Robert Brown ( 1773 - 1858 )

Following upon a rational system of nomenclature proposed by Linnaeus , Sir Joseph Banks' travels and plant introductions further served to stimulate a feverish intensification in the field of classification . The whole study of natural history was seething with new ideas and concepts which scientists and naturalists seized upon and applied determinedly , methodically , and oftern blindly. Classification became almost an end in itself through a half century of describing , assessing , and cataloguing ,through which an eventual seeking of relationships and natural order emerged .

Australian orchid taxonomy was closely linked to the philosophical interest in natural in natura l history in the ninteenth century,but not until Linnaeus' system of binomial classification was applied were the broad and sound principles of system worked into a model sufficiently influential to affect the interest of all the natural scientists of the time .This "tool" of classification ,which supported a fledgling theory of natural patterns of adaptation and biological selection ,was carried to Botany Bay by a Scottish physician named Robert Brown . The surge of ideas resulting from physician named Robert Brown. The surge of ideas resulting from that journey affected every level of science thereafter .

Robert Brown was born on 21 December 1773 , at Montrose ,Scotland , the son of a clergyman of the Episcopalian church. Little is known of his early life except that he was educated at Montrose ,Scotland , the son of a clergyman of the Episcopalian church. Little is known of his early life except that he was educated at Montrose Grammer School , a fellow student of Joseph Hume . He later studied at Marischal College , Aberdeen , and at the age of sixteen began the study of medicine at Edinburgh University , where his interest in botany developed .Plants had been his first love since early boyhood , and his six -yerar study of botany at Edinburgh was a special joy for him.His capacity for biological science -especially the branches of classification -attracted the attention of his professors ,who predicted his future eminence .

Brown left the university without receiving a degree , so in order to support himself and still devote time to botany , he jointed a regiment of Scotch home guards , the Fifeshire Regiment of Defenchibles stationed in the north of Ireland .His appointment was as assistant surgeon and ensign . While there he assiduously studied plants and the works of established botanists. An early interest in collecting and keeping was furthered in the regimental service , and Brown acquainted himself with all possible information relating to the plants he acquired himself with all possible information relating to the plants he acquired and from which he made dried specimens. During the discovery of a rare moss, a specimen of which he had previously sent to Banks , then virtually " Emperor" of the world of science.

At the close of the century the Admiralty fitted out an expedition for the survey and exploration of the Australian coasts and Sir Joseph Banks selected Brown , then twenty -eight years of age, to accompany its commander ,Matthew Flinders , as naturalist on the sloop H.M.S. Investigator . The expedition included Ferdinand Bauer (brother of France Bauer) as botanical illustrator , Mr. Peter Good as gardener , and William Westall as landscape painter. The investigator sailed on 19 July 1801. The following year , after stops at Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope , it arrived at King George's Sound, on the Southeast coast of Australia . During the three-week survey of the harbor, Brown collected more than 500 species of plants , the majority of them new to science . Botanizing was conducted also at Port Jackson , Sandy Bay , the northern shores , the Gulf of Carpenteria , the Pelew and Wellesley Islands , and then at Wessel Islands ,where the ill health of Captian Flinders , the appearance of scurvy among the crew, and the rotting of the ship's timbers made it necessary for them to change course to Timor to replenish their provisions . Thereafter they cruised the south and west coasts , arriving at Port Jackson in June 1803, having lost many of the crew from dysentery .

Though ill fortune seemed to follow them, Brown was nonetheless gratified with the results of their explorations . Nearly 3800 botanical specimens had been collected during the four-year venture , about 120 of them orchids. Twentytwo of Australia's seventy -eight indigenous orchid genera were introduced and named by Brown on the basis of the trip. Sir Joseph Banks was also pleased , and in a reply to Brown's report on the first part of the voyage he commented:

Your commander deserves ....greater credit for the pains he must have taken to give you a variety of oppertunities of landing and botanising . Had Cook paid the same attention to the Naturalists , we should have done more at that time. However ,the basis of the public mind had not so decidedly marked Natural History for a favourite pursuit as it now has .

At Port Jackson the Investigator was condemned as unfit for further service ; inspection showed that the ship's timbers were rotting and flaking dangerously .Captian Flinders hired another vessel , the Porpoise , and sailed for England . Brown and Bauer remained behind with the intention of exploring the island continent for eighteen months , after which it was agreed that Flinders would rejoin them in another ship for the completion of the survey. The Porpoise,however , was shipwrecked in Torres Strait . Flinders and a few crew managed to escape and later hired a small schooner. But the little ship leaked so badly that they were forced to dock at Mauritius, where the vessel was seized by the French governor , and Captian Flinders was held prisoner from December 1803 to June 1810.

Meanwhile , Brown and his companions explored the Blue Mountains and other distant reaches of the New South Wales settlement , the island of Bass Strait , and Tasmania -all the while making collections. Among the orchids , his most important discoveries included Cymbidium Canaliculatum , Dendrobium canaliculatum , Dendrobium rigidum, and Dendrobium discolor (originally classified as Dendrobium undulatum ).In the Hawkesbury foothills he found Sarcochilus falcatus , Cymbidium suave, Dendrobium speciosum , Dendrobium aemulum , and Dendrobium linguiforme . Combing the sandstone areas around Sydney, he discovered and established numerous of the terrestrial orchid genera -Pterostylis , Dipodium , Prasophyllum , Calochilus , Lyperanthus , Cryptostylis , Microtis , Caladenia , Corysanthes , Caleana , Glossodia , Orthoceros , Eriochilus , Acianthus , and most of their species . The genera Diuris and Thelymitra had already been eastablished , but Brown added twenty or more species .

Duplication of epithets was a common occurrence in those days when so much classifying was being done and new lists were slowly circulated. For this reason several of Brown's introductions were later given new names .Neottia australis , for instance , became Spiranthes sinensis, and Calanthe veratrifolia was later changed to Calanthe triplicata . In all , Brown discovered nearly a quarter of all the Australian orchid species in his search. Such monumental results were due largely to his keen perception and extremely sharp eyesight. His classification often depended upon his observation of the minute -the almost imperceptible division of the minute upon the minute- the almost imperceptible division of pollen masses, rudimentary petals,scarcely noticeable calli , etc.

As a result of Captian Flinders' continued absence at the appointed time for departure ,the naturalists took advantage of an alternate opportunity for the return to England , again abroad the rotten old Investigator , for no other ship could be diverted from carrying trade cargoes. They arrived home in October 1805 .Most of the collections and drawings from the expedition arrived safely with them , though an extensive duplicate set of the south-coast plants and all the living material had gone down in the wreck of the Porpoise .

Upon Brown's return , the Board succeeded Dr. Dryander as Sir Joseph Banks' librarian , also receiving the appointment of librarian to the Linnean Society of London , for which he prepared and presented a series of botanical papers. The sexual structure of orchids was the topic of his material . Pointing out the significance of the glands found in the stigma of some orchids, he separated the genus Gymnadenia and Habenaria , in which bare glands are found. In November 1813 he announced the discovery of the nucleus- that part of the cell which later formed the basis of knowledge in genetics.

On the death of Sir Joseph Banks in 1823, and by the terms of his will , Brown became the possessor of the Banksian Herbarium for the reaminder of his life , after which it was to pass to the British Museum . In addition ,Brown received the remainder of the lease of Sir Joseph's house in Soho Square , in London. Brown at once offered the herbarium to the British Musem on condition that he be appointed keeper of the botanical department with a suitable salary , which offer was accepted . Brown continued to reside in the Soho Square house, which had become the center of scientific society in London,renting an unused portion of the building to the linnean Society until the expiration of the lease , after which its removal to Burligton House by the government coincided with that of the Royal and Chemical Societies .

At a later period Brown took an active interest in perfecting scientific instruments , and when qualitative improvements in microsocpes were commenced , he bought fine instruments from both British and foreign makers .Though generally unacquinted with optics and mechanics ,his knowledge of minute vegetable structures enabled him to suggest so many improvements to opticians and manufacturers that his name was thereafter identified with the development of microscopical sceince .

Brown was known to retain his knowledge almost selfishly and was notoriously reserved concerning his collections .These he neither dispensed freely nor allowed others to profit by, scarcely even to inspect . One incomplete set of Australian plants was given to the Banksian Herbarium ,but it was not available for consultation . This and another imperfect ser were later deposited in the British Museum under Brown's custody,where knowledge of their existence was long held from the public ,and until his death ,neither collection was avilable for general use.

Brown held the office of president of the Linnean Society for several years .He retired in 1853 , after which he ceased active participation in scientific societies and pursuits . hies interest and enthusiasm continued , however ,especially in the pursuits. His interest and enthusiasm continued , however ,especially in the Linnean and Royal Societies. In the spring of 1858 he suffered an attack of bronchitis which weakened him considerably and from which his recovery was slow. Dropsy and lack of appetite supervened , and he gradually sank,Succmbing a few months later , his mental awareness and memory keen to the last .

Robert Brown had a natural reserve that rendered him slow and reluctant to publish the results of his work . He was extremely cautious in his methods of investigation , and a fear of error or inaccuracy in communicating information may have been the basis of his unobtrusive nature. As a consequence of his reluctant nature , even the valuable geographical and nautical results of the Investigator brought him little reocognition.

According to a biographical sketch about Brown in the Gardener's Chronicle of 18 Septermber 1858:

So deep was the veneration in which Brown was held by his contemporaries during his lifetime , and he was allowed to enjoy the prerogative he assumed of reserving to himself the sole use for upwards of half a century of collections made at the nationel expense. He was permitted to do so, even by those whose scientific progress suffered most , and whose sphere of usefulnes was seriously contracted , through being deprived of access not only to the unpublished materials and collections which he possessed , but to those of which nothing could be authentically known ,save through his own published writings .

References

Ames , Oakes . 1941. pollination in Coryanthes .Amer . Orch . Soc. Bull . 10 , no.6 .

Gardener's Chronicle. 1858 .Dr. Robert Brown ,D.C.L. , F.R.S. ., etc .No . 38 .

Kerr , Ronald . 1964. The sharp eyes of Robert Brown .Aust. Orch . Rev. 29 , nos .1,3 .

Kerr,Ronald . 1964.The sharp eyes of Robert Brown .Aust . Orch. Rev. 29 , nos.1,3.

Kerr, Ronald . 1966. The foot that moved the world .Amer. Orch. Soc. Bull . 35 , no .4 .

van Steenis , C.G.G. J. 1950.Cyclopaedia of collectors. Flora malesiana .Vol. 1 . ser.1.

Vermeulen , P. 1953. Orchis sepctabilis L. -The American species of Orchis- I. Amer . Orch .Soc. Bull . 22.no.6.