The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary: A Curious Fable of the Cotton Plant.: To Which Is Added a Sketch of the History of Cotton and the Cotton TradeLee, Henry
History
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary: A Curious Fable of the Cotton Plant.: To Which Is Added a Sketch of the History of Cotton and the Cotton Trade
Lee, Henry
Cotton -- History; Plants -- Folklore
[25] I know of only four--(though, of course, there may be others, of
which I shall be glad to receive information)--namely, one in the
Botanical department of the British Museum; another in the Museum of
the Royal College of Surgeons; the specimen sent from India by Mr.
Buckley to the Royal Society in 1698; and that described by Dr. Breyn
in 1725. Of the origin of the first-mentioned nothing is known, though
it is apparently the one figured by John and Andrew Rymsdyk, in their
‘_Museum Britannicum_’ (1778, plate xv.), as one of the curious
objects in the British Museum. Of the second we only know that it was
presented to the College of Surgeons by Mr. Quekett--the habitat of
the fern of which it is composed being erroneously given in the
Catalogue (No. 177 of “Plants and Invertebrates”) as “Plains of
Tartary,” the supposed home of the mythical lamb, but where the fern
in question never grew. That sent to England by Mr. Buckley, and which
was the subject of Sir Hans Sloane’s paper in 1698, seems to have been
lost or mislaid. Whether it remained in the possession of the Royal
Society, or was placed by Sir Hans Sloane in his own collection, it
ought to be in the British Museum. But nothing is known of it there,
nor of the cabinet of surgical instruments and appliances in which it
arrived. I have endeavoured to trace it; but although, as usual, I
have met with every kind assistance and courtesy from the heads of
departments, I have been unsuccessful.
Sir Hans Sloane, who died in 1753, bequeathed his valuable collection
and library to the nation on the condition that £20,000 should be paid
to his executors for the benefit of his daughters. The Government
raised the necessary funds by a guinea lottery, and sufficient money
was thus obtained to purchase also (for £10,500) Montague House, in
Bloomsbury, which then became the British Museum. When the Royal
Society removed from their old premises, in Crane Court, to Somerset
House in 1780 they also gave the contents of their cabinets to the
National Collection, but many of these, and amongst them this
fern-root animal, cannot be found.
Dr. Breyn, of Dantzic, no doubt retained the specimen which he
described, and it is probably in some continental collection.
I know, therefore, of only two of these so-called “lambs” extant in
this country--one in the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, and
the other in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. No history
of either of these has been preserved.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account