"Flowers for the King. The Expedition of Ruiz and Pavon and the "Flora of Peru
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9872169 |
|---|---|
| Authors | D W Mcpheeters, Arthur R Steele (0000-0001-5045-9520) |
| Year | 1965 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 383 |
| Publication date | 1965-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Hispania (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2133 • E-ISSN: 2153-6414 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/336129 |
| OpenAlex | W2334973356 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 8 |
of plants in that remote archipelago.In addition, botanists were an important part of a hydrographic expedition that, between 1789 and 1794, touched nearly all of the Spanish possessions.*Regrettably, the results of most of this effort have languished in obscurity to the present day, for war-torn Spain was in no position to reward its scientists with publication.One partial exception stands out.Thanks to support, not of Spain, but of citizens in the wide reaches of the Spanish Empire, the Flora of Peru attained a quarter, though no more than a quarter, of its publication goal.The wages of war indeed help to explain this impuissance, but, at least in the case of Ruiz and Pavén, a score of other vicissitudes must be considered.This, then, is our task: to relate the story of Ruiz, Pavén, and the Flora of Peru in its grandeur and its farcicality.As a historian, not a scientist, we direct our words to non-scientist readers-or, more < PREFACE from the title.A desire for brevity, a concern especially with Spanish affairs, and a realization that Dombey did not share in the expedition during all the years of its life have dictated this omission.No minimizing of his role is intended, though he did not always live up to expectations.Admirers of Chile may also cavil at the frequent omission of its name from the title we use for the masterwork of Ruiz and Pavon.After all, they called it Flora Perwuviana et Chilensis.Again, a need for brevity and a recognition of the fact that the men spent far more time in Peru justify the exclusion.Chileans may take their solace in the fact that the botanists seemingly found more delight in a few months in the southern realm than in all the years in Peru.There were many facets to scientific activity during the Enlightenment in the viceroyalty of Peru.When the present study was conceived, the author, in the first bloom of overestimation, hoped to fuse them all into one grand whole.The Ruiz-Pavén expedition would be only the beginning-a chapter or so.But a synthesis cannot be attempted until one has mastered the details.In this sense the following pages, which long ago burst the bounds of a chapter, are still but first steps to the understanding of a movement that has yet to receive its fair share of attention.Thanks to the generous financial help of the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation, the author spent a year in Peru and Chile, gathering material on the range of scientific interest in those parts during the Enlightenment.The fact that comparatively few of the notes then taken have been used in the present study does not negate their importance; it merely postpones their appearance until they can be better understood in relation to the prodigious and varied efforts that the mother country exerted to promote the cause of science
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Biology · Flora (microbiology · Geography · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Latin American history and culture · Paleontology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,02 |
| Citation span | 1983 - 1983 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |