Hans Sloane.

Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753) was an Ulster-Scot collector and physician. Download high resolution version (809x819, 85 KB) This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Download high resolution version (809x819, 85 KB) This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Events Expulsion of the Carib indigenous people from Martinique by French occupying forces. ... 1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Ulster-Scots is a term mainly used in Ireland and Britain (Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irishis commonly used in North America) primarily to refer to Presbyterian Scots, or their descendents, who migrated from the Scottish Lowlands to Ulster (the northern province of Ireland), largely across the 17th century. ... Physician examining a child A physician is a person who practices medicine. ...

He was born on April 16, 1660 at Killyleagh in County Down, Ireland, where his father, who died when he was six years old, had settled as the head of a Scottish colony sent over by James I. April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... Events Expulsion of the Carib indigenous people from Martinique by French occupying forces. ... Killyleagh (Cill Uí Laoigh in Irish, meaning Church of the descendants of heroes) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. ... County Down, (An Dún in Irish) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, covering an area of 2,448 km² (945 square miles). ... Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (Eng: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... James I (December 10, 1394 – February 21, 1437) reigned as king of Scotland from April 4, 1406 until February 21, 1437. ...

Even as a youth, he collected objects of natural history and other curiosities. This led him to the study of medicine, which he went to London to pursue, directing his attention to botany, materia medica, and pharmacy. His collecting propensities made him useful to John Ray and Robert Boyle. After four years in London he travelled through France, spending some time at Paris and Montpellier, and taking his M.D. degree at the University of Orange in 1683. He returned to London with a considerable collection of plants and other curiosities, of which the former were sent to Ray and utilized by him for his History of Plants. For other uses, see London (disambiguation) and Defining London (below). ... John Ray. ... Robert Boyle The Honourable Robert Boyle (January 25, 1627 - December 30, 1692) was an Irish natural philosopher, noted for his work in physics and chemistry. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Location within France Montpellier (Occitan Montpelhièr) is a city in the south of France. ... Events June 6 - The Ashmolean Museum opens as the worlds first university museum. ...

Sloane was quickly elected into the Royal Society, and at the same time he attracted the notice of Thomas Sydenham, who gave him valuable introductions to practice. In 1687, he became fellow of the College of Physicians, and went to Jamaica the same year as physician in the suite of the Duke of Albemarle. The duke died soon after landing, and Sloane's visit lasted only fifteen months; during that time he noted about 800 new species of plants, the island being virgin ground to the botanist. Of these he published an elaborate catalogue in Latin in 1696; and at a later date (1707-1725) he made the experiences of his visit the subject of two folio volumes. He became secretary to the Royal Society in 1693, and edited the Philosophical Transactions for twenty years. The premises of the Royal Society in London (first four properties only). ... Thomas Sydenham. ... Events March 19 - The men under explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle murder him while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River. ... The Dukedom of Albemarle has been created twice in the Peerage of England, each time ending in extinction. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The year 1696 had the earliest equinoxes and solstices for 400 years in the Gregorian calendar, because this year is a leap year and the Gregorian calendar would have behaved like the Julian calendar since March 1500 had it have been in use that long. ... Events January 1 - John V is crowned King of Portugal April 25 - Allied army is defeated by Bourbonic army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession. ... Events February 8 - Catherine I became empress of Russia February 20 - The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony. ... Events January 11 - Eruption of Mt. ...

His practice as a physician among the upper classes was large. In the pamphlets written concerning the sale by Dr William Cockburn (1669-1739) of his secret remedy for dysentery and other fluxes, it was stated for the defence that Sloane himself did not disdain the same kind of professional conduct; and some colour is given to that charge by the fact that his only medical publication, an Account of a Medicine for Soreness, Weakness and other Distempers of the Eyes (London, 1745) was not given to the world until its author was in his eighty-fifth year and had retired from practice. // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ... Events January 1 - Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier. ... // Events May 11 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army including the Black Watch June 4 – Frederick the Great destroys Austrian army at Hohenfriedberg August 19 - Beginning of the 45 Jacobite Rising at Glenfinnan September 12 - Francis I is elected...

In 1716, Sloane was created a baronet, the first medical practitioner to receive an hereditary title, and in 1719 he became president of the College of Physicians, holding the office sixteen years. In 1722, he was appointed physician-general to the army, and in 1727 first physician to George II. In 1727 also he succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as president of the Royal Society; he retired from it at the age of eighty. // Events August 5 - In the Battle of Peterwardein 40. ... // Events January 23 - The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire April 25 - Daniel Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe June 10 - Battle of Glen Shiel Prussia conducts Europes first systematic census Miners in Falun, Sweden find an apparently petrified body of Fet-Mats Israelsson in an unused... Events Abraham De Moivre states De Moivres theorem connecting trigonometric functions and complex numbers Publication of the first book of Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier Fall of Persias Safavid dynasty during a bloody revolt of the Afghani people. ... Events June 11 - George, Prince of Wales becomes King George II of Great Britain. ... George II King of Great Britain and Ireland George II (George Augustus) (10 November 1683–25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. ... Sir Isaac Newton, PRS, (4 January [O.S. 25 December 1642] 1643 – 31 March [O.S. 20 March] 1727) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, inventor, and natural philosopher who is generally regarded as one of the most influential scientists in history. ... The premises of the Royal Society in London (first four properties only). ...

Sloane's fame is based on his judicious investments rather than what he contributed to the subject of natural science or even of his own profession. His purchase of the manor of Chelsea, London in 1712, provided the grounds for the Chelsea Physic Garden as well as perpetuating his memory in the name of a "place," a street, and a square. His great stroke as a collector was to acquire (by bequest, conditional on paying of certain debts) in 1701 the cabinet of William Courten, who had made collecting the business of his life. Statue of Thomas More on Cheyne Walk. ... // Events Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. ... The Chelsea Physic Garden (physic in the former sense of the science of healing), established by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, is one of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe (second oldest in Britain), and its rock garden is the oldest English garden devoted to alpine plants. ... Events January 18 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia. ...

When Sloane retired in 1741, his library and cabinet of curiosities, which he took with him from Bloomsbury to his house in Chelsea, had grown to be of unique value. On his death on January 11, 1753 he bequeathed his books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, pictures, medals, coins, seals, cameos and other curiosities to the nation, on condition that parliament should pay to his executors £20,000, which was a good deal less than the value of the collection. The bequest was accepted on those terms by an act passed the same year, and the collection, together with George II's royal library, etc., was opened to the public at Bloomsbury as the British Museum in 1759. Among his other acts of munificence may be mentioned his gift to the Apothecaries' Company of the botanical or physic garden, which they had rented from the Chelsea estate since 1673. // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius... The Bloomsbury, a corner pub Bloomsbury is an area of central London, in the London Borough of Camden, named after a Norman landowner William de Blemund (Blemondisben) who acquired the land in 1201. ... January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... George II (George Augustus) (10 November 1683–25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. ... The main entrance to the British Museum. ... 1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Events January 22 - Impostor Mary Carleton is hanged in Newgate prison in England for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation March 18 - John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton sells his part of New Jersey to the Quakers. ...

See Weld, History of the Royal Society, i. 450 (London, 1848); and Munk, Roll of the College of Physicians, 2nd ed., i. 466 (London, 1878).

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.