Achtergronden van het paalwormenonderzoek 1730-1870

Backgrounds of shipworm research 1730-1870 In the period 1730-1870 biological research on shipworms was carried out with various intentions. The species of shipworm which is most familiar in the Low Countries, Teredo navalis, is a bivalve mollusc of the family Teredinidae. These marine animals force their way into wood when they are still in their larval phase. They bore large holes in the wood in which they grow up. Thus they become a threat to the wood-strengthened dikes that protect the coasts of the Netherlands. Four periods with different types of research can be distinguished. Following the shipworm plague of 1731 a few monographs on shipworms appeared (e.g. Sellius, Rousset, Massuet). This research was a direct response to the dike maintenance problems which the Dutch society faced in those years. Towards the end of the eighteenth century shipworm research formed part of the dominating systematical tradition in natural history. Physiological studies on the peculiar properties of shipworms began to appear in the first decades of the nineteenth century. In 1860, finally, the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences set up a committee to study all aspects of shipworm activity out of concern for the rising costs of coast protection.