SLOANE. 



attention to fynonyms, by which the little volume in qiief- 

 tion is rendered alraoil a complete Pinax of the plants it 

 contains, and the hiltory of the feveral fpecics is prefcrved, 

 as much as poiTible, from confufion. That fuch a work 

 fliould be free from errors, is impoilible, but it evinces the 

 learninjT and diligence of its author. This catalogue was 

 not followed up, till the year 1707, by the publication of 

 the firft volume of the great work, to which it was a kind 

 of Prodronms, and which is entitled " A Voyage to the 

 Iflands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, St. Chriltopher's and 

 Jamaica, with the Natural Hiftory of the Herbs and Trees, 

 four-footed Beafts, Fifhes, Birds, Infefts, Reptiles, &c. of 

 the laft of thofe iflands." To this volume is prefixed an in- 

 troduftion, of 154 pages, containing an account of the 

 hiftory and climate of Jamaica, the manners, domellic eco- 

 nomy, food, trade. Sec. of the inhabitants, and particularly 

 an ample detail of their difeafes. The whole is full of cu- 

 rious and inftruftive matter. The body of this volume, 

 comprifing 264 pages, 47 of which are devoted to a journal 

 of the author's voyage, confiits of defcriptions of plants, 

 ■with every thing that could be got together, relative to 

 their hiftory or qualities. The whole is illuftrated by 256 

 plates, chiefly of plants, each plate often being occupied by 

 feveral fpecies. Thefe were taken from the dried fpecimens, 

 ilill extant in the author's herbarium ; and are therefore 

 very imperfeft as to botanical details, though charafteriftic 

 in their general appearance. It is fcarcely necelfary to re- 

 mark that certain coloured copies which exift, are mere im- 

 pofitions upon the purchafer. It is more important to ob- 

 ferve, that the genera or affinities of the plants are fometimes 

 widely erroneous, in confequence of the work having been 

 compofed from a rather fuperficial infpeftion of dry fpeci- 

 mens. Thus Cardamomum minus, pfcudo-afphodeli foliis ; 

 Cat. 61 ; page 166. t. 103. f. 3, of the prefent work, is 

 aftually an Orchidea, of the genus Neotlia ; whiltt Orchis 

 elatior latifoUa, afphodeli radice, /pica Jlrigofd ; Cat. 119; 

 p. 250. t. 147. f. 2, is, according to the herbarium, an Jil- 

 pinia. The figure however reprefents an Orchidia. 



The ftatiftical part of this book is valuable, but there are 

 fome remarks relative to the management of (laves, which 

 we cannot pafs over, efpecially as the queltion of the flave- 

 trade ftill calls for all the vigilance of the Chriltian moralift 

 and politician, to defeat the machinations of its advocates, 

 and fecret promoters. The following, amongft others, are 

 Sloane's words. " The puni(hments for crimes of flaves, 

 are ufually for rebellions burning them, by nailing them 

 down on the ground with crooked fticks on every limb, and 

 then applying the fire by degrees from the feet and hands, 

 burning them gradually up to the head, whereby their pains 

 are extravagant. For crimes of a Idler nature, gelding, or 

 chopping off half of the foot with an axe. Thefe punifli- 

 ments arc fuffered by them with great conftancy," The 

 author proceeds as coolly to dcfcribe " ufual" whipping and 

 other puni(liniL-nts, and concludes thus. " After they are 

 whip'd till they are raw, fome put on their (kins pepper 

 and fait, to make them fmart ; at other times their mailers 

 will drop melted wax on their Hcins, and ufe feveral very ex- 

 quifite torments. Tiiefe pimilhments ^rc fometimes merited 

 by the blacks, who are a very pervcrlc generation of people ; 

 and though they appear harjh, yet are fcarce equal to fome 

 of their crimes, and inferior to what punilhments other 

 European nations infliA on their (laves in the Eall Indies, 

 as may be feen by Moquet, and other travellers." The 

 author, in palliating thefe enormities, worthy of Spanifli in- 

 quifitors, and perhaps originally derived from fome fuch 

 hellilh fource, does not inform us whether our Chrillian 

 Proteftant minillers preached againll them ; but we learn 



from other documents that they durft not. We know alfo 

 that the parent Uate, ecclefiallical as well as civil, for ages 

 looked on, without interfering ; and even at this moment, 

 all the (trcnuous exertions of the virtuous few, fupported 

 by the awakened zeal of mod Chriftian divines, of every 

 perfuafion, are fcarcely able to fucceed in demolifliing the 

 root of the evil. Regulations have indeed been made to 

 guard againit fome of the above enormities, and the African 

 (lave-tradc has been abolifhcd by law. But let Britons 

 never forget that fuch things have exilled, and guard, with 

 all their power and vigilance, againll a pofTibility of their 

 return. The coolnefs or partiality of Sloane, only proves 

 the callous ftate of the public mind rel'peding this quellion, 

 upon which he tried to make himfelf as ealy as he could. 

 He was, on the whole, a man of good feelings, charitable 

 to the poor, alive to their interefts wherever they came in his 

 way, and friendly to all improvements in his profelBon ; 

 fuch as inoculation for the fmall-pox, and the ufe of the 

 Peruvian bark ; both which were combated in his day, even 

 more abfurdly, and no lefs difhoneftly, than vaccination is 

 at prefent. 



The fecond volume of Sloane's Jamaica did not appear 

 till the year 1725. By fome accident, this is much the 

 molt common of tiie two, and frequently fells for a trifle, 

 wliile both together fetch about twelve guineas. Of this 

 fecond volume, 187 pages are devoted to the vegetable, and 

 148 to the animal, kingdom. There is befides a copious 

 index of 102 pages. About 80 of the plates relate to 

 plants, and 42 to animals. A (liort account is given of the 

 author's return to England, with the dowager duchefs of 

 Albemarle ; and numerous correftions, or additions, to the 

 tirll volume are fubjoined. The author frequently refutes 

 his antagonilt Plukenet in a deciiive ftyle, but with lefs 

 acrimony than the latter has ufually betrayed. It would be 

 tedious and unprofitable to follow them through all the 

 mazes of their criticifm, but as far as we have incidentally 

 done this, Plukenet is generally molt exaft. (See Pluke- 

 net.) We muft not omit to notice, that Sloane liberally 

 allowed Ray to make ufe of his Jamaica manufcripts, in 

 the third volume of the Hijloria Plantarum, where the 

 original generic diftributions of the author, if they merit 

 that appellation, are followed. Though Sloane tells us, in 

 the preface to his firll volume, that fome of the plants, with 

 his obfervations upon them, had received the approbation of 

 his illuftrious friend ; it does not any where appear that 

 queltions of botanical arrangement, or technical difcrimina- 

 tion, had been particularly dilculled between them. We 

 mull not therefore lay any defedls of tiiis kind to the ciiargc 

 of Ray, to whom the fcicntific botany of the Weft Indies 

 was nearly an unexplored field, of which Sloane iurnilhed 

 him by no means with fulficient materials for the cultivation ; 

 the latter having examined nothing very deeply in this rc- 

 fpeft, and his dried fpecimens being moltly inlufEicicnt for 

 the purpofe. 



The colleilions of natural hiftory, made by Sloane in his 

 voyage, feem to have laid tiie foundation of that mufeuni, 

 which became gradually fo famous. A brother coliedlor 

 and friend, Mr. Courten, in 1702, left his own acqnifitions 

 to augment it, on condition of the payment of certain debts 

 and legacies, to an amount niucii below the value of what 

 was thus bequeatlad. How foon curiofities of art were 

 included in Dr. Sloane's mufeum, or whether fuch made a 

 part of Mr. Courten'i^, we knov/ not ; but the whole col- 

 leAion was now very confidcr.ilile, and continued increafing 

 during the long life of its owner, wlio, the year before hr 

 died, reckoned up the articles of natural hiftory, cxclufivc 

 of 200 volumes of dried plante, n:. amounting to more than 

 U '■ ;o,6oo. 



