American Eden
Page 53
yellow fever epidemic, 84, 86–88
Philips & Clark druggists (New York), 76
Philosophia Botanica (Linnaeus), 42, 44
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 60
Phoenix dactylifera (date palm), 234
Picture of New-York, The, 204–5
Pierce, Jesse, 207
Pierce, John, 207
Pike, Zebulon, 206
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, 116, 139–40
Pintard, John
early museum of art, history, and natural history, 373n151
on Hosack’s Hyde Park estate, 308
and Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York, 260
and New-York Historical Society, 169, 265, 276
and New-York Institution, 266
on Verplanck’s satire of Hosack, 285
Pisum maritimum (sea pea), 142
pitcherplant (Sarracenia psittacina), 234
plant-based medicines, See medicinal plants
Platt, Jonas, 228
pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa), 95
Poinsett, Joel, 310–11
poisonous plants, 47, 133
Polygala senega (Seneca snakeroot), 190
polygraph, 153, 158–59
poplar caterpillars, 192–94
Populus dilatata/Populus nigra (Lombardy poplar), 47, 192–94
Post, Joel and Jotham, 76
Post, Wright, 25, 163, 164, 261, 263, 264
pot marigold (Calendula officinalis), 45
Potter, Captain, 250–51
prickly ash (Zanthoxylum fraxineum), 235
primrose-leaved violet (Viola primulifolia), 142
Prinos glaber (inkberry), 142
Protea argentea (silver tree), 179
Providence (ship), 67–68
Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir), 330
Pteris aquilina (eagle fern), 142
Pulmonaria maritima (sea bluebells), 47
pulmonary consumption (tuberculosis), 190
purgatives, 19, 65, 111
Pursh, Frederick
departure from Elgin, 245–46
at Elgin, 219, 220, 245
and Flora Americae Septentrionalis, 259–60
and Flora of North America project, 240
and Lewis and Clark expedition specimens, 201–2, 219
in London, 249, 259, 268–69
John Torrey on, 280
Purshia tridentata (antelope bitterbrush), 202
Quercus alba (white oak), 142, 143
Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak), 142
quinine, 20n
rabbit’s-foot clover (Trifolium arvense), 142
Radio City Music Hall, 325–27
Rafinesque, Constantine, 281
ragged robin (Clarkia pulchella), 202
Rambler (brig), 123
Randall, Robert Richard, 136
Randel, John, Jr., 253–54
Randolph, Edmund, 62, 66
Randolph, Thomas Mann, Jr., 290
Ranunculus acris (buttercup), 142
Redouté, Pierre-Joseph, 329–30
Red River, 198–99
red side-saddle flower (Sarracenia psittacina), 234
Reed, Walter, 107n
Reign of Terror, 73
Renaissance, the, 36
Revolutionary War, 15–16
Reynolds, Maria, 105–6
R.H. Shumway, 331
Rhododendron maximum (rock rose), 143
Richard (sloop), 207
Richmond Hill (Burr mansion), 101, 103, 156, 163, 168
Robespierre, Maximilien, 64
Robinson, Thomas, 216, 224
rock cress (Arabis reptans), 281
Rockefeller, John D., Jr., 324–26, 333
Rockefeller, Nelson, 326
Rockefeller Center, 10, 326, 327
Rockefeller Group, 327
rock rose (Rhododendron maximum), 143
Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera), 188
Romayne, Nicholas, 25, 206, 209, 218, 227, 244–47
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 240n
Roosevelt, Isaac, 11, 240
Roosevelt, John A., 240n
Rosa carolina (Carolina roses), 143
Rose (sloop), 251
Rosetta Stone, 185
roundleaf sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), 189
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 48
Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, 333
Royal Horticultural Society, 285n
Royal Society of London
Joseph Banks as president, 57
Benjamin Franklin as F.R.S., 71
Hosack as F.R.S., 12, 269, 303
Hosack’s proposal to elect DeWitt Clinton as F.R.S., 279
Hosack’s submission of paper to, 60
James Edward Smith and, 57, 303
Royall, Anne, 295–96
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry), 161
Rush, Benjamin, 28–29
advocacy for Philadelphia botanical garden, 197
AH and, 107
and Aaron Burr, 168
and Columbia College, 107
on William Cullen, 33
death of, 254–55
on Philip Hamilton’s death, 125–26
Hosack’s correspondence with, 66, 68–69, 73–74, 86, 107, 254
and Hosack’s studies in Edinburgh, 34
and Hosack’s yellow fever research, 220
and Meriwether Lewis, 147, 149
and maple sugar, 30–31
as medical professor, 28–29
on rigors of child-bearing, 187
and Theodosia Rush’s illness, 102
slavery opposed by, 28, 30–31, 109
and yellow fever treatments, 84–85
Rush, James, 254
Rush, Julia, 255
Rush, Richard, 301, 303, 304
safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), 208
St. Andrew’s Society, 237
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (Holborn, England), 55
St. John’s wort (Hypericum pentagyna), 242–43
St. Patrick’s Cathedral (New York City), 323
sal ammoniac volatilis (smelling salt), 20
Salix viminalis (basket willow), 208
saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), 161
Sambucus canadensis (elderberry), 189
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot), 94
Sarracenia psittacina (pitcherplant or red side-saddle flower), 234
Sarracenia purpurea (side-saddle flower), 142
sarsaparilla (Smilax syphilitica), 234
Saururus cernuus (nodding lizard’s tail), 142, 281
Sayers, Edward, 314
scarificator, 19
scarlet fever, 117, 142, 364n104
scarlet fuchsia (Fuchsia coccinea), 49
scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), 142
scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), 51
Schermerhorn, Peter Augustus, 318, 319
Schiffelin, Jacob, 187
Schuyler, Elizabeth, See Hamilton, Elizabeth Schuyler
Schuyler, Philip, 155
Scotland, 32–39
Scudder, John, 275
Scutellaria lateriflora (skullcap), 189
sea bluebells (Pulmonaria maritima), 47
sea lavender (Statice limonium), 142
sea lettuce (Ulva fasciata), 185
sea pea (Pisum maritimum), 142
seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens), 161
Seckel pear, 286
Seneca snakeroot (Polygala senega), 190
Sharples, Ellen, 236, 241
Sharples, James, 236, 241, 254
Shaw, William, 323
Short, Thomas, 95, 98
side-saddle flower (Sarracenia purpurea), 142
Silene caroliniana (wild pink), 161
Silene ornata (dark flowering catchfly), 234
Silliman, Benjamin, 202
silver tree (Protea argentea), 179
silvery coronilla (Coronilla argentea), 179
skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), 189
slavery, 28, 30–31, 109, 277, 365–66n109
smallpox, 21
smelling salts, 20
Smilax cordifolia, 234
Smilax syphilitica (sarsaparilla), 234
Smith, Elihu Hubbard, 88, 106–10, 176
Smith, James Edward, 286
Charles Bonaparte and, 297
death of, 303
and election of Hosack as Fellow of the Royal Society, 269
John Francis and, 268
as honorary member of New-York Horticultural Society, 292
and Hosack’s Flora of North America project, 222, 260
and Hosack’s proposal to elect DeWitt Clinton as Fellow of the Royal Society, 279
knighting of, 267
and Linnaean specimens, 133, 334n
and Linnaean system, 80
and Linnaeus’s manuscripts, 82
and Linnean Society, 56–58, 60
Frederick Pursh and, 269
John Torrey and, 281
Smithson, James, 301
Smithsonian Institution, 301
sneezewort, 51
sneezewort yarrow (Achillea ptarmica), 188
Snow, John, 31
Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, 203
Solidago sempervirens (seaside goldenrod), 161
Solomon’s seal (Convallaria multiflora), 45
Sowerby, James, 43
Spaniards Inn (Hampstead Heath, London), 49, 51
Spartina alterniflora (saltmarsh cordgrass), 161
Species Plantarum (Linnaeus), 42, 196
Speechly, William, 48
spermaceti, 20, 76
spiritus mindereri, 88
spring crocus (Crocus vernus), 47
Stansbury, Mary, 301
Statice limonium (sea lavender), 142
Stevens, Edward, 85
Stevens, John, 322
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 32
Stewart, Alexander, 38
stinking toe (Hymenaea courbaril), 182
strawberries, 196
Strelitzia reginae (bird-of-paradise), 234
Stringham, James, 247
Stuart, Gilbert, 308
Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge, The (Cole), 307
Sully, Thomas, 254–55
Sweden, 223–24
sweet-scented daphne (Daphne odora), 179
sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), 46, 51
sweet white violet (Viola blanda), 281
sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), 314n
Sykes, William, 292
Systema Naturae (Linnaeus), 42, 48, 143
tall thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana), 281
tamarind (Tamarindus indica), 88, 183
Temple of Flora, or Garden of Nature (Thornton), 50
Tephrosia toxicaria, 235
Thacher, James, 308–9, 311, 314–16
Thavies Inn, 53
Theophrastus, 35
Thomas, Mary Lamboll, 96
Thompson, Martin, 308
Thomson, Samuel, 405n331
Thomsonian medicine, 405n331
Thoreau, Henry David, 9, 134
Thornton, Robert, 49–50
Thouin, André, 239, 258, 270, 294
Thuja occidentalis (arborvitae), 35
Thunberg, Carl Peter, 223, 239
Tillary, James, 221–22
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 11, 297, 330, 404–5n330
Tompkins, Daniel, 221, 245
tongue aloe (Aloe lingua), 179
Tontine Coffee House (New York City), 72, 207
toothache tree (Zanthoxylum fraxineum), 235
Torrey, John, 280, 280–82, 288, 312, 332–33
Torrey, William, 280
Torrey Botanical Club, 333
Tough, William, 248
Tournefort, Joseph Pitton de, 82
Townsend, Peter, 268
Transcendental Club, 9
Travels (Bartram), 96–97
Treatise on the Culture of the Vine (Speechly), 48
Treatise on the Materia Medica (Cullen), 97
Treaty of Ghent, 265
tree heath (Erica arborea), 179
Trifolium arvense (rabbit’s-foot clover), 142
Triticum americanum (wheat), 278–79
trocar, 55, 81
Trollope, Frances, 310
Troup, Robert, 125, 126
Trumbull, John, 170, 275, 308, 321
tuberculosis, 190
turmeric (Curcuma longa), 235
typhus, 64–65, 68, 86, 355n64, 364n104
Ulva fasciata (sea lettuce), 185
United States Botanic Garden, 398n300
University of Edinburgh, 32–39
University of Pennsylvania, 28, 29, 31, 149
Uppsala Botanical Garden, 223
Urtica pilulifera (Roman nettle), 188
urtication, 188
Vahl, Martin, 141–43, 316
Van Buren, Martin, 300
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, II, 333
Vanderbilt, Frederick W., 322n
Vanderbilt, George Washington, II, 403n322
Vanderbilt family, 324
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, 322n
Van Ness, William P., 155, 160–63, 284
Varick, Richard, 87
Vaux, Calvert, 12, 332, 333
Verbascum (mullein), 188
Verbena officinalis (vervain), 46
Verbena urticifolia (white vervain), 59, 189
Vermont, 30
Verplanck, Gulian C., 283–85
vervain (Verbena officinalis), 46
Viburnum dentatum, 142
Viburnum lantanoides, 142
Viburnum prunifolium, 122
Vinca rosea (periwinkle), 180
Viola blanda (sweet white violet), 281
Viola cucullata (hollow-leaved violets), 122
Viola primulifolia (primrose-leaved violet), 142
Virginia snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria), 88, 188, 190
Vitis labrusca/Vitis vulpina (wild grape), 142, 161
Walden (Thoreau), 134
Waldo, Samuel Lovett, 275
walnut (Juglans), 235
Warner, Catherine, See Hosack, Catherine
Warner “Kitty”
War of 1812
aftermath, 266–67
antiwar sentiment in New York, 252
effect on New York, 264–65
and Hosack’s plans for Elgin, 255–56
Warren, John, 209–10
Washington, George
and botany, 12
death of, 112–13, 170
at end of Revolutionary War, 16
Alexander Hamilton and, 103–4, 165, 363n103
inauguration, 25
and John Jay’s diplomatic mission to London, 61, 62
and Jefferson–Hamilton rivalry, 30
Peale portraits, 75
and Richmond Hill mansion, 101
Benjamin Rush and, 29
and slavery, 109
Stuart portrait in Hosack’s Hyde Park collection, 308
“vine and the fig-tree” phrase, 317
and Whiskey Rebellion, 66
Washington, Martha, 139
water eryngo (Eryngium aquaticum), 235
Wayne, Anthony, 63
Webster, Noah, 86
West, Benjamin, 275
Wharton, Thomas Kelah, 311, 316
wheat (Triticum americanum), 278–79
Whiskey Rebellion, 66, 73
white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), 131
white milkweed (Asclepias variegata), 281
white oak (Quercus alba), 142, 143
white vervain (Verbena urticifolia), 59, 189
wild grape (Vitis labrusca and Vitis vulpina), 142, 161
wild pink (Silene caroliniana), 161
Wilkes, Charles, Jr., 398n300
Wilkes Expedition, 398n300
Williams, Helen Maria, 225
Wistar, Caspar, 1
08, 149–50, 152, 186, 194–95
Wistar, Catherine, See Bache, Catharine Wistar
Wolcott, Oliver, Jr., 104, 167
wolfsbane (Aconitum napellus), 133
Woodlands, The, 145
wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), 188
woolly cineraria (Cineraria lanata), 49
yellow fever
boneset and, 256
disputes over treatment for, 106–7
Hosack’s research, 220–21
in New York City, 21, 83–89, 109–11
yellow-flowered anise (Illicium parviflorum), 234
Yorktown, Battle of, 16
Zanthoxylum fraxineum (prickly ash or toothache tree), 235
Zephyr (ship), 83
Copyright © 2018 by Victoria Johnson
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FIRST EDITION
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Jacket art: The Elgin Botanic Garden, artist unknown, circa 1810, courtesy of LuEsther T. Mertz Library, The New York Botanical Garden / Art Resource, NY; Flower illustrations from Flora Londinensis, 1777 / Smithsonian Libraries / Biodiversity Heritage Library; Bottles from 18th-century Bartram family medicine chest, courtesy of The John Bartram Association, Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia. Photograph courtesy of Markley Boyer.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Johnson, Victoria, 1969– author.
Title: American Eden: David Hosack, botany, and medicine in the garden of the early republic / Victoria Johnson.
Description: First edition. | New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018002489 | ISBN 9781631494192 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Hosack, David, 1769–1835. | Medical botanists—United States. | Botany, Medical—United States.
Classification: LCC QK99.U6 J64 2018 | DDC 580.973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018002489
ISBN 978-1-63149-420-8 (e-book)
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