp eğitiminin Türkçeleşmesi meselesinde bazı tespitler”, Acta Turcica Historiae Medicinae I, A. Terzioğlu, ed., İstanbul 1994, p. 127.

  24. 24.

    Rıza Tahsin, Tıp Fakültesi Tarihçesi, pp. 34–35.

  25. 25.

    For the history of Society see N. Sarı, “Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-i Osmaniyye ve tıp dilinin Türkçeleşmesi akımı”, Osmanlı İlmi ve Mesleki Cemiyetleri, E. İhsanoğlu, ed., İstanbul, 1987, pp. 121–142.

  26. 26.

    E. K. Unat and M. Samastı, Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Mülkiye (Sivil Tıp Mektebi) 1867–1909, İstanbul, 1990, p. 8.

  27. 27.

    N. Sarı, “Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-i Osmaniyye ve tıp dilinin Türkçeleşmesi akımı”, p. 125.

  28. 28.

    Société Impériale de Médecine (Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane) was established by the English and French physicians who came to Istanbul during the Crimean War. For further information see H. Hüsrev Hatemi, A. Kazancıgil, “Türk Tıp Cemiyeti (Derneği) Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane ve tıbbın gelişmesine katkıları”, Osmanlı İlmi ve Mesleki Cemiyetleri, E. İhsanoğlu, ed., İstanbul, 1987, pp. 111–119; F. Günergun and N. Yıldırım, “Cemiyet-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane’nin Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-yi Şahane’ye getirdiği eleştiriler (1857–1867)”, pp. 20–63.

  29. 29.

    The journal was published between 1857 and 1925. H. Hatemi and A. Kazancıgil, “Gazette Médicale d'Orient'ın ilk sayıları”, Tıp Tarihi Araştırmaları, nr. 15 (2007): 33–39.

  30. 30.

    E. İhsanoğlu and F. Günergun, “Tıp eğitiminin Türkçeleşmesi meselesinde bazı tespitler”, pp. 127–133.

  31. 31.

    He translated only the two sections: “Courant propre des animaux” (pp. 846–847) and “Poissons éléctriques” (pp. 847–848).

  32. 32.

    The table of “températures de fusion de diverses substances” included 31 items in the 14th edition. In the 16th edition two substances (sperma ceti ve thallium) were removed and three new substances (protoxyde d’azote, acide carbonique, brome) were insterted (for comparison see p. 307 and p. 298 respectively).

  33. 33.

    IHT1, p. 9.

  34. 34.

    For more information see F. Günergun, “Introduction of the Metric System to the Ottoman State”, Transfer of Modern Science & Technology to the Muslim World, E. İhsanoğlu, ed., İstanbul: IRCICA, 1992, pp. 297–316.

  35. 35.

    IHT1, Vol. II, p. 588.

  36. 36.

    A. Ganot, İlm-i Hikmet-i Tabiiye, trans. Antranik Gırcikyan, 2nd ed., Mahmud Bey Matb., Vol. I, Istanbul, 1886 (1303), 714 pp.; Vol. II, Istanbul 1891 (1308), 959 + 32 pp.

  37. 37.

    These were the 17th (1876), 19th (1884) and 20th (1887) editions.

  38. 38.

    Hayrullah Efendi (1818–1866) appended a small glossary to his physics book which he prepared for the students of rüşdiyes (middle school). However it is different in approach than that of Gırcikyan. Hayrullah Efendi’s glossary was organized to account for the meanings of the scientific terms in Turkish. Apparently he prepared it for students who were to meet physics for the first time. Hayrullah Efendi, Mesail-i Hikmet, İstanbul: Darü’t-tıbbaatü’l-amire, 1265 (1849).

  39. 39.

    A teacher at the Ottoman Military Academy, Ali Rıza Efendi (d. 1937), while modestly underlying in the preface of his mechanics book his incompetency, pointed out that Turkish scientific terminology had not been properly formed. He asked his knowledgeable colleagues to correct his possible mistakes that might be found in his terminology. For this purpose, he included French equivalents of some Turkish terms within parentheses into the text. See Ali Rıza, Fenn-i Mihanik-i Riyâzî ve Makineler, İstanbul: Karabet Matb., 1306 (1889).

  40. 40.

    IHT2, Vol. I, pp. 388–389.

  41. 41.

    The instrument was designed by the English scientist James Six at the end of the 18th century and was later improved by Angelo Bellani. It was also known as “thermometrograph”. The major advantage of this thermometer was that it supplied various measurements without requiring constant presence of an observer: http://www.uniurb.it/PhysLab/strumenti/Heat.html

  42. 42.

    M. J. Jamin, Cours de Physique de l’École Polytechnique, Paris 1868, Vol. II, pp. 97–98.

  43. 43.

    This thermometer was constructed by Henri Galante for Dr. Constantin Paul who showed it first at the meeting of the Société de Médecine (Paris). A drawing of the instrument was published in the bulletin of French Academy of Medicine in 1884. The British Medical Journal, Sept. 20, 1884, p. 559 and also see; Bulletin de L’Académie de Médecine, 12 février 1884, pp. 260–261. For other models of the instrument see H. Galante, Fils, Catalogue Illustré des Instruments et Appareils de Chirurgie, Appareils de prothèse, Orthopédie, Bandages, etc., Paris 1885, pp. 142–143.

  44. 44.

    For comparison see IHT2, Vol. I, p. 402 and Traité, 16th ed., p. 268.

  45. 45.

    We don’t claim that the “energy” concept was first employed in the 19th edition of Traité, since we have not had access to the 17th and 18th editions.

  46. 46.

    Traité, 19th ed., pp. 542–543.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Feza Günergun for her constructive suggestions as well as her assistance in translating the texts in French. I am also thankful to Şeref Etker for lending me his personal copy of İlm-i Hikmet-i Tabiiye and for sharing publications; to Arsen Yarman for providing biographical information on Antranik Gırcikyan; to Tomas Terziyan for translating the texts in Armenian into Turkish; and to Darina Martykánová for sending copies from Traité’s 16th edition and for her comments on this chapter.

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  1. Department of the History of Science, Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Meltem Akbaş

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  1. Dept. History of Science, Istanbul University, Eminönü, Istanbul, 34134, Turkey

    Feza Günergun

  2. School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067, India

    Dhruv Raina

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Akbaş, M. (2011). Between Translation and Adaptation: Turkish Editions of Ganot’s Traité . In: Günergun, F., Raina, D. (eds) Science between Europe and Asia. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 275. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9968-6_12

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