Being a surgical college does not mean that the RCSI Heritage Collections only has material relating to surgery. Centuries ago when anatomy, surgery and medicine were being discovered and studied, zoology, botany and chemistry were in the mix too. Now this was a time when different classes or species of organisms, plants and animals hadn't been discovered. Here's the science bit; the taxonomy of living organisms is the science of describing, identifying, naming and classifying these organisms. The formal system of naming living things by giving them a name made of two parts is called binomial nomenclature. So for example an African elephant has the binomial nomenclature is Loxodonta africana, a honey badger's is Mellivora capensis and a chestnut tree is Castanea sativa.
The father of modern taxonomy, Linnaeus, was born in Smaland, southern Sweden in 1707. From a young age he had a love of plants and flowers which was encouraged by his parents. He studied at Uppsala University and started lecturing there in botany in 1730. After an exploratory expedition around Lapland gathering and identifying unknown species of plants, Linnaeus began to use his ideas about nomenclature and classification in a practical way. When he returned from Lapland in 1734 he published his findings in Flora Lapponica which covered 534 species classified and described by the Linnaean classifications system.
Linnaeus continued to travel and refine his taxonomy system over the coming years finally returning to Sweden in 1738. By May 1741 he was Professor of Medicine at Uppsala University responsible for the Botanical Garden and the teaching of botany and natural history. In 1737 Linnaeus had published Genera Plantarum but his fifth edition of this book (1754) was the most important as in it he divided the plant kingdom into 24 classes.
In the RCSI Heritage Collections there is a copy of Genera Plantarum dating from 1771. The name of the books owner, Richard Franklin of the City of Limerick Infirmary, can be seen clearly at the top of the title page.
Franklin was obviously an avid botanist as the book itself is full of handwritten annotations. The book contains a section entitled Termini Botanici which has illustrations relating to the various classifications of plants, some of which can be seen above.
While looking at this book another item in the RCSI Heritage Collections sprung to mind. Tucked away on one of the shelves in the archive is a scrapbook full of dried and pressed plant specimens. Unfortunately there is no background details to accompany the scrapbook, such as who owned and created it. But that won't stop us admiring the beauty of these lovingly selected plant specimens.
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy
So who was the genius who said 'Here why don't we divide these plants and animals into different classes and make things easier for ourselves when studying them?'
It was Carl Linnaeus.
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| Carl Linnaeus (1707 -1778) by Alexander Roslin |
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| Title page of Linnaeus' Genera Plantarum |
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| Franklin's handwritten notes |
Linnaeus continued to travel and refine his taxonomy system over the coming years finally returning to Sweden in 1738. By May 1741 he was Professor of Medicine at Uppsala University responsible for the Botanical Garden and the teaching of botany and natural history. In 1737 Linnaeus had published Genera Plantarum but his fifth edition of this book (1754) was the most important as in it he divided the plant kingdom into 24 classes.
In the RCSI Heritage Collections there is a copy of Genera Plantarum dating from 1771. The name of the books owner, Richard Franklin of the City of Limerick Infirmary, can be seen clearly at the top of the title page.
 |
| Accompanying plant illustrations |
 |
| Accompanying plant illustrations |
Franklin was obviously an avid botanist as the book itself is full of handwritten annotations. The book contains a section entitled Termini Botanici which has illustrations relating to the various classifications of plants, some of which can be seen above.
While looking at this book another item in the RCSI Heritage Collections sprung to mind. Tucked away on one of the shelves in the archive is a scrapbook full of dried and pressed plant specimens. Unfortunately there is no background details to accompany the scrapbook, such as who owned and created it. But that won't stop us admiring the beauty of these lovingly selected plant specimens.
Enjoy!
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy