Specimens, slips and systems: Daniel Solander and the classification of nature at the world's first public museum, 1753–1768

Abstract

The British Museum, based in Montague House, Bloomsbury, opened its doors on 15 January 1759, as the world's first state-owned public museum. The Museum's collection mostly originated from Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), whose vast holdings were purchased by Parliament shortly after his death. The largest component of this collection was objects of natural history, including a herbarium made up of 265 bound volumes, many of which were classified according to the late seventeenth-century system of John Ray (1627-1705). The 1750s saw the emergence of Linnaean binomial nomenclature, following the publication of Carl Linnaeus' Species Plantarum (1753) and Systema Naturae (1758). In order to adopt this new system for their collections, the Trustees of the British Museum chose to employ the Swedish naturalist and former student of Linnaeus, Daniel Solander (1733-1782) to reclassify the collection. Solander was ordered to devise a new system for classifying and cataloguing Sloane's natural history collection, which would allow both Linnaeans and those who followed earlier systems to access it. Solander's work was essential for allowing the British Museum to realize its aim of becoming a public centre of learning, adapting the collection to reflect the diversity of classificatory practices which were existent by the 1760s. This task engaged Solander until 1768, when he received an offer from Joseph Banks (1743-1820) to accompany him on HMS Endeavour to the Pacific.

Typification and application of the name Arctotis grandiflora Aiton (Asteraceae: Arctotideae)

“…grandiflora MS -Sol. ', which suggests that at least the http://www.abcjournal.org Open Access name was attributable to Daniel Solander, who curated the Banksian Herbarium until his death in 1782 and compiled many species descriptions in unpublished manuscripts (Diment & Wheeler 1984;Rose 2018). The handwriting on the attached label and of the pencilled annotations on the type sheet is inconsistent with that of Solander and Dryander, and seems likely to have been written by different amanuenses employed as assistants and writers in the herbarium (cf.…”

Naturalists on the Endeavour Voyage (1768–1771): Personalities, Pursuits, and Problems

“…The slips applied a Linnaean classification to the Museum's collection and could be continually added to as new species were acquired. These slips were taken aboard the Endeavour and, during the course of the voyage, 1,400 new plant species were added (Rose 2018).…”

Two hundred and fifty years ago: The Banksian Botanical ‘Suite’ arrives in Madeira on HMS Endeavour

“…The time to cross the Atlantic (it took almost two months) was used by Banks, Solander and Parkinson (and perhaps also by the other two artists/ naturalists accompanying them, Alexander Buchan and Herman Spöring) to classify and produce colour drawings of some of the specimens (Rose 2018;Duyker andTingbrand 1995, 1 December 1768). One of these, a plant which Solander referred to as Heberdenia excelsa, in the family Primulaceae, was certainly completed in this manner.…”

“…Sloane's plant collection (as well as those of others Sloane acquired) was organized according to John Ray's system and it was Solander's task to reclassify it according to the newer Linnaean system (Rose 2018). This Solander began to do soon after early March 1763.…”