Zone d'identification
Cote
Titre
Date(s)
- 1749 - 1819 (Production)
Niveau de description
Collection
Étendue matérielle et support
Small collection; ephemera, 1 box misc. documents
Zone du contexte
Nom du producteur
Notice biographique
Born Edinburgh 1749; died Edinburgh 1819.
Daniel Rutherford (the uncle of Sir Walter Scott) graduated MA from the University of Edinburgh and obtained his MD in 1772 where his inaugural dissertation on ‘mephitic air’ (carbonic acid) established the distinction between carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Though the latter was not named, Rutherford came to be regarded as the discoverer of nitrogen. After travelling in Europe Rutherford returned to Edinburgh in 1775, becoming a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1777. In 1786 he succeeded John Hope as professor of medicine and botany at the university and Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden and King’s Botanist. His interest in botany was limited to the use of plants as objects in chemical experiments and his teaching courses poorly reviewed. Rutherford held office as Regius Keeper at the Garden for 33 years during which time he was assisted by a succession of six Principal Gardeners. In addition to this role, he was elected physician in ordinary to The Royal Infirmary in 1791, fellow of the Philosophical (afterwards Royal) Society of Edinburgh in 1788 and of the Linnean Society in 1796. Not highly regarded as an academic, his publications were few and sometimes considered to be highly derivative.
Sources: Dictionary of National Biography; HR Fletcher and WH Brown ‘The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 1670-1970’; (Deni Bown, ‘4 Gardens in One’); (R. Desmond ‘Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists)
D.W.
Histoire archivistique
Source immédiate d'acquisition ou de transfert
Zone du contenu et de la structure
Portée et contenu
• Ms. lectures on botany (1803–1806?), 44 pp.; Index Stirpium Officinalium, ut in Horto Regio Botanico Edinburgensi, 2 copies, 7 pp.; 1 copy, 4 pp., C. Stewart, printer; ms. note: “Edinburgh Evening Courant, Sept. 18, 1820. Nothing to be found on last page / Column 4.” 1 p.
• Correspondence and papers, including a ms. letter petitioning H.M. Treasury for an additional allowance to maintain the Botanic Garden, 1807; two ms. letters (with wax seals) from Archibald Menzies to Prof. Rutherford regarding seeds sent by Menzies, 1789; ms. copies of two letters from Archibald Dickson to I. Bayley Balfour, 1889 (originals with I. Bayley Balfour correspondence under “Dickson, Archibald”; ms. letter from Henry Paton, genealogist, to I. Bayley Balfour, regarding an inventory of Daniel Rutherford, 1909.
Évaluation, élimination et calendrier de conservation
Accroissements
Mode de classement
Zone des conditions d'accès et d'utilisation
Conditions d’accès
Conditions de reproduction
Langue des documents
Écriture des documents
Notes de langue et graphie
Caractéristiques matérielle et contraintes techniques
Instruments de recherche
Zone des sources complémentaires
Existence et lieu de conservation des originaux
Existence et lieu de conservation des copies
Unités de description associées
Zone des notes
Identifiant(s) alternatif(s)
Mots-clés
Mots-clés - Sujets
Mots-clés - Lieux
Mots-clés - Noms
- Harveian Society of Edinburgh (Sujet)
- Hope, John (Sujet)