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Edward Sylvester Morse (June 18, 1838 – December 20, 1925) was an American zoologist, archaeologist, and orientalist. He is considered the "Father of Japanese archaeology."

Early life

Morse was born in Portland, Maine to Jonathan Kimball Morse and Jane Seymour (Becket) Morse. His father was a Congregationalist deacon who held strict Calvinist beliefs. His mother, who did not share her husband's religious beliefs, encouraged her son's interest in the sciences. An unruly student, Morse was expelled from all but one of the schools he attended in his youth — the Portland village school, the academy at Conway, New Hampshire, in 1851, and Bridgton Academy in 1854 (for carving on desks). He also attended Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine. At Gould Academy, Morse came under the influence of Dr. Nathaniel True who encouraged Morse to pursue his interest in the study of nature.

He preferred to explore the Atlantic coast in search of shells and snails, or go to the field to study the fauna and flora. By the age of thirteen he had put together an impressive collection of shells. Despite his lack of formal education, his collections soon earned him the visit of eminent scientists from Boston, Washington and even the United Kingdom. He was noted for his work with land snails, and discovered two new species: Helix asteriscus, now known as Planogyra asteriscus, and H. Milium, now known as Striatura milium. These species were presented at meetings of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1857 and 1859.

He was a gifted draftsman, a skill that served him well throughout his career. As a young man, it enabled him to be employed as a mechanical draftsman at the Portland Locomotive Company and later preparing wood engravings for natural history publications. This relatively well-paid work enabled him to save enough money to support his further education. Morse was recommended by Philip Pearsall Carpenter to Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University for his intellectual qualities and talent at drawing. After completing his studies he served as Agassiz's assistant in charge of conservation, documentation and drawing collections of mollusks and brachiopods until 1862. He became especially interested in brachiopods during this time, and his first paper on the topic was published in 1862.

During the American Civil War, Morse attempted to enlist in the 25th Maine Infantry, but was turned down due to a chronic tonsil infection. On June 18, 1863, Morse married Ellen ("Nellie") Elizabeth Owen in Portland. The couple had two children, Edith Owen Morse and John Gould Morse (named after Morse's lifelong friend Major John Mead Gould).

Career

Morse rapidly became successful in the field of zoology, specializing in malacology or the study of molluscs. In 1864, he published his first work devoted to molluscs under the title Observations On The Terrestrial Pulmonifera of Maine. Morse had been elected to the position of curator of the Portland Natural History Society, a position he hoped would become permanent, but in 1866 the Great Fire destroyed the buildings of the Society, along with much of Portland, and also the chance of a salaried position. An alternative opportunity arose with the foundation of the Peabody Academy of Science in Salem. Morse returned to Massachusetts to work at the academy, along with Caleb Cooke, Alpheus Hyatt, Alpheus Spring Packard and Frederic Ward Putnam (director), all former students of Agassiz.

In 1867, along with Putnam, Hyatt and Packard, Morse co-founded the scientific journal The American Naturalist, and Morse became one of its editors. The establishment of the Journal was very important for American Natural History. It was written by experts in the field, but aimed to be accessible to a wide readership. This aim was greatly helped by the high quality of the illustrations, many of them provided by Morse himself. Morse's desire to bring natural history to a wider audience also led him to give lectures to a variety of audiences. His combination of broad knowledge, speaking skill, and ability to draw quickly on the blackboard with both hands made him a popular presenter.

Morse continued his work on brachiopods, often considered to be his most important scientific work. In 1869, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Between 1869 and 1873 he published a series of papers on the embryology and classification of the group. Whereas in 1865 he had accepted the majority view that placed brachiopoda within the molluscs, in 1870 largely on the basis of embryological observations, he proposed that the brachiopoda should be removed from the molluscs, and placed within the annelids, a group of segmented worms. Modern taxonomy agrees with the first of these propositions, but not the second, classifying molluscs, brachiopods and annelids as three separate phyla within the superphylum Lophotrochozoa. Helen Muir-Wood has given an account of the history of the classification of the brachiopods that places Morse's work in its historical context.

From 1871 to 1874, Morse was appointed to the chair of comparative anatomy and zoology at Bowdoin College. In 1873 and 1874 he was a teacher at the summer school established by Agassiz on Penikese Island. Though the school only operated for a few years, several of its students went on to distinguished careers, including David Starr Jordan. In 1874, he became a lecturer at Harvard University. In 1876, Morse was named a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1877, he provided the illustrations for a book by his friend John Mead Gould, entitled How to camp out.