Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists
History
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists
Botanists -- Great Britain -- Biography; Botany -- Great Britain -- History
Sutherland's place in relation to the development of scientific
Botany in Scotland is that of pioneer in the teaching of systematic
Botany from the living plants in relation to Materia Medica, and
of first custodian and cultivator of plants for instruction in a
public garden. His _Catalogue_ is now a book of some rarity--of great
rarity in complete state owing to the number of cancel pages--and its
reproduction at the present time would have interest alike scientific
and historic. It is the first published record of a collection of
cultivated plants in Scotland. It tells us the plants which were
recognised as indigenous at its date, and from its record we can by
correlation with information otherwise obtainable discover the time of
introduction to Scotland of alien plants, and thus obtain a basis for
gauging their influence on the native Flora as we know it now.
Charles Preston who stepped into the University Chair of Botany vacated
in 1706 by Sutherland, was a medical man, an active correspondent of
Sloan, Pettiver, and other scientific men in the south. On his death
in 1712, after a short tenure of office, George Preston his brother
succeeded him and filled the chair until 1739. Both of the Prestons
seem to have been chiefly interested in the Materia Medica side of
Botany and their teaching was on the lines of it. They are referred to
by their contemporaries as men of botanical knowledge and of critical
judgment, and their correspondence indicates that they were in touch
with the botanical life of their time. Their work in teaching was
always in rivalry with that at the Royal Physick Garden. At first no
doubt it was effective and useful owing to Sutherland's neglect of
his garden, but when a capable active scientific Professor was placed
in charge of this Garden the case for such rivalry and duplication
of effort ceased, and it is no surprise therefore to find that when
a vacancy occurred in 1739 the University Chair was filled by the
appointment of the King's Botanist in Charge of the Royal Physick
Garden, who was then Dr Charles Alston. And this combination continues
to our own time by mutual consent of the Crown and the University.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account