Frank Buckland

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Frank Buckland

Francis Trevelyan Buckland , better known as Frank Buckland (born December 17, 1826 in Oxford , † December 1880 ) was an English surgeon and journalist.

Life

Buckland was a son of William Buckland . He studied from 1844 to 1848 for a BA at Christ Church, Oxford, and then completed his medical training at St. George's Hospital. After graduating in 1851, he first worked as a surgeon at this hospital, but gave up the post after a year and embarked on a career as a journalist. His popular science articles were best known for the book edition entitled Curiosities of Natural History . The work had 15 editions and was gradually expanded to include three additional volumes.

Buckland was particularly interested in fish. In 1863 he gave a lecture on fish farming at the Royal Institution; a little later he set up a presentation on the subject at the South Kensington Museum, which later became the Science Museum. Since 1865 he had also collected exhibits for his Museum of Economic Fish Culture. From 1867 he also worked as a "Salmon Inspector". In competition with the magazine “The Field” he established “Land and Water”.

Deeds

When Buckland learned in 1859 that coffins could be examined and removed from the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields , he identified the coffin of John Hunter and arranged for it to be buried in Westminster Abbey . According to Christine Quigley , his inquiries sometimes lead to unusual actions. Buckland tasted the meat of all kinds of animals and served it to other people. According to Quigley, he also stole the heel bone of Ben Jonson from his grave, identified the relics of Saint Rosalia in Palermo as goat bones, unmasked people like PT Barnum who displayed alleged mermaids , and examined the mummy of Julia Pastrana . However, he was also able to put eels in public fountains for fun .

Buckland determined in his will that after the death of his wife, 5000 pounds from his property should be used to endow a professorship for "Economic Fish Culture". The first lectures funded by this project took place in 1930.

His friends included Chang and Eng Bunker , Louis Agassiz , Joseph Hyrtl , Martin van Buren Bates and Anna Swan .

literature

  • George C. Bompas: Life of Frank Buckland . Smith, Elder & Co, London 1885.
  • GHO Burgess: The Eccentric Ark. The Curious World of Frank Buckland , New York 1967

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Buckland.htm
  2. http://quigleyscabinet.blogspot.com/2008/12/frank-buckland.html