Patrick Blair (surgeon)
Encyclopedia
Patrick Blair, M.D. was a Scottish surgeon and botanist, a Fellow of the Royal Society from 1712.
, where he practised as a doctor. He was introduced to Hans Sloane
by Charles Preston in 1705. Being a nonjuror
and Jacobite
, he was imprisoned as a suspect at the time of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. He subsequently moved to London, then settled at Boston, Lincolnshire
.
He published ‘Miscellaneous Observations on the Practice of Physick, Anatomy, and Surgery’ in 1718, ‘Botanick Essays’ in 1720, and ‘Pharmaco-botanologia’ in 1723–8, which ended with the letter H. His ‘Botanick Essays’ were his major work. In them he expounded the progress of the classification of plants up to his time, and the then novel views as to the sexual characters of flowering plants, adding his own observations.
Life
He was born at DundeeDundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, where he practised as a doctor. He was introduced to Hans Sloane
Hans Sloane
Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, PRS was an Ulster-Scot physician and collector, notable for bequeathing his collection to the British nation which became the foundation of the British Museum...
by Charles Preston in 1705. Being a nonjuror
Nonjuring schism
The nonjuring schism was a split in the Church of England in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, over whether William of Orange and his wife Mary could legally be recognised as King and Queen of England....
and Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
, he was imprisoned as a suspect at the time of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. He subsequently moved to London, then settled at Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
.
Works
In 1706 dissected and mounted the bones of an elephant, and contributed a description, under the title of ‘Osteographia Elephantina,’ to the Royal Society of London, published in 1713. He delivered some discourses before the Royal Society on the sexes of flowers.He published ‘Miscellaneous Observations on the Practice of Physick, Anatomy, and Surgery’ in 1718, ‘Botanick Essays’ in 1720, and ‘Pharmaco-botanologia’ in 1723–8, which ended with the letter H. His ‘Botanick Essays’ were his major work. In them he expounded the progress of the classification of plants up to his time, and the then novel views as to the sexual characters of flowering plants, adding his own observations.