Everything about Hip Lito Ruiz L Pez totally explained
Hipólito Ruiz López (
August 8,
1754,
Belorado,
Burgos,
Spain—
1815,
Madrid), or
Hipólito Ruiz, was a Spanish botanist known for researching the floras of Peru and Chile during an expedition under
Carlos III from 1777 to 1788. During the reign of Carlos III, three major botanical expeditions were sent to the New World; Ruiz and
José Antonio Pavón Jiménez were the botanists for the first of these expeditions, to Peru and Chile.
Background
After studying Latin with an uncle who was a priest, at the age of 14 Ruiz López went to Madrid to study logic, physics, chemistry and pharmacology. He also studied botany at the Migas Calientes Botanical Gardens (now the
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid), under the supervision of
Casimiro Gómez Ortega (1741-1818) and
Antonio Palau Verdera (1734-1793).
Ruiz hadn't yet completed his pharmacology studies when he was named the head botanist of the expedition. The French physician
Joseph Dombey was named as his assistant, and the pharmacologist José Antonio Pavón y Jimenez was also appointed. Completing the expedition were the botanical illustrators
Joseph Bonete and
Isidro Gálvez.
The expedition
The expedition sailed from
Cádiz in
1777, arriving at
Lima in April
1778. They explored throughout Peru and Chile for ten years (
1778-
1788), collecting specimens. The expedition collected 3,000 specimens of plants and made 2,500 life-sized botanical illustrations. When they returned to Spain they brought back a great many living plants.
One of the medical remedies brought back by this expedition was the boiled spouts of the quisoar plant,
Buddleja incana, which was used to cure colds or, mixed with urine, to alleviate toothache.
The collections arrived in Cádiz in good order (for the most part) in 1788, and were deposited in the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid and in the Gabinete de Historia Natural, the precursor of the Museum of Natural History. The discoveries included about 150 new genera and 500 new species, which still retain the names given them by Ruiz and Pavón. Unfortunately, a part of the collection consisting of 53 crates with 800 illustrations, dried plants, seeds, resins and minerals was lost when the ship transporting it was wrecked on the coast of Portugal.
Back in Spain, Ruiz finished his pharmacological studies, graduating in
1790. He was named a member of the
Royal Academy of Medicine in 1794, and he published various works in that body's
Memoires. He and Pavón published
Flora Peruviana et Chilensis in ten volumes, richly illustrated with engravings of the specimens. The first four volumes were published between 1798 and 1802. The last six volumes were published after the death of Ruiz. Before his death, Ruiz also published
Quinología o tratado del árbol de la quina (Madrid, 1792). This work was soon translated into Italian (1792), German (1794) and English (1800).
The journals Ruiz produced for his exploration of South America during these years are remarkable for their breadth of
ethnobotanical and natural history knowledge. Of particular interest to the Spanish Crown at the time was
pharmacological knowledge of New World plants such as
Chinchona, the source of the anti-malarial, quinine. In addition to detailed descriptions and paintings of the flora and fauna of Peru and Chile, Ruiz observed the geology and weather of the area, and included cultural information about the life of the Indians and the colonists of the area.
He died in 1815 (some sources say 1816) in Madrid.
Genera
Genera of plants initially named by
Ruiz y Pavón, or containing species named by them, include the following:
Other expeditions
The four expeditions authorized by King Carlos III to the Spanish colonies were those of Ruiz and Pavón to Peru and Chile (1777-88);
José Celestino Mutis to
New Granada (1783-1808);
Juan de Cuéllar to the
Philippines (1786-97); and
Martín Sessé y Lacasta to
New Spain (1787-1803).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hip Lito Ruiz L Pez'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://hip__lito_ruiz_l__pez.totallyexplained.com">Hipólito Ruiz López Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
