Benjamin Smith Barton
Benjamin Barton | |
---|---|
University of Philadelphia | |
Author abbrev. (botany) | Barton |
Benjamin Smith Barton (February 10, 1766 – December 19, 1815) was an American
Early life
Barton's father, Rev. Thomas Barton, was an Irish immigrant from Carrickmacross who opened a school near Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1751. His mother was Esther Rittenhouse, sister of astronomer David Rittenhouse.
Between 1780 and 1782, Barton studied at York Academy in
After leaving Edinburgh it is not clear whether Barton then studied at the
Medical career
Returning to Philadelphia in 1789, Barton practiced medicine. In 1790, he was elected to a fellowship at Philadelphia's College of Physicians. The same year, he succeeded
Works
Barton corresponded with naturalists throughout the United States and Europe, and he made significant contributions to the scientific literature of his day. In 1803, Barton published Elements of botany, or Outlines of the natural history of vegetables, the first American textbook on botany. Barton's work in natural history and botany was often assisted by William Bartram, the traveler, botanist, and artist. Bartram provided the illustrations of North American plants for Barton's 1803 Elements of Botany. From 1798 to 1804, Barton published a work on medicinal plants, Collections for An Essay Towards a Materia Medica of the United-States. From 1802 to 1805 Barton edited the Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal, and in 1803, Barton founded the short-lived American Linnaean Society of Philadelphia.
Barton was also interested in anatomy and zoology, and in 1796, he published his Memoir Concerning the Fascinating Faculty Which Has been Ascribed to the Rattle-Snake. In 1803, he published a comparative study of linguistics, Etymology of Certain English Words and on Their Affinity to Words in the Languages of Different European, Asiatic and American (Indian) Nations, and a text on the origin of the first American people, New Views of the Origin of the Tribes and Nations of America (1797).
He was the editor of the Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal (1805–1808), one of the oldest scientific publications in the United States.
Barton was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814.[7] The Society holds among its collections a number of Barton's publications as well as a complete run of the Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal[8]
Archeology
Barton pursued
Appointments
Barton was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1789.[9] He served as president of the Philadelphia Medical Society from 1808 to 1815. In 1812, he was elected as a member to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Miscellaneous
In 1803, before his famous expedition,
Death
In 1815, Barton died of tuberculosis in New York City.
Legacy
His older brother, William Barton, was also a member of the American Philosophical Society. His maternal uncle, David Rittenhouse, served as the Society's second president after the death of founder Benjamin Franklin in 1790.
His son Thomas Pennant Barton (born in Philadelphia in 1803; died there April 5, 1869) gathered together a notable Shakespearean library. It comprised 2,000 of the rarest editions of Shakespeare's works, and formed, with about 10,000 miscellaneous books, one of the most important private collections in America. He provided by will that this should be sold after his death to some institution that could prevent its dispersion. His widow carried out his wishes, and the collection was acquired by the Boston Public Library, which set apart a special room for its accommodation. A catalogue was issued, prefaced by a memoir.[12]
The standard author abbreviation Barton is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[13]
References
- ^ Swensen 1997
- ^ Swensen 1997
- ^ Thomas 2000.
- ^ Kariann Yokota, ""To pursue the stream to its fountain": Race, Inequality, and the Post-Colonial Exchange of Knowledge across the Atlantic," Explorations in Early American Culture Vol. 5 (2001), pp. 198
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ Ewan and Ewan, B. S. Barton, 2007, p. 162.
- ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
- OCLC 10492813.
- ^ "Benjamin Smith Barton". American Philosophical Society Member History. American Philosophical Society. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ISBN 9780679454502.
- ISBN 9780684826974.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Barton.
Sources
- Bell, Whitfield J. Jr. (1971) “Benjamin Smith Barton, MD (Kiel),” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, vol. 26, p. 197-203.
- ISBN 978-1-930723-35-1
- Graustein, Jeannette E. (1961). “The Eminent Benjamin Smith Barton,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 85, p. 423-438.
- Pennell, Francis W. (1942). "Benjamin Smith Barton as Naturalist". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 86 (1): 108–122. JSTOR 985083.
- Swensen, Rolf (1997). "Barton, Benjamin Smith". In Sterling, Keir B.; et al. (eds.). Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists. Greenwood Press. pp. 59–61. ISBN 978-0-313-23047-9.
- Thomas, Phillip Drennon (2000). "Barton, Benjamin Smith (1766-1815)". American National Biography. Oxford University Press.
External links
- A Biographical Sketch (of Benjamin Smith Barton) (1816) by William P. C. Barton
- "Barton, Benjamin Smith". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- . .