THE WIDER PURPOSE OF MARTEL'S VISITS ABROAD RAZLOGI MARTELOVIH OBISKOV TUJEGA KRASA TREVOR R. SHAW Izvleček UDK 551.44(091) : Martel E.A. Shaw, Trevor R.: Razlogi Martelovih obiskov tujega krasa V članku so podana razmerja inozemskih članov v Societe de Speleologie in njihovih objav v Spelunci, kakor tudi Martelovi obiski in članki v inozemstvu. Zlasti v Sloveniji in Angliji so objave neposredno sledile Martelovim obiskom. Ključne besede: Martel, speleologija, zgodovina, objave, društva, Francija, Slovenija, Velika Britanija Abstract UDC 551.44(091) : Martel E.A. Shaw, Trevor R.: The wider Purpose of Martel's Visits Abroad The proportions of foreign members in the Societe de Speleologie and of their writings in Spelunca are presented, together with Martel's visits and publications abroad. In some countries, notably Slovenia and England, such activity followed directly on Martel's visits there. Keywords: Martel, speleology, history, publications, societies, France, Slovenia, Great Britain Address - Naslov Dr. Trevor R. Shaw, O.B.E. Old Rectory Shoscombe Bath BA2 8NB, U.K. Martel's visits to regions outside France were not made solely for new exploration and to advance his own knowledge of caves and karst. Their purpose was also to inspire and encourage cave work by others throughout the world. There can be no doubt about the extent of Martel's links with speleology in other countries. Of his 26 annual "campaigns" of exploration, 19 went outside France in what are now 20 countries and in addition he made lecture tours and other visits abroad. At least 61 of his publications on caves appeared in other countries in his lifetime. Many of these were papers presented to learned societies, and there were also popular articles and the texts of public lectures. In addition, some items were simply translations or reprints of work already published in France, showing the interest with which it was regarded abroad. FOREIGN MEMBERSHIP OF THE SOCIETE DE SPELEOLOGIE The Societe de Speleologie, which Martel founded in Paris in 1895, enjoyed high scientific standing from the outset and it was one of the means by which he contrived the extension of cave study into an international subject. Foreign membership of the Society was remarkably high. 21 % of the founder members lived outside France, indicating the close links already existing before 1895. Between 1895 and 1904 the proportion rose to 29 %; in addition three foreign cave societies were members. Membership for each country is listed in Table I, which excludes those who were probably French citizens living abroad. Many papers by foreign contributors, most of them members, were published in the Society's journal, Spelunca. Table II shows that they comprised between 14 % and 50 % of papers printed in individual years. In the first six years of Spelunca's existence short news reports, "informations", were also printed, some of them summarized from published sources and others contributed by individuals. Of the latter, up to 25 % in any one year were sent in by foreigners. French authors also wrote in Spelunca about caves in other lands. The Society exchanged its publications with foreign journals, and the many long primary bibliographies in Spelunca included literature from all over the world. In some cases, no doubt, foreign authors wrote for Spelunca to achieve wider dissemination of their work in a specialist journal. Of these, many will have been inspired by personal contact with Martel. In other cases material was actively solicited by him, as will be seen later in this paper. It was not only reports that Martel encouraged. In Spain he caused a cave section to be formed within the Associacio d' Excursion Catalana (Martel 1897b, p. 399), and he instigated and set up a group of cave explorers in Mallorca (Casteret 1943, p. 211). He recommended to the minister in Wien and to the management of Postojnska jama that they should support the Anthron caving club at Postojna as much as possible (letters of 9 Nov. 1893 and 26 Jan. 1894) His encouragement of cave study in England is described later. FOREIGN VISITS, MEMBERSHIP AND PUBLICATION In Table III the various aspects of foreign relationship (Martel's visits and publication abroad, foreign membership of the Societe de Speleologie and foreign contributions to Spelunca) are listed region by region. The visits include those listed by Casteret (1943, p. 230) and some additional ones. His publications abroad include those given by Chabert and Table 1 - Foreign individual membership of the Sociäti de Spiliologie, excluding French nationals living abroad (derived from Anon., 1895a, 1904,1909b) Founder members 1 Sept: 1904 1 Oct. 1909 (bepre 1 Jan im) Algeria - - 1 1 Austria* 4 6 4 3 Belgium 2 2 6 6 Bohemia - - 1 1 Bosnia - - 1 1 Butgana - - 1 - Croatia - - 1 1 England 1 3 7 4 Germany 3 3 5 4 Greece 1 1 1 1 Hungary - 1 1 1 Ireland - 1 1 1 Italy (except Trieste) - 1 4 2 Mallotta 1 1 - - 1 Moravia - - 1 1 Serbia 1 1 1 - 1 Slovenia I 1 2 2 1 Trieste 5 5 6 4 Spain 2 2 2 2 Switzerland 3 3 - - U.S.A. - - 5 3 Venezuela - - - 2 totalforeign membership 24 31 51 40 total membership 116 140 174 138 % membership foreign 21 22 29 29 * The present day boundaries of Austria are used in this table t Slovenia and Trieste are shown together as members explored in the same region Courval (1971) plus others. Foreign membership again excludes those who were probably French nationals living abroad. The year columns include the years for which Spelunca fascicules were issued, which were not nesessarily the same as the years of publication. Trieste, which was then in Austria, is shown separately and next to Slovenia where most of its members' exploration was being done. Perhaps it may be possible to find out more about Martel's direct influence on these international relationships by examining the pattern and sequence of events. Did the memberships and publications follow some identifiable activity of Martel such as a visit? In some cases this was clearly not so. There were no known visits to Algeria, Bulgaria, Laos and Serbia. Although he travelled to Portugal, Sardinia, Slovakia and Turkey, no Society memberships or publications followed. In USA, where there were several members and much publication, Martel's only known visit took place some 20 years after the relationship began. It is, of course, always possible that earlier, undetected, visits had occurred in some countries. Belgium received so many visits and is so close to Paris that it is not possible to relate cause and effect. In contrast, the area of present-day Austria was the subject of no major "campaigns" at all. Perhaps this is not so surprising after all, for cave study had been well established there since the time of Schmidl in the 1850s, leaving less opportunity for new exploration and less for encouragement. In Bosnia, Croatia and Greece visits were indeed followed quite soon by membership and sometimes authorship, but the single member in each case, however distinguished, cannot form a pattern. In contrast to the lack of clear pattern seen in any of the above cases, Martel's visits to Slovenia in 1893 and to England and Ireland in 1895 do seem to have been followed by very significant and continuing association by membership, publication and further visits. Whether the reasons for this were the same in the two cases is doubtful. Cave studies in Table II - Papen and noies conlributed to Spelunca hy Jorelgnen ims 1896 ;«97 /S98I1899 J9W 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 /909 1910 1911 1912 1913 Foreign papers 3 5 10 5 6 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 2 3 0 1 0 1 Foreign contributed notes 3 I 5 7 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Foreign contributions (papers & contributed notes) 6 6 15 12 9 5 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 2 3 0 1 0 1 Total papers 13 24 25 22 15 14 9 4 4 11 3 4 Total contributed notes 22 26 34 34 19 12 0 0 0 1 0 0 Total papers & contributed notes 35 50 59 56 34 26 9 4 4 12 3 4 Foreign papers as % 23 21 « 23 40 14 33 25 50 27 33 25 Foreign contributed notes 14 4 15 20 16 25 Foreign contributions {papers and contributed notes) as% 17 12 25 21 26 19 33 25 50 25 33 25 Slovenia had already taken place for more than 200 years; technically difficult explorations had been in progress for at least ten years, undertaken by organized cave societies that published their results; and geographers and professional engineers such as Kraus and Putick were associated with karst work. In Great Britain, on the other hand, although occasional cave descents had been made before 1892 and more frequently since the foundation of the Yorkshire Ramblers' Club in that year, it was all rather amateur and localized and there was scope for Martel's stimulation and encouragement. With that brief contrast between the state of speleological development in the two areas where Martel's visits were followed by closer association with France, little more will be said here about Slovenia which is being examined in detail in this two-day meeting. Within seven years of Martel's visit there in 1893, Slovenia (together with the neighbouring city of Trieste from which so many of its cave workers came at that time) produced nine members of the Society and published eight papers and eight notes in Spelunca. Table m - Manel's s and puMifaiions abroad, foreign membership af ibe Socie:e de Spe!eoio^ie. and foreign piiblicaiion in Spelunca ISR9 189C> 1891 1893 1893 18y4 1»)5 IK97 1898 !899 !9rt) 19(12 1903 1905 1906 lycF 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 19i3 1914 ALGERIA O AUSTRIA mi nil ■d ■ BELGIUM i, ** « ** I i 7*T * ♦ ♦ □ □ ** TOHEMIA& MC«AVIA !T BOSNIA □ BULGARIA ■ C0R5ICA CROATIA ENGLAND III »•I • II • ■k ■ □ *- GERMANY m n T GREECE ■ HUNGARY I ■ ■ ■ IRELAND II * □ n-ALY except Trieste I T * r * *• LAOS □ MALIIÄCA I • •• • MONTTENEGRO NORWAY * Mutei puMicatioii T mcmberinncd ■ paper by member □ p^byolher • aole by RKtnber O neue by