155 



AN EARLY JAMAICA BOTANIST. 



Arthur BROuaHTON — a son of the Eev. Thomas Broughton (1704- 

 1774), prebendary of Salisbury and vicar of Bedminster near Bristol 

 a miscellaneous writer of some merit - took the degree of doctor of 

 medicine at Edinburgh in 1779. He was elected a physician to the 

 Bristol Infirmary in May, 1780. He published anonymously a volume 

 of brief diagnoses of British plants. In the December of 1783 he 

 came to Jamaica, intending to return to Bristol, as he received formal 

 leave of absence from the Infirmary. In 1786 his post was filled up, 

 his successor being appointed for a year only on the understanding 

 that if Broughton returned he would resume his office. He died at 

 Kingston on May 29th 1796 : the Dictionary of National Biography, 

 misled by some remarks uf Wiles, suggests 1803 as the year of his 

 death. 



His name is preserved in the genus of orchids named Broughtonia 

 by Robert Brown. 



Nothing is known of his life in Jamaica, Unfortunately there is 

 not in the Library of the Institute any daily paper of the exact time 

 of his death, which is, however, briefly recorded in the " Columbian 

 Magazine." 



He apparently practised medicine here, and devoted his leisure to 

 botany. The garden, the plants of which he catalogued, at first 

 the property of Hinton East, then of the public, is still known 

 as Gardens House; it is situated just above Gordon Town. Brough- 

 ton's name is not recorded amongst the members of the Kino-- 

 ston Medical Society, which (the Jamaica Almanac for 1795 tells 

 us) was instituted on the 4th of September, 1794, by the medi- 

 cal members of the Jamaica Humane Society and otuer medical 

 gentlemen in Kingston in consequence of a malignant fever which 

 raged in 1793 and 1794 and baffled the power of medicine for many 

 months. 



The following is a list of Broughton's works : — 



1. Dissertatio medica inauguralis de vermibus intestinorura. 



Edinburgii, 1779, 8vo. 



2. Enchiridion botanicura, complectens characteres genericos et spe- 



cificos plantarum per insulas Britannicas sponte nascentium, ex 

 Linna3o aliisque desumptos. Londini, 1782. 8vo. 



3. Hortus Eastensis or a catalogue of exotic plants in the garden of 



Hinton East Esq., in the mountains of Liguanea in the island 

 of Jamaica. ^ , To which are added their English names, &c. 



Kingston, Jamaica, 1792, 4to. 

 The same. A Catalogue of the more valuable and rare plants ia 

 the Botanic Garden in the mountains of Liguanea in Jamaica, 



ist. Jago de la Vega, 1794. 4to, 

 The same. New ed. [by James Wiles]. Jamaica, 1806. 4to. 

 The " Hortus Eastensis" was reprinted by Bryan Edwards ii his 

 ** History of the AVest Indies." With the exception of this reprint, 

 none of Broughton's works is in the Library of the Institute of Ja- 

 maica. 



F. C. 



