Чилилік табиғат зерттеуші және тарихшы Жван Игнасио Молина

Chilean priest, historian, and naturalist

Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina (xwan iɣˈnasjo moˈlina; (June 24, 1740 – September 12, 1829) was a chilean spanish Jesuit priest, naturalist, historian, translator, geographer, botanist, ornithologist, and linguist. He is usually referred to as Abate Molina (a form of Abbot Molina), and is also sometimes known by the Italian form of his name, Giovanni Ignazio Molina. He was one of the precursors of the theory of the gradual evolution of species, 44 years before Darwin, who repeatedly quoted him in "The Origin of Species".

Molina was born at Guaraculén, a big farm located near Villa Alegre (General Captaincy of Chile), where he lived until he was 5 years old. In the current province of Linares, in the Maule Region of Chile. His parents were Agustín Molina and Francisca González Bruna. From an early age he was attracted to the nature of his environment, and in addition to his school work, he enjoyed observing nature on the family farm, which he visited periodically, alternating with his studies. This is how Molina described his interest in nature:

"My character led me from my most tender years to observe nature and particularly animals, so while I lived in my country, Chile, I did all possible research. A set of known circumstances from around the world forced me to interrupt my observations (Suppression of the Society of Jesus)." The family moved to Talca when Juan Ignacio was only five years old. At the same time, the Jesuits settled in the block called "las Arboledas", in the newly created Villa de Talca, where they built their residence house. In the north corner they built in their early years a humble house with a "thatch and straw roof", the place was used to install a "School of first Letters", an obligation imposed on them by the decree of installation of June 10, 1748. The reputation for intellectual excellence in the Order led the leading families of the city to enroll their children there. In that humble place, Molina took his first steps into the knowledge of human letters. With his shrewd intelligence he became known as a talented child, learning fast with a good memory. Thus, at a young age, with the consent of his superiors, he began his work as a teacher in the school of first letters. As a result of his academic excellence – especially in Literature and Latin – he was accepted as a Jesuit at the age of fifteen. He had a novitiate in various locations of the Order, in Talca, Concepción and Santiago. He lived on the estate of Bucalemu in the area known today as El Convento in the El Yali wet land. In those calm and quiet conditions he revived the intellectual work that would later make him well known, Molina delved into the study of the classics and the natural sciences. His progress was very fast and within five years (he was 20 years old at the time) he already had a solid knowledge of Latin, Greek, French and Italian. That merit led him to be transferred in 1760 to the Jesuit residence in Santiago, where he worked as a librarian. In 1761, in a room at the Universidad Pontificia Colegio Máximo de San Miguel, Molina renounced his assets, setting aside 100 pesos from these that were reserved for the purchase of books.

In 1768 he was forced to leave Chile due to the Suppression of the Society of Jesus. He settled in Italy where, thanks to his linguistic skills, he obtained the chair of Greek language at the University of Bologna. He soon achieved a good reputation as a historian and geographer, due to his Saggio sulla Storia Naturale del Chili (1778) and Saggio sulla Storia Naturale del Chili (1787). Finally he became a professor of Natural Sciences (1803), given his studies in that area. For example, he published (1782) the Saggio sulla Storia Naturale del Cile, in which he described the natural history of Chile for the first time and introduced numerous species native to that country to science. Furthermore, in that work he is also the first to mention the Paramillos de Uspallata mines, of lead, silver and zinc. All of these works were translated, attracting considerable attention, into German, Spanish, French, and English. In botany, it is regulatory and permissible to simply write "Molina" when a reference is made to any of his descriptions. He also reached the rank of member of the Royal Italian Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts and the high dignity of the first American academic of the learned Academy of the Institute of Sciences. He became so renowned, that even Alexander von Humboldt visited him.

His admirable style, clear, elegant and simple, together with his philosophical and positive spirit, gave his works the character of brilliance. In his preparatory work he was very meticulous and hardworking, visiting libraries and taking notes on everything that might interest him. The preserves numerous strips of paper written in his own hand, the living testimony of his industriousness. He also became very loved by his students, who esteemed him very much for considering him mild in his dealings and for his kind character. Molina taught them Latin, rhetoric, geography, and history. In response, his students gave him snuff and coffee, two of the simple passions of the now elderly priest, who lived in a modest house on the outskirts of Bologna. There was a considerable interest in "Less Observed Analogies of the Three Kingdoms of Nature" (1815) and On the "Propagation of Mankind in the Various Parts of the Earth" (1818). In the first he proposed – 44 years before Charles Darwin — a theory of gradual evolution. According to his proposition, the Creator organized nature not into three totally different kingdoms (animal, mineral, vegetable), but as a continuous chain of organization, without sudden steps or breaks, into «three species of life, that is, the formative, vegetative and sensitive life; so that the first, destined to minerals, participates to some degree in the second, typical of plants, and this, in the third, assigned to animals. Thus, for example, crystalline minerals precede the simplest plant forms. And complex plant organizations give way to animals. In the second mentioned work, Molina proposed the thesis that the observable physical differences in the human race are due to climatic and geographical factors. The impact that such ideas caused confusing episode were an ex student of Molina, the illustrious Ronzoni, censor of the University of Bologna, accused him of heresy and the Bishop of Bologna ordered a council of theologians to examine his work. Logically, that committee found nothing against the faith in his writings and authorized their publication. Despite this, his Analogías could not be published for a long time because of the lateness of the bishop's decision, and only its original in Spanish was preserved in Italy. It can be argued that this deprived Darwin – who quotes Molina numerous times – and his supporters from powerful backgrounds and arguments, and cost Molina himself the chance to be known as one of the forerunners of the theory of evolution.

As a scientist native to the Americas Molina was very critical of the work of Cornelius de Pauw, who was in Europe regarded as an expert on the Americas, and accused him of "always attempting to degrade and discredit the Americas". Some of De Pauw's statements on the supposedly poor aspects of the mineral wealth of the Americas were countered by Molina as well as De Pauw's claims on the shorter lives of people that inhabited the Americas. Molina expressed support for a sedimentary origin of basalt in Ensayo sobre la historia natural de Chile where he pointed out the fact that basalt occurred both in the Andes and in coast of Chiloé where there were no sign of eruption and believed basalt to be a sort of compacted slate with vesicles.

Ruiz and Pavón dedicated to him the plant genus Molina, later considered a subgenus of Baccharis by Wilhelm Heering (Reiche 1902), and recently recreated as Neomolina by F. H. Hellwig and ranked as genus. Other authors dedicated Moliniopsis, a genus of Poaceae. Molina has also been linked to the naming of the genus Maytenus.

A species of Chilean lizard, Liolaemus molinai, is named in his honor. A species of South American parakeet, Pyrrhura molinae, was named in his honor (Massena and Souance, 1854). Rev. et Mag. Zool. (2), 6, 1854, p.73.