"Edouard Piaget was born on November 3rd. 1817, at Les Bayards in the Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. At the age of eighteen he took up an appointment as a teacher of French at Mr. de Raedt's College at Noorthey, Holland. During this time he attended Leiden University and took a doctorate degree in Roman Law in 1837. As a result of his mother's death he decided not to return to Switzerland to practice in the law as he had intended. He remained in the Netherlands as a tutor to some well-known families until he was appointed Professor of French and History at the Erasmian Gymnasium in Rotterdam in 1844. Some years later he took an appointment at the Higher Citizen's school in Rotterdam and remained there untll 1884 when he returned to Les Bayards to live with his sister. He continued his studies until the failing of his eyesight prevented him from reading. On September 10th, 1910, he died in the Hospital at Couvet, being then almost blind and totally deaf.
It appears that he commenced building his collection after he went to the Netherlands. As soon as it became known that he was interested in the"Pédiculines"he received specimens from many parts of the world. Since a very great part of his collection of these insects was obtained from animals in the Zoological Gardens at Rotterdam and from skins in the Leiden Museum, it is understandable that there still remains in the Museum at Leiden a small number of slides which formed part of his original collection. The remainder of his entomological collection, together with his herbarium containing representatives of about 4000 species, and his extensive library, were given to the town of Neuchâtel. by him, in 1905. In 1928 the collection of"Pédiculines"was acquired by the British Museum through Dr. O. Fuhrmann, who has subsequently stated (in a letter to me) that it was sent over to England just as it was when presented to the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle at Neuchâtel. The great value of this collection lies in the fact that it contains the great majority of the specimens upon which Piaget based his Monograph, as well as its supplement and his numerous short papers.
This part of the collection, however, contains nearly 1850 slides of 3600 specimens representing 678 species."Thompson, G.B. (1937:19) (pdf)
The Piaget Collection in The Natural History Museum, London has been remounted. Specimens were macerated, cleared, and mounted on standard microscope slides in Canada Balsam (see here). The original labels were preserved and where appropriate, Lectotypes designated. For further information see, Clay (pdf)
Obituary:
Veth, H. J., 1911
