Patrick Blair

Patrick Blair praktizierte als Arzt und Chirurg im schottischen Dundee. 1706 wurde er durch die Sezierung eines Elefanten als Anatom bekannt. Die Ergebnisse publizierte er unter dem Titel Osteographia elephantina in den Philosophical Transactions der Royal Society.

Blair war ein Anhänger der Familie der Stuarts. Während des Jakobitenaufstands von 1715 wurde er verhaftet, ins Gefängnis geworfen und schließlich zum Tode verurteilt. Durch die Fürsprache von Hans Sloane, Richard Mead (1673–1754) und anderen wurde er schließlich begnadigt.

1717 beschrieb er in An Account of the Dissection of a Child den ersten bekannten Fall von Pylorusstenose.^[2]

Aus einem Vortrag vor der Royal Society mit dem Titel „Discourse on the Sexes of Plants“ entsteht 1720 sein bedeutendstes botanisches Werk Botanick essays, in dem er sich mit dem Geschlecht und der Befruchtung der Pflanzen auseinandersetzte.

Blair lebte eine Zeit lang in London, bevor er nach Boston in Lincolnshire zog. Seine Frau Elizabeth wurde in 13. Dezember 1721 in Boston beerdigt.

Auf Vorschlag von Hans Sloane wurde Blair am 1. Dezember 1712 als Mitglied („Fellow“) in die Royal Society gewählt.^[3]

William Houstoun benannte ihm zu Ehren die Gattung Blairia der Pflanzenfamilie der Eisenkrautgewächse (Verbenaceae).^[4] Carl von Linné stellte die Pflanzen zur Gattung Verbena^[5] und benannte seinerseits eine Gattung mit dem Namen Blairia.^[6]

Bücher

• Osteographia elephantina, or, A full and exact description of all the bones of an elephant, which died near Dundee, April the 27th, 1706 with their several dimensions : to which are premis'd, 1. An historical account of the natural endowments, and several wonderful performances of elephants, with the manner of taking and taming them, 2. A short anatomical account of their parts : and added, 1. An exact account of the weight of all the bones of this elephant, 2. The method us'd in preparing and mounting the skeleton, 3. Four large copper plates, wherein are represented the figures of the stuff'd skin, and prepared skeleton, as they now stand in the Publick Hall of Rarities at Dundee, with the separated bones in several views and other parts of this elephant. London 1713 (Digitalisat).
• Miscellaneous observations in the practise of physick, anatomy, and surgery, with new and curious remarks in botany […] Communicated in several letters to eminent physicians and learned members of the Royal Society […] To which is prefix’d a letter to the late Dr. Baynard, with new experiments, and considerable improvements in the use of the cold bath […]. William Mears, London 1718 (Digitalisat).
• Botanick essays. In two parts. The first containing, the structure of flowers, and the fructification of plants, with their various distributions into the method: And the second, the generation of plants, with their sexes and manner of impregnating the seed […]. London 1720 (Digitalisat).
• Pharmaco-botanologia or, An alphabetical and classical dissertation on all the British indigenous and garden plants of the new London dispensatory. In which their genera, species, characteristick and distinctive notes are methodically described; the botanical terms of art explained, their virtues, uses, and shop-preparations declared. 7 Teile, G. Strahan, London 1723–1728 (Digitalisat).

Zeitschriftenbeiträge

• Osteographia Elephantina: or, A full and exact description of all the bones of an Elephant, which died near Dundee, April the 27th, 1706. with their several dimensions. Communicated in a letter to Dr. Hans Sloane. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 27, Nr. 336, 1710, S. 53–116 (doi:10.1098/rstl.1710.0008, JSTOR:103108).
• A continuation of the osteographia elephantina: or, a description of the bones of an elephant, which died near Dundee, April the 27th, 1706. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 27, Nr. 327, 1710, S. 117–168 (doi:10.1098/rstl.1710.0009, JSTOR:103109).
• Part of a letter from Mr. Patrick Blair to Dr. Hans Sloane, R. S. Secr. giving an account of the asbestos, or lapis amiantus, found in the high-lands of Scotland. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 27, Nr. 333, 1710, S. 434–436 (doi:10.1098/rstl.1710.0042, JSTOR:103143).
• An account of the dissection of a child. Communicated in a letter to Dr. Brook Taylor, R. S. Secr. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 30, Nr. 353, 1717, S. 631–632 (doi:10.1098/rstl.1717.0013, JSTOR:103308).
• A description of the organ of heraring in the elephant, with the figures and situation of the ossicles, labyrinth and cochlea in the ear of that large animal. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 30, Nr. 358, 1717, S. 885–898 (doi:10.1098/rstl.1717.0043, JSTOR:103338).
• Copy of an affidavit made in Scotland, concerning a boy’s living a considerable time without food. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 31, Nr. 364, 1720, S. 28–30 (doi:10.1098/rstl.1720.0009, JSTOR:103382).
• Observations upon the generation of plants, in a letter to Sir Hans Sloane. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 31, Nr. 369, 1721, S. 216–222 (doi:10.1098/rstl.1720.0053, JSTOR:103427).
• A discourse concerning a method of discovering the Virtues of Plants by their external structure. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 31, Nr. 364, S. 30–38, 1720 (doi:10.1098/rstl.1720.0010, JSTOR:103383).

Ältere

• Richard Pulteney: Historical and biographical sketches of the progress of botany in England: from its origin to the introduction of the Linnaean system. Band 2, London 1790, S. 134–140 (Digitalisat).
• Pishey Thompson: The history and antiquities of Boston, and the villages of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake, and Wrangle; comprising the hundred of Skirbeck, in the county of Lincoln. 1856, S. 446–447 (Digitalisat).

Neuere

• L. R. C. Agnew: Blair, Patrick. In: Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Band 2, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2008, S. 188–189.
• Anita Guerrini: Blair, Patrick (c. 1680–1728). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Hrsg.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X; doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2568 (Lizenz erforderlich), Stand: 23. September 2004.
• C. J. F. MacCarthy: Patrick Blair M.D. In: Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. Band XC, Nr. 249, 1985 (PDF).
• Susan McMahon: Boundary work: ‘national quarrels and party factions’ in eighteenth-century British botany. In: David M. Knight, Matthew D. Eddy (Hrsg.): Science And Beliefs: From Natural Philosophy To Natural Science, 1700–1900. Ashgate Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7546-3996-7.