SIB 



S I B 



flat furface, for a few minutes, which operation caufes the 

 animal to fcream out. They then cut its throat, according 

 to the Mahometan cuftom. In tafte it is faid to refemble a 

 rabbit ; but friftion, as they pretend, is neceflary to render 

 it tender and palatable. 



SIBTHORP, JojiN, in Biography, an eminent botanift 

 and traveller, was the youngelt fon of Dr. Humphrey Sib- 

 thorp, profeiror of botany at Oxford, where the fubjeft of 

 the prefent article was born, Oftober 28, 1758. He re- 

 ceived the firft rudiments of his education at Magdalen fchool, 

 from whence he was removed to the fchool at Lincoln. In 

 due time he entered at Lincoln college, Oxford ; but upon 

 obtaining the RadclifTe travelling fellowfhip, he became a 

 member of Univerfity college. Being intended for the me- 

 dical profeflion, he was neceflarily lent to Edinburgh, to com- 

 plete that branch of his education ; but he took the degree 

 of dodlor of phyfic in his own univerfity. The talte he had 

 early imbibed for natural hiltory, efpecially botany, was cul- 

 tivated at Edinburgh, and indulged m a tour to the High- 

 lands of Scotland. After his return from thence, he vifited 

 France and Switzerland, fpending a confiderable time at 

 Montpellier, where he formed an intimacy with the amiable 

 Broudbnet, (fee Papyrius, ) colleAed many plants of that 

 country, and communicated to the Academie des Sciences 

 of Montpellier, of which he became a member, an account 

 of his numerous botanical difcoveries in the neighbourhood. 

 The death of an elder brother of his father, by which a con- 

 fiderable ellate devolved on the latter, occafioned Dr. J. 

 Sibthorp to return to England in 1783, when, on his fa- 

 ther's refignation, he was appointed to the botanical pro- 

 fefforfliip. For this his Oxford degree of M.D. was necef- 

 fary. ( See Sherard, and Sibihorpia.) It was perhaps 

 the laft fervice he expefted from it, for he was a favourite 

 Ion, and had befides an ample independency of his own in 

 profpeft, from the ellate of his mother, who was his fatlier's 

 fecond wife. Thefe expectations, and his academical ap- 

 pointments, though they releafed him from the calls of his 

 profeflion, only rivettcd more firmly his ardent attachment to 

 botany ; his paflion for which became, by thofe appointments, 

 a duty ; nor was he ever, to his lad hour, difpofed to Ihrink 

 from the talk he had undertaken, or to prefer any relaxation, 

 or any indulgence, to this laborious purfuit. 



During the (lay of profeflor J. Sibthorp at London, in 

 the winter of 1783, the naufeum and library of the celebrated 

 Linnseus were fold, by private contraft, to the writer of this 

 article. The proftlFor was commendably defirous of adding 

 lo great a treafurx- to the collections, already famous, at Ox- 

 ■ n-d ; but the acquifition depended on a retolute and decifive 

 tep, which was already taken, and not on any management 

 or negociation, to which the pcrfon entrullcd with the fale 

 was luperior. This competition occafioned no interrup- 

 tion in the friendllup, jull then forined, between the par- 

 ties concerned, which continued iiicrcafing during their joint 

 lives. 



Dr. Sibthorp palled a portion of the year 1784 at Got- 

 tingen, where he projefted his fird tour to Greece ; the bo- 

 tanical inveftigation ot which celebrated country, and efpe- 

 cially the determination of the plants mentioned by its clafli- 

 cal authors, had, for fome time pad, become the leading ob- 

 jcft of his purfuits. He fird vifited the principal feats of 

 learning in Germany, and furveyed fome of its mountains 

 and foreds ; but it was impoifible to quit this part of the 

 world without a confiderable day at Vienna. There he cul- 

 tivated the friendfiiip of the two profelfors Jacquin, father 

 and fon ; ftudied with peculiar care the celebrated mauu- 

 icript of Drolcorides, whicli has fo long been prefervcd in 

 tlie imperial library ; and procured a moll excellent draughtf- 



VoL. XXXII. 



man, Mr. Ferdinand Bauer, to be the companion of hi< ex- 

 pedition. On the 6th of March, 1786, they fet out toge- 

 ther from Vienna, and palled through Carniola to Triefte, 

 Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome, an3 Naples, examining 

 every thing that was curious, and keeping an exadt record 

 of their botanical obfervations. After viewing the cele- 

 brated environs of Naples, ihey failed from thence early in 

 May, and touching at Meffina, as well as at the ide of Milo, 

 they proceeded to Crete. Here, in the month of June, our 

 botanical adventurers were welcomed by Flora in her gayeft: 

 attire. The fnowy covering of the Sphaciote mountaint 

 was withdrawing, and a tribe of lovely little bloilbras were 

 juft peeping through the veil. 



Having narrowly elcaped Ihipwreck, in returning to Milo 

 by one of the country veflels, Dr. Sibthorp and Mr. Bauer 

 touched fucceflively at fevcral iflands of the Archipelago, 

 vifited Athens, and remained for a while at Smyrna. Here 

 they traced the deps of Sherard and Hadelquid, proceeded 

 by land to Burfa, climbed the Bithynian Olympus, and at 

 length reached Condantinople, where they fpent the enfuing 

 winter, in the courle of which Dr. Sibthorp devoted himfelf 

 to the dudy of modern Greek. In a botanical excurfion ta 

 Belgrad, on the 17th of February, 1787, and another to Bu- 

 jwckderi, March 5, the plants found in flower were almoit 

 entirely the fame as are met with, at the fame feafon, in Eng- 

 land. Dr. Sibthorp's refidence at Condantinople, or in the 

 neighbouring ifieof Karki, proved favourable to his invedi- 

 gations of the fidies and birds of thofe regions, by wiiich he 

 was enabled to throw much light on the writings of ancient 

 naturalids. 



On the 14th of March, 1787, having joined company 

 with captain Emery and Mr. Hawkins, Dr. Sibthorp and 

 his draughtfman failed from Condantinople in a Venetian 

 merchant-lhip for Cyprus, taking the iflands of Mytilene, 

 Scio, Cos, and Rhodes, and touching at the coail of Afia 

 Minor, in their way. A day of five weeks at Cyprus 

 enabled Dr. Sibthorp to draw up a Fauna and Flora of that 

 ifland. The former confilts of 18 Mammalia, 85 Birds, 

 19 ylmphll/ia, and 100 Fillies; the latter comprehends 616 

 fpecies of plants. The particular dations, domedic and 

 medical nfes, and reputed qualities of thele lad, are amply re- 

 corded ; and the vernacular names of the aiiimab, as well as 

 of the economical pljiits, are lubjoined. The fame method 

 is purfiied, in a fublequent part of this journal, refpedling 

 the plants and animals of Greece, with every thing that could 

 be colleded relative to the medicine, agriculture, and domef- 

 tic economy of that country and the circumjacent iflos. The 

 illudi ation of the writings of Diofcorides, in particular, was 

 Dr. Sibthorp's chief objetl. The names and reputed virtues 

 of feveral plants, recorded by that ancient writer, and diU 

 traditionally retained by the Athenian (hepherds, ferved 

 occafionally to elucidate, or to confirm, their fynonymy. 

 The fird (ketch of the Flora Grtca comprifcs about 8jo 

 plants. " This," fays the author, " may be confidered as 

 containing only the plants obfei ved by me in the environs of 

 Athens, on the fnowy heights of the Grecian Alp Parnadus, 

 on the deep precipices ol Delphis, the empurpled mountain 

 of Hymettus, the Pentelc, the lower hills about the Pirxus, 

 the olive grounds about Athens, and the fertile plains of 

 Boeotia. The future botanid, who Ihall examine tins coun- 

 try with more leilurc, and at a more favourable fcalcm of the 

 year, before the fummer fun has fcorclied up the fpring 

 plants, may make a confiderable addition to this lid. My 

 intention was to have travelled by land through Greece : but 

 the didurbed itate of this country, the eve ot a Kiiflian war, 

 the rebellion of its bafliaws, and the plague at Lanlla, ren- 

 dered my prajecl impracticable." Ol the Mammalia of 



4 N Greece, 



