Patrick Blair

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Patrick Blair (* around 1672 ; † 1728 in Boston ) was a Scottish doctor and botanist .

Live and act

Patrick Blair practiced as a doctor and surgeon in Dundee, Scotland . In 1706 he became known as an anatomist through the dissection of an elephant . He published the results under the title Osteographia Elephantina in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society .

At the suggestion of Hans Sloane he was elected to the Royal Society on December 1, 1712.

Blair was a supporter of the Stuarts family . During the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 , he was arrested, thrown in prison, and eventually sentenced to death. He was finally pardoned through the intercession of Hans Sloane, Richard Mead (1673–1754) and others.

In 1717 he described the first known case of pyloric stenosis in An Account of the Dissection of a Child .

From a lecture given to the Royal Society with the title “Discourse on the Sexes of Plants”, his most important botanical work, Botanick essays, emerged in 1720 in which he dealt with the sex and fertilization of plants.

Blair lived in London for a while before moving to Boston , Lincolnshire . His wife Elizabeth was buried in Boston on December 13, 1721.

Dedication names

William Houstoun named the genus Blairia of the verbena family (Verbenaceae) in his honor . Carl von Linné placed the plants in the genus Verbena and in turn named a genus with the name Blairia .

Fonts

In Philosophical Transactions

  • Osteographia Elephantina: Or, A Full and Exact Description of All the Bones of an Elephant, Which Died Near Dundee, April the 27th, 1706. With Their Several Dimensions. Communicated in a letter to Dr. Hans Sloane . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 27, pp. 53-116, numbers 325-336, 1710 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1710.0008 ).
  • A Continuation of the Osteographia Elephantina: Or, a Description of the Bones of an Elephant, which Died Near Dundee, April the 27th, 1706 . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 27, number 325-336, 1710, pp. 117-170 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1710.0009 ).
  • Part of a Letter from Mr. Patrick Blair to Dr. Hans Sloane, RS Secr. Giving an Account of the Asbestos, or Lapis Amiantus, Found in the High-Lands of Scotland . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 27, number 325-336 1710, pp. 434-436 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1710.0042 ).
  • An Account of the Dissection of a Child. Communicated in a letter to Dr. Brook Taylor . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 30, number 351-363, 1717, pp. 631-632 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1717.0013 ).
  • A Description of the Organ of Hearing in the Elephant, with the Figures and Situation of the Ossicles, Labyrinth and Cochlea in the Ear of That Large Animal . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 30, number 351-363, 1717, pp. 827-898 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1717.0043 ).
  • Copy of an Affidavit Made in Scotland, concerning a Boy's Living a Considerable Time without Food . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 31, number 364-369, 1720, pp. 28-30 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1720.0009 ).
  • Observations upon the Generation of Plants, in a Letter to Sir Hans Sloane . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 31, number 364-369, 1720, pp. 216-222 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1720.0053 ).
  • A Discourse concerning a Method of Discovering the Virtues of Plants by Their External Structure . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 31, number 364-369, pp. 30-38, 1720 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1720.0010 ).

Books

  • Osteographia elephantina, or, A full and exact description of all the bones of an elephant, which died near Dundee, April the 27th, 1706 with their several dimensions: to which are premis'd, 1. An historical account of the natural endowments, and several wonderful performances of elephants, with the manner of taking and taming them, 2. A short anatomical account of their parts: and added, 1. An exact account of the weight of all the bones of this elephant, 2. The method us 'd in preparing and mounting the skeleton, 3. Four large copper plates, wherein are represented the figures of the stuff'd skin, and prepared skeleton, as they now stand in the Publick Hall of Rarities at Dundee, with the separated bones in several views and other parts of this elephant . (London, 1713)
  • Miscellaneous observations in the practice of physick, anatomy and surgery. With new and curious remarks in botany. Adorn'd with copper plates ... (London, 1718)
  • Botanick essays. In two parts. The first containing, the structure of flowers, and the fructification of plants, with their various distributions into the method: And the second, the generation of plants, with their sexes and manner of impregnating the seed… . (London, 1720)
  • Pharmaco-botanologia or, An alphabetical and classical dissertation on all the British indigenous and garden plants of the new London dispensatory. In which their genera, species, characteristick and distinctive notes are methodically described; the botanical terms of art explained, their virtues, uses, and shop-preparations declared (London, 1723-1728).

literature

  • CJF MacCarthy: Patrick Blair MD In : Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society . Volume XC, No. 249, 1985

swell

  • Pishey Thompson: The history and antiquities of Boston, and the villages of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake, and Wrangle; comprising the hundred of Skirbeck, in the county of Lincoln . 1856 p. 446f.
  • Richard Pulteney : Historical and Biographical Sketches of The Progress of Botany in England . 1790, pp. 134-140
  • David M. Knight, Matthew D. Eddy (Editors): Science And Beliefs: From Natural Philosophy To Natural Science, 1700-1900 . Ashgate Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0754639967

Individual evidence

  1. ^ After Blair Family History
  2. ↑ Thomas E Cone: Is Dr. Patrick Blair's description of pyloric stenosis in 1717 the earliest on record? In: Pediatrics Volume 62, No. 1, July 1978, p. 76ff. (Abstract)
  3. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica Leiden 1737, p. 92
  4. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 12
  5. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 45

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Blair, Patrick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish physician and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1672
DATE OF DEATH 1728
Place of death Boston