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Correspondence of Peter MacOwan and G. W.
Clinton, Part 2c |
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The Correspondence of Peter MacOwan (1830 - 1909) and George William Clinton (1807 ‑ 1885): Part
2c Edited by P. M. Eckel, P.O. Box 299, Missouri Botanical
Garden, St. Louis, Missouri, 63166‑0299; email: mailto:patricia.eckel@mobot.org
Greater
Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) near Groot Okevi, PART TWO
C: Final Letter Vol.
11 no. 182 [J 73 & 72 two sheets of paper] Gill
Coll., 21
Dec. 1876 To
the Hon. Judge Clinton: My dear Friend, Doubtless
on seeing my handwriting you have taken a long breath, as one who is trapped
and taken, set to listen to a poet's new epic, a lecture on the Lost Tribes
or the last derivative of tri-chloro-methylammonium. Confess however that it
is but once in a way, and that if long-winded, I practise the virtue of
silence for eighteen months at a time. In this case however the virtue does
not deserve much praise, for nothing has kept me from breaking silence
incontinently but very poor health and very constant college work, preventing
the shipment of a rudis indigestaque moles (1) of things for your Society's
Museum. But let this day be marked with a white stone. I began in the early
hours, not much after dawn, putting together this & the other trigle (2)
long ago intended for you & tonight can report progress. The box is full,
closed, directed & will soon be afloat, if [paragr]
I have not been very lucky with birds lately: for lack of leisure some dozen
skins have gotten the moth into them & are condemned - there are
therefore only two specimens of our brown owl (4) sent this time. Then come a
few fairish horns, wanting fine sand paper followed by a couple of coats of
varnish. The clumsy detached pair belong to the hartebeest, Alcephalus
Caama Pr. (5): The lyre-bent pair, annularly ridged is a specially
fine sp. of spring buck, Antidorcas Euchore Prd.(6) doubt if
you will see larger ones. The remaining pair belong to the Bushbuck (7) and tho'
larger than commonly seen, are no rarity. I have 5 or 6 pairs of all sizes.
The smallness of the box precludes sending a lovely pair of Koodoo
(8), the spiral Strepsiceros
[small, elegant drawing of a horned animal's head] near 3 ft. long.
After worrying these horns out, you'll come upon a veritable Caput Apri (9) a
skull of a young Boschbuck (10). I shot this gentleman some 5 or 6 years ago.
He is only a youngster as you will see from the teeth, wh. pro tem. (11) are
kept in with plaster of Paris. However there is, besides, the lower jaw of
his venerable father, to exhibit the paternal "razors" with wh. he
was wont to teach adventurous puppies to keep their distance. The incisors of
the little one are ruined by a fall, but with the oldster's jaw you may make
a show for the present. [paragr]
Close by is a couple of seed vessels of Uncaria procumbens
Burck, the "Grapple Plant", (12) an indehiscent capsule wh.
requires that a buck shall tread upon its artful elastic hooks, be caught,
& limp away in pain to its death in order that the seeds may be trampled
out & puddled into the earth. Please, as the showman says, notice the short
nail like spines that hold the trap in situ. It is the finest piece of
diabolically intentional cruelty out! Should the too celebrated Slade (13),
or any other medium ever be able to summon the Rev. Moral Philosphy Paley
(14) from the Shades at my bidding I should certainly like to dumbfounder his
universal benevolence argument with a glance at this truly infernal machine. There are 2 species; U. Burchellii
is smaller & without the second or lower hook & is designed for the
torture & slow death of smaller antelopes (15). Then you have a lump of
"Hyraceum", (16) a curious menstrual deposit of the female Dassie
(Hyrax capensis) wh. is colonially used as a substitute for Castoreum (17),
& sub rosa (sapientibus loquor)(18) is given as an aphrodisiac when S.
Afr. Boredom thinks the little boers are long in coming. {paragr]
The fungi are only numbered - names will follow on publication of
Kalchbrenner's memoir on them in the Hungarian Acad. of Sciences (24), not
long delayed. The canister has a sp. of Sarcophyte sanguinea
Sparrm. (25) a most extraordinary parasite on roots of Acacia horrida
W. (26).I have only the [female plant: Venus sign]. If it arrives whole, wh.
is somewhat problematical, your curator should dip it in a weak brandy
solution of corrosive sublimate & dry quickly. It is otherwise as subject
as a Polyporus to acari (27). I haven't just now got the still more curious Hydnora
(28), but will try & secure it. By the bye Sarcophyte is
detestably carrion-scented, while growing. Scald it, or immerse in
Mercuri Chloridi & the odour dissolves. There is a bad figure in Linnaea
(29) V. 2. made from old Wehdeman's (30) drawing. [Paragr]
Below this you have our colonial Toad [Venus or female sign and another - a
Mars or male sign?] (Dactylethra) (31) & two nice C. millemaenlates
[sp.?] (32) A tin cannister holds a general gathering of lizard snakes
(33). Please cut the bottom off clean,
like a can of oysters. The beasties will never come out of the hole thro' wh.
they entered. (Mem. (34) The spirit is good & strong & will serve
again.). [paragr]
Then there is a little packet of Palaeolithic implements, rudibus simillima
signis (35), such documents as the Bosjesman Deucalion (36) might have
pitched over his brown shoulder and seen spring up in his own dwarfish
likeness. The pierced hammer stone is figured by Burchell (37) as used by the
Bakalari (38) merely to add weight to their digging-sticks wherewith they get
edible roots. But it is inconceivable that so mortal a weapon as this hammer
would prove if run out to the end of a suitable stick and whirled at an
antelope or a struysvogel (39) could long remain undiscovered by even the
rude South-African Adam. Moreover the typical weapon of the country is the
"Kerrie" (40), carved as I think, exactly from the model of this
hammer & stick. This is the idea [small drawing of a stick tipped with a
round object] There is room for discussion whether on the migration of
Bosjesman humanity to a sylvestral veldt, where grew hard-wooded trees in
plenty & fit for Kerrie-making, he relinquished the pierced boulder wh.
cost him months of patient boring with a stick and sand, in favour of the
lighter tougher, less deadly but more easily replaceable missile - or whether,
originally belonging to [second sheet] woodland and driven by Sonqua (41)
i.e. Hottentot Adam into the desert, he relieved his mind by making stone
Kerries instead of the original wooden ones. I go in hot for hypothesis
number one and even think sometimes that from the comparative common-ness of
these hammers they could not be very difficult to make. Certainly, with stick
& sand, the drilling must have been excuse the pun, it is inevitable, an
awful bore & one not lightly to be undertaken. Granted, that once
drilled, the hammer would become a [Greek notation: ktema es aei (42)] joy
for ever, bushmannically speaking, and like a hair of the great Julius (43)
would be bequeathed to the driller's children and assigns like a rich legacy.
[paragr]
Still there are too many of them altogether for the stick & sand theory,
and when fairly off on speculation's airy wing I humbug myself with a
semi-belief that these blessed Bosjesinans had actually discovered diamonds
(44) and anticipated Smith's Patent Howitzer Rock Drill (45) with its teeth
of adamantine bort. If so, Smith's cake is burnt & his patent is naught.
I have seen nothing resembling Neolithic work or any indubitable chipping to
improve the edges given to the spaulls by that one first and final stroke,
the coup de maitre that created them. [paragr]
But do you know how Bosjesinan Adam made them? No? then in return for the
correct tip on the Nepeta (46), at wh. carelessness, oversight, what you
will, I have blushed celestial rosy red half a dozen times, I'll tell you how
to make Palaeoliths; the said how having been discovered at a dismal
pic/nic years ago, when in company with several seniors in sere & yellow
leaf smoking as they sat for want of thought we watched the young folks
fulfilling their destiny. Having hammered vainly at the intellects of my
neighbours in quest of an idea, I turned to the more interesting stones &
practised spaull-making, with equally indifferent success. Whether by
inspiration, whatever that is, or by what the thoughtless call Chance, I
thought of hitting a second time, employing a tough dolerite pebble as the
intermediate corpus vile (47). For mark you, it won't do to use a round edged
steel punch & mallet: A. B. had none, and one must start fair on the
Adamic ticket. So I broke out the middle prong of a fork that lay handy,
wedged the much enduring pebble into the space left open, thus [side view of
a three-tined fork-drawing, a pebble residing between the remaining tines]
and laying him on the block of hard chert where a nice angle projected
[drawing of the angle] fetched him an awful vicarious thump with a 3 lb.
boulder. Enge! quod erat faciendum! (48) off flew the spaull - the precise
Palaeolithic thing minus only the basal thinning to receive the reed-stem. Of
course the next thing was to alter the process slightly - spaul off a tiny
flake first for the thinning, then slip the pebble backwards and
repeat the whack fortissimo. But alas! in my childish delight at having
turned the Bosjesman inside out, I incautiously exhibited the process, and
discoursed most excellent anthropology, when ehew! down upon me swooped the
matronly unscientific & un-sympathetic owner of the fork then in my hand,
caught flagrante delicto, manibus rubris (49). There was not even time to
slip it into the nearest deacon's coat-tail pocket. Abashed the lecturer
stood, feeling very small & heartily wishing he was a Bosjesman for the
nonce, & venturing the clumsy apology that it was only a steel fork
& of little value, was shut up & rendered speechless by the retort -
"steel or no steel, it had no any call to be stole!" But split a
stick to do duty for a fork, and pinch the pebble in the clefts, like naughty
boys serve the tail of the deacon's dog when they want to hear its owner
swear - and the Palaeolithic tip is complete. [paragr]
I haven't many fungi to send. Kalchbrenner & Thuemen (50) have stripped
me so utterly. The former is to publish a memoir shortly - there will be over
250 perhaps 300 species. Thuemen has already distributed some curiosa in his
Mycotheca Universalis. One remarkable thalloid proposed I describe as a new
Lysurus (51), L Tuckii, Kalchbrenner said Aseroe (52)
potius (53)- Dat
Salernus opes, dat Quintilianus honores; Sed
"Genus et Species" cogitur ire pedes. Suppose
we say - Gaily
the Doctors and Lawyers along in their carriages rush, Spattering
Hooker and Gray, trudging along in the slush. (58) I doubt
if ire pedes is the best of Latin, but it is indisputable the pace at wh.
poor "genus et Species" foots it thro' this howling wilderness
fungus-gathering. "It mayn't be Poetry "as Rare Ben [Johnson?]
averred in his quarrel with Sylvester anent a certain smutty rhyme, "but
it is true!" Surely
- sat prata biberunt (59) - you've had enough MacOwan for one write. I was just going to close the runnels with
a fine "dixi" (60): but stop one moment. Please where is that
photograph? (61) I cannot evolve you out of my ... consciousness without it
& without knowing what a re (62) your pet books when you read for fun.
Write me as long a letter as you can, dear pater mycologicus, de omnibus
petus [sp.?] et quibusdam aliis (63). [paragr]
I hope you are fond of my pet authors - tho' rarely find one who is (64) -
Erasmus, the Epist. Obscur. Virorum (65) - more - [paragr]
One more tho': Oliver Wendell Holmes (66). I must join the
"Autocrat" to those whom I'd save in a general combustion of the
State. One such man grown on American soil makes us ready to forgive the
Pilgrim Fathers for bullying the Quakers & enacting the bluest of Laws.
There dixi! [I have spoken] Valeas paneratice [sp.?] Ever
yours, P.
MacOwan [no note of receipt: probably in
April of 1877, according to sequence of letters in ---------- Notes (1.) rudis indigestaque moles, a rude and indigested
mass, a description of Chaos from the first book of Ovid's Metamorphoses
15-20, singing of the creation of the world and referring to the
undifferentiated face of nature. (2.) trigle is Greek for the red
mullet, a fish - a creature said to be sacred to Hecate, but perhaps meant by
MacOwan to refer to something of no set importance; it perhaps refers also to
the Red Fish (Red Gurnard), occurring on the western coasts of Ireland and
England, it is French for the Searobin, or Grondin, the family Triglidae, one
of the fishes of Canada. (3.) (4.) Brown Owl, a possible
reference to the Marsh Owl (Asio
capensis), a small bird around the size of a pigeon and brown in color
common in grasslands with wet depressions (Sasol Birds of Southern Africa -
Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, editor Struik 3rd Ed p241). (5.) Alcephalus
Caama Cuvier [Pr. = Pringle], the Cape Red Hartebeast is extinct in (6.) The springbuck, Antidorcas Euchore Prd. which is a
synonym of the Antidorcas marsupialis Springbok,
the South African gazelle, a beautiful animal with striking, lyre-shaped
horns. (7.) The Bushbuck is a
widespread African antelope of the genus Tragelaphus
of which there has been proposed two species, Tragelaphus scriptus and T.
sylvaticus. Tragelaphus sylvaticus,
the Imbabala, is most probably the species referred to by MacOwan. Their
horns reach to a half meter with one twist (the first loop of a spiral) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushbuck , from Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia (viewed October 2009). (8.) Tragelaphus strepsiceros, the Greater Kudu. since T. strepsiceros has the largest horns
in the Bushbuck tribe, it is understandable that MacOwan could not include
representatives in his package. (9.) Caput Apri, the boar's
head. There is a famous boar's head carol dating from the sixteenth century,
sung at Christmas in England in one line of which the 'caput apri' is
mentioned (caput apri defero, I bring the boar's head). "This song is
sung on Christmas day at Queen's college, http://www.christmas-songs.org/songs/boars_head_carol.html
(viewed Oct. 2009). (10.) Boschbuck, or Bushbuck,
Boschbok, see note 7. (11.) pro tem. = pro tempore,
for the time (being), i.e. temporarily. (12.) Uncaria procumbens Burck 1822 (Pedaliaceae), now known as Harpagophytum procumbens DeCandolle,
harpagos in Greek meaning 'grappling hook' + phyton, 'plant,' an important medicinal plant from South
Africa, harvested by the ton and now protected in the three countries where
it grows, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. It is known as Devil's claw,
Sengaparile (Tswana), Duiwelsklou (Afrikaans), Grapple plant, Wood spider,
Harpago. The 'two species' of the letter are now H. procumbens and H.
zeyheri Decne, reduced to Harpagophytum
procumbens (Burch.) DC. ex Meisn. subsp. procumbens and subsp. transvaalense
Ihlenf. & H. E. K. Hartmann. Although more than deadly to animals
in its native habitat, it has an extraordinary application for the betterment
of human ailments such as fever, lower back pain, coughs, bleeding gums,
venereal diseases, diseases of all kinds of organs, such as the liver, gall
bladder, kidneys, much disruption of the digestive system to name only a few.
It is frequently used as a tea, which in high concentrations is a
poison. It also has a beautiful
flower. (13.) Henry Slade (d. 1905), an
American medium of international repute, a specialist in 'slate writing,' as
evidence for the paranormal. He entertained great notoriety throughout Curtis, James. Rustlings in the From Answers.com; http://www.answers.com/topic/henry-slade
(viewed Oct. 2009). (14.) William Paley (July 1743 – 25 May 1805),
"a British Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian"
"Paley's Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy [1786] was one of
the most influential philosophical texts in late Enlightenment Britain."
[From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Paley Viewed Oct. 2009). "Its significance lies in
the fact that it marks an important point at which eighteenth century
“whiggism” began to be transformed into nineteenth century “liberalism.” In
Paley's published words in Chapter 5 "The Divine Benevolence," when
contemplating the universal nature: "We conclude, therefore, that God
wills and wishes the happiness of his creatures. And this conclusion being
once established, we are at liberty to go on with the rule built upon it,
namely, “that the method of coming at the will of God, concerning any action,
by the light of nature, is to inquire into the tendency of that action to
promote or diminish the general happiness.”
From the: Online Library of (15.) See note 12. Uncaria
burchellii is a synonym of U.
procumbens Burch. (16.) Hyrax capensis is presently named the Rock or Cape Hyrax, Procavia capensis, a small (8-9 lbs.) animal living in colonies of up
to 50 individuals, strongly resembling a rodent but actually related to
elephants and manatees and anatomically resembles in one way or another a
whole host of other mammals. Today it is the most common animal on (17.) Castoreum refers to the
"exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American Beaver, Castor canadensis and the European
Beaver, Castor fiber." "... castoreum is the yellowish
secretion of the castor sac in combination with the beaver's urine, used
during scent marking of territory. Both male and female beavers possess a
pair of castor sacs and a pair of anal glands located in two cavities under
the skin between the pelvis and the base of the tail." This odorous substance has been used in
perfumes, but MacOwan makes a reference to its use as an aphrodisiac. From "Castoreum;"
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoreum Viewed Oct. 2009. (18.) sub rosa, "under the
rose," which has come to mean, in secret, or in strict confidence and
has a mythic reference to Cupid, bribing Silence, in the shape of
Harpocrates, not to tell of Venus' amorous misdeeds (Ehrlich 1987).
"sapientibus loquor," 'a word to the wise' or discreet. (19.) Jonathan Pereira (22 May
1804 - 20 January 1853), pharmacologist, "author of the Elements of
Materia Medica, a standard work, the first important English work on
Pharmacy. He was examiner on the subject in the Shellard, E. J. (1980)A History
of British Pharmacognosy (1980-1982). The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol.
226-228: 108, 189, 406, 201, 631, 774, 78, 371, 536. From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pereira Viewed October 2009. (20.) the Pharmaceutical
Journal, the official journal of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain. (21). Daniel Hamburg. Perhaps a
friend or colleague of MacOwan's. (22.) "Mincing Lane is a
street in the City of London, stretching from Fenchurch Street south to Great
Tower Street...It was for some years the world's lading center for tea and
spice trading after the British East India Company successfully took over all
trading ports from Dutch East India Company in 1799. It was the center of the
British opium business (comprising 90% of all transactions), as well as other
drugs in the 1700's." from
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincing_Lane Viewed October 2009. (23.) The genus Rubia of about 60 species is the type
genus of the family Rubiaceae. There are three species of Rubia in (24.) See note 21 above. The
memoir by Kalchbrenner may specifically relate to collections by MacOwan in
an article in the (25.) Sarcophyte sanguinea Sparrm., of (article consists of 3 pages)
Published by: Springer on behalf of Royal Botanic Gardens, The strong odor of Sarcophyte, mentioned by MacOwan is
also a characteristic of Hydnora (see
note 28). (26.) Acacia horrida (L.) Willd. is also called the (27.) The genus Acarus, a genus of arachnids, belongs
to the order Acarina, the mites and ticks. Acarus siro, in particular, is a noxious pest infesting grains
and cereals and is perhaps the creature MacOwan's Sarcophyte needs protection from. The parasitic Acarus scabiei (= Sarcoptes scabiei) causes scabies in humans and is responsible
for mange in dogs. (28.) Hydnora (Hydnoraceae), perhaps Hydnora africana Thunb.,
is perhaps one of the most bizarre plants of (29.) Ichthyosma D. F. L. Schlechtendal, Linnaea 2: 672. Oct-Dec 1827. T.: (30.) Clemenz Heinrich
Wehdeman 1762-1835, known as a South
African plant collector and naturalist, but especially a painter of the
trees, for example, and collector of wood material, of which he took a
particular interest. That Wehdeman may have made a
drawing of Sarcophyte may be due to
the fact that a species (as Ichthyosma
wehdemanii Schlechtd.) was named after him - this being subsequently
reduced to Sarcophyte sanguinea Sparrm.
(Gunn & Codd 1981). His paintings are curated at the (31). There appear to be three
species of the amphibian genus Dactylethra:
D. muelleri, D. pirus and one that
is surely from (32.) C. millemaenlates is probably a misspelling (of my own). (33.) This is perhaps the
'snake-lizard' (Chamaesaura) of (34.) Mem., memorandum, 'to be remembered;'
in reference to a note regarding information that should not be forgotten;
the neuter singular gerundive of the Latin verb memoro,-avi,-atum, 1. to
remind of, cause to remember. (35.) [non satis exactaque]
'simillima rudibus signis,' [a shape not sufficiently finished and] 'very
similar to rough statues' Ovid, the Metamorphoses I.318 ff., in reference to
the ancient or mythological Greek 'Noah.' After the earth was flooded by Zeus
to punish the sins of men, the son of Prometheus, Deucalion, and his wife,
Phyrrha, were rescued in an ark they had built. When the waters receded, they
were advised to throw stones (the bones of mother earth) over their
shoulders, and from these stones, between them, mankind was reestablished.
Ovid describes the transformation, or metamorphosis of stone (such as the
marble in a statue) slowly assuming the characteristics of flesh and blood.
So MacOwan describes the native 'Bushman' of (36.) The Bosjesman Deucalion.
(Boschjesman is Africaans for 'Bushman'). The bosjesman is the Bushman, a
member of one of several groups of peoples from (37.) William John Burchell, 23
July 1781 - 23 March, 1863), an English botanist and collector in South
Africa, known primarily for his extensive 7000 km collecting trip from June
19, 1811 to April 1815 from and back to Capetown amassing "the largest
collection made by one man ever to have left Africa, before or since"
(Gunn & Codd 1981). He collected 50,000 plant specimens, but also around
10,000 "skins, skeletons, insects, seeds, bulbs and fish." He also "made
about 500 accurate drawings of landscapes, portraits, costumes, zoological
and botanical material" some of which were published in his 'Travels in
the Interior of Southern Africa," two volumes, 1822 and 1824 (Gunn &
Codd 1981). It is in these volumes that
Buschell must have published an illustration of the 'pierced hammer stone.' (38.) The Bakalari were
evidently a people - there is also a reference in old South African
literature to a (39.) struysvogel or
struisvogel, the Ostrich; Struthio camelus
australis is a subspecies native to (40). The kerry (knobkierrie,
knobkerrie, knopkierie, knobkerry), "are African clubs used mainly in
Southern and Eastern The head, or knob, is often
ornately carved with faces or shapes that have symbolic meaning." from
wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knobkerry
(viewed October 2009). Note that the kerry as described
in this note is a single piece of wood, the head being the basal end of the
branch excavated from the flesh of the tree trunk out of which the branch
developed. (41.). 1800 to 1600 years ago
pastoral peoples densely settled the western or Atlantic coast of (42.) ktema es aei, 'an eternal'
or 'perpetual possession.' "Said by Thucydides of his own history, which
he bequeathed as an 'imperishable treasure' to posterity." History of
The Peloponnesian War 1, 22 (King
1904). (43.) 'like a hair of the great
Julius' - reference unknown to me, perhaps Julius Caesar but, however, note
that he was bald. (44.) Diamonds were discovered in It is said that in 1867, MacOwan
and a colleague, H. G. Galpin, helped the naturalist and geologist William
Guybon Atherstone identify a crystal found near Hopetown as a diamond - a
mineral doubtless unexpected in the region, which gave early momentum to what
would soon be a craze, a diamond rush and change the history of South Africa
forever (Gunn and Codd 1981). The Boers appeared to own the
land on which these fabulous deposits were embedded, but the British were the
engineers and the men of business who could exploit the fields, and so
another layer of inter-cultural and political tension was created. At this
time the fabulous native oil deposits south of (45.) Howitzer is a Dutch word
and refers to a short cannon or a cannon with a short barrel and large powder
chamber 'delivering shells at a medium or low muzzle velocity, usually by a
high trajectory'; it appears to be a kind of mortar, with a hollow projectile
that can be inserted by hand. Or a cannon with the capacity to fire large
projectiles with smaller charges. One happy characteristic of this type of
gun is that it can be disassembled and carried over bad terrain (see
MacOwan's unfortunate wagons at the river in flood). Apparently a weapon of
this type was adapted to the excavation process in mining. (46.) Nepeta. Apparently (47.) corpus vile, in Latin is
rendered "worthless body;" it is defined as "A person, animal
or thing treated as expendable, to therefore use as an experimental subject
regardless of whatever loss or damage it may suffer as a result.
(figuratively) The subject of an experiment." Wiktionary: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corpus_vile;
viewed October 2009. vilis,-e
(adj.) in Latin: of small price, cheap, of little value. (48.) quod erat faciendum! 'that
which was to be done' "The statement, abbreviated QEF, that is appended
to a mathematical solution, with the meaning 'We have done the work we were
required to do." (Ehrlich 1987). (49.) used in law: (in)
flagrante delicto, manibus rubris, while [the crime or offence] is blazing
(i.e. while committing the offence), with red hands. (50.) Kalchbrenner &
Thuemen: see note number 20 and 21 above. (51.) The fungus genus Lysurus represents a collection of
species collectively called Stinkhorns, due to their smell when ripe, which
is generally repulsive to human beings, but may perhaps be interesting to,
say, a fly, the odors generally resembling that of sewage. They are in the
family Phallaceae due to the resemblance in many species to the membrum
virile. (52.) Aseroe, a genus of stinkhorns, also in the Phallaceae, all of which appear to be saprobic, living on
decaying organic matter. (53.) potius (adv.): rather,
preferably. (54.) Reverend M. J. Berkeley (1803-1889),
a British clergyman and mycologist, was known for his great tome, Outlines of
British Fungology, published in 1860, in which he described and illustrated
the thousand or so fungi indigenous to the On many labels in the Clinton
Herbarium and here and there in the G. Clinton correspondence, the authority
abbreviations read "B. & C." or "B. et C.": this
stands for Berkeley and Mordecai A. Curtis, between which there was a
correspondence (Petersen 1980). (55.) Kalchbrenner described a
genus of fungi after MacOwan: Macowanites
agaricinus Kalchbr. (Kalchbrenner (1876) 116, (1882 a) 107 ). Another was
described by There is a Kalchbrennera tuckii Examination of this compendium
of fungi and lichens with the habitat described on the label may give the
interested student some idea of the ecology of the region around Kalchbrennera is a genus of fungi comprising the Stinkhorns, e.g. Kalchbrennera corallocephalus (= Lysurus corallocephalus). The genus was described by Berkeley as new,
and K. tuckii M. J. Berkeley is the
type species on which the new genus was based - all based on the collection
made by MacOwan and Tuck! [citation Index Nominum Genericorum], hence "I
am gratified at being so honourably extinguished." (56.) Casimir Roumeguere (1828-1892) studied
cryptogams, such as algae, mosses, lichens and fungi, and also he studied
conchology. He was founder of the Revue mycologique, the first journal
dedicated to mycological research. The text to which MacOwan refers is
probably the Cryptogamie illustrée, published in Paris in 1870, which
included "Famille des Champignons contenant 1,700 figures representant
..." fungi at various ages, their anatomy, organography, their
reproduction including microscopic images (TL2 p. 936). (57.) James Sowerby (1757-1822),
botanical illustrator and father of a family of sons with the same
disposition who illustrated many books and publications of other British and
foreign scientists. MacOwan's reference is probably to "Coloured figures
of English fungi or mushrooms, ..." published in (58.) As MacOwan mentions in his
letter, he taught Robert Burton's great Anatomy of Melancholy, first
published in 1621. In the chapter entitled: Love of Learning, or overmuch
study. With a Digression on the misery of Scholars, and why the Muses are
Melancholy, there is the quote: "Dat Galenus opes, dat
Justinianus honores, Sed genus et species cogitur ire
pedes;" "The rich physician,
honour'd lawyers ride, While the poor scholar foots it
by their side." Galen (circa 129 - circa 200
A.D.) was known as a Greek physician who had a great influence on western
medicine for over a millennium. The Christian Emperor of
Byzantium, Flavius Justinianus, is known for having reorganized the Roman
Empire (yet again), but he also codified the laws, resulting in the Codex
Justinianus, in 534 A.D. - hence the allusion to 'lawyers' in the translation
above, hence Galen gives money, Justinian gives public, or high office (or
honors). Salernus is, perhaps, a
reference to the great medical Marcus Fabius Quintilianus
(circa 35 - circa 95 A.D.), author of
the Institutio oratoria in 12 volumes, achieved wealth and fame as the
ultimate specialist in oratory, or rhetoric, certainly of great use to
politicians and lawyers. Salernus is made to replace
Galen, Quintilianus to replace Justinianus in the earlier Latin, but both
still refer to the wealth of doctors and lawyers. MacOwan's genus and species
refers to the modern institution of systematics instituted by Linnaeus and
intensely practiced all over the western world during the Victorian era, when
the colonial possessions in Great Britain's empire extended around the world,
especially through the programs of the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew, but
also by men of various walks of life in various countries. George Bentham and Joseph Dalton
Hooker were creating their great
Genera Plantarum in three volumes during 1862 to 1883, at the time of MacOwan's
writing. Asa Gray had collaborated with Hooker on various projects and had
been working with John Torrey on a Flora of North America before settling to
the Manual of Botany of the (59.) sat prata biberunt. In
Virgil's third Eclogue, one of a number of shepherds who is judging a
pastoral poetry contest says 'staunch now your streams, boys, for the meadows have drunk their fill'
(claudite iam rivos, pueri: sat prata biberunt), another has translated this
as “Turn off the fountains [of poetic inspiration], boys: the fields have
drunk enough.” (60.) dixi, in Latin, the
perfect indicative active of dico, to speak: "I have spoken",
indicating that MacOwan is finished and he will say no more. A vow which he
immediately breaks. (61.) (62.) in re (re = ablative
singular of res, 'a thing, fact, circumstance' - 'in regard to' ) - whatever
Clinton read, it is very doubtfully the same reading matter as MacOwan, or
there is no evidence for it in Clinton's correspondence, which included some
religious matter certainly, by which he could debate somewhat against
Darwin's controversial origin of species. MacOwan's formidable grasp of Latin
tags, Latinized paraphrases, current issues, on both sides of the Atlantic
(as seen from (63.) pater mycologicus, de
omnibus petus [sp.?] et quibusdam aliis; [write] mycological father,
concerning all things [?] and certain others .... [?] (64.) MacOwan acknowledges, in
his sincerity, that he doubts that (65.) Epist. Obscur. Virorum = Epistulae
Obscurorum Virorum = the Letters of Obscure Men - a collection of letters
written in Latin from 16th century MacOwan's other authors also, in
some way, rebel against conformity or conventional morality - they were
intensely humanistic, but certainly they were all written in Latin, or
foreign languages or obsolete English forms.
R--s, the abominable may perhaps be a reference to Francoise Rabelais?
Certainly it would appear that the "fantasy, satire, the grotesque, and
both bawdy jokes and songs" said to be part of the Rabelaisian
repertoire would appeal to MacOwan's taste, as it appears in these several
letters (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Rabelais ; viewed November 2009). (66.) Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
(August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) wrote the "Breakfast-Table"
series, beginning with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, published
serially in 1831-2 and later collected in a book, published in 1858, composed
of poetry, songs, jokes and stories presented as breakfast table-talk.
(Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes,_Sr .; viewed November 2009). The Autocrat was a series of
essays that brought intense pleasure to Mark Twain, a personality similar in
some ways to Peter MacOwan. ----------------- Vol.
11 no. 175 [J 80] 1 st
[?] [month? = Jan.?] 1877 Dear
Sir At
the request of our mutual friend Mr. P. MacOwan, I have shipped by the
bark Anna I. Taylor Capt[ain]
Percival a
box of dried plants addressed to you to the care of Isaac
Taylor Esqr. The
box is kindly taken charge of by Capt. Percival free of expense. The vessel sailed
from this for I
remain yours
truly J.
R. Holland [no note of receipt] [placed between letter numbers
174 March 19th 1876 and 176 Mar. 30 [1877] It is perhaps interesting to
note here that the first of the 'large modern luxury liners', the S. S.
"Oceanic," of the White Star Line, was launched in 1871 (Grun
1991). This was a time since the 1850's
when the racing clipper ships were built ever larger, ever more ornate, sleek
and faster in the water. The Anna I. Taylor was probably named after In The Era of the Clipper Ships,
Arthur H. Clark, Isaac Taylor of Ships, many of them clipper
ships but including sloops and schooners, built by the Derived from The Maritime
History Virtual Archives ] Trade with the orient may have included tea and
coffee and ---------------------------------------------------------------- Bibliography Clark, Arthur H. 1910. The
Clipper Ship Era. An Epitome of Famous American and British Clipper Ships,
Their Owners, Builders, Commanders, and Crews 1843-1869. 7 C's Press, Dold, A. P. and M. L. Cocks.
2002. The trade in medicinal plants in the Eastern Cape Province, Ehrlich, Deane, Walter. 1896.
"Michael Schuck Bebb", Botanical Gazette. 21:53-65. Goodyear, George F. 1994.
Society and Museum. A History of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences
1861-1993 and the Buffalo Museum of Science 1928-1993. Bulletin of the Grun, Bernard. 1991. The
Timetables of History, ed 3. Simon & Shuster. Gunn, Mary and L. E. Codd 1981.
Botanical Exploration of King, W. F. H. 1904. Classical
and Foreign Quotations. J. Whitaker & Sons, Ltd. Marloth, R. 1913. Flora of Petersen, R. H. 1980. Bibl.
mycol. 72:1-120; also Taxon 29:748, 1980;
also Huntia 3(3): 179-180. 1979 (cited from TL2 p. 99). Sayre, Stafleu, F.A., R. S. Cowan &
E. Mennega. 2009. TL-2 Online: Online Edition of Taxonomic Literature, Second
Edition. IDC Publishers. http://tl2.idcpublishers.info/ October 20, 2009. Thiers, Barbara. 2009. Index
Herbariorum: a global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. |
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