421 
M U T I S. 
and much reputation, by the talents he difplayed in 
various branches of knowledge connected with his pro- 
fetlion, and was efpecially patronized by the mini Iter. 
Wall, who offered him a penfion to enable him to travel. 
This fcheme was defeated by the death of the king, and 
a change in the miniftry; but Mutis obtained a profefldr- 
fliip of anatomy, and lignalized himfelf by his physiologi¬ 
cal knowledge.. He turned his mind to the foundation 
of an Academy of Sciences at Madrid, led by the grow¬ 
ing tafte for natural knowledge of all kinds, which the 
youth of Spain, like thole of other countries, had, for 
l'onie time pad, imbibed in the courfe of their medical 
ftudies under JBoerhaave. 
In 1760, the marquis della Vega, being appointed 
viceroy of New Granada, folicited Mutis to accompany 
him as his phyfician. This propofal was joyfully accepted ; 
not probably with any view to a final fettl'ement in that 
dillant region, but rather as a ftep to future advancement 
at home, after his curiofity had been in fome rneafure 
gratified abroad. On bis arrival at Santa Fe de Bogota, 
the capital of New' Granada, our ardent and intelligent 
young philosopher immediately anticipated the proba¬ 
bility of bis communicating, as well as acquiring, know¬ 
ledge. By the permiflion of the viceroy, he undertook 
to introduce the mathematics as a branch of ftudy in the 
univerlity; and his leclures on that fubjedt were received 
with enthufiaftic attention and admiration. But it was 
not to be expedled that the monkilh profeffors fliould 
equally relilh fuch novelties. To acquire or to diffufe 
knowledge was neither their aim nor their ambition, and 
.it 'was certainly not for their intereft nor their peace. 
They declared that Mutis was a conjurer, who, by an 
alliance with the devil, taught a magical, divinatory, and 
diabolical, art, unwarranted by law and prohibited by 
religion : “ How elfe,’’ fa id they, “ could a mortal mea¬ 
sure the diftance of the fun or of the moon, or foretell 
eclipfes r” Their reprefentations were not without 
eftedl. Some well-meaning but not well-informed per- 
Tons forbade their children to frequent the fcliools of a 
necromancer; and thus the ufefulnefs of the new profeflor 
was.limited, and his fame in part eclipfed 5 for fuch pro¬ 
hibitions could hot fail to fofter a certain mafs of pre¬ 
judice againlt him and the more enlightened party which 
daily increafed under his genial influence. Nor was the 
power of the inquifition allowed to be idle in fo holy and 
juft a caufe. From this however the higher power of the 
-viceroy was able to ihield the intended vidlim, who gra¬ 
dually rofe luperiorto prejudice and perfecution, and was, 
at length, by the authority of the Spanilli government, 
eftablilhed profeflor of philofophy, mathematics, and na¬ 
tural hiftcry, at Santa Fe. 
Mutis, like a true patriot, was anxious to turn his own 
knowledge to the pradical fervice of his country. Con- 
iidering the gold and filver mines as the rnoft important 
national objedls in Mexico and Peru, lie direded his at¬ 
tention to a more luccefsful mode than had hitherto been 
pradifed, for working the mines of the laft-mentioned 
metal. Gold is procured chiefly by patience and manual 
labour, in a metallic ftate, from the lands of the rivulets ; 
but lilver can be obtained by chemical means only, from 
recondite fources in the bowels of the mountains. Its 
mines are not only, like thofe of gold, a fort of lottery, 
but to derive a due profit from its ores requires knowledge 
and obfervation, as well as labour and confiderable ex- 
penfe. All mining-countries abound with traditions of 
their former riches, and liberal conjedures refpeding 
their latent ftores. By thefe our philofopher was milled. 
He fpent many years of indefatigable application, and 
exhaufted his pecuniary refources,*" with the zeal and the 
difappointment of an alcliemift. He reaped indeed abun¬ 
dance of experience and of natural knowledge, as he ex¬ 
plored the receffes of the Cordilleras, and inveftigated 
the produdions of their foil, as well as the fecrets of their 
geology ; but his worldly profpeds were ruined. Thefe 
he might have retrieved by accepting fomc civil employ- 
Vol. XVI. No. 1123. 
ment or magistracy, offered him by his conftant friend 
the viceroy, to whole propofuls of this kind he is reported 
to have anfwered, that “ he afpired after no government 
but that of himfelf, nor any authority but over his own 
paflions.” In conformity to fuch lentiments, he found 
the clerical, profeffion more congenial to his feelings; and 
to that he for a while devoted himfelf, as it appears, ex- 
cluflvely, reliding for fome time in the capital. 
But a miner leldom gives up his purfuit; and the former 
propenfities of Mutis revived, as he anticipated afrefli the 
means of indulging them. His fuccefs was fruitlefs, as 
before, with regard to its original objed, but not as to 
the future happinefs and utility of his life. The relid ence 
he had chofen, for the profecutiou of his purpofe,- was 
fortunately one of the moft delightful in the world, at 
Sapo, in the government of Mariquita. His houfe flood 
on a rifing ground, commanding the moft enchanting 
profpeds, over an extenfive valley, watered by the mean¬ 
dering river Luifa. The groves of palm-trees, and the 
rural feenery of the valley, are encompaffed by a chain 
of hills, whole proud tops rile one above another, till 
they are loll in the clouds. Here our philofopher enjoyed 
a pure air and temperate climate, equally remote from 
the cold of the mountains; and the oppreifive atmofphere 
of the vale below. In this fequeitered abode lie divided 
his time between the fuperintendance of the mines and 
the ftudy of natural hiftory; while he fulfilled his clerical 
duties, and benefitted his neighbours by the exercife of 
his original profellion. He was foon confolcd for his dii- 
.appointment in the firft of tliele objeds, by the general 
eiteem and refped which his charader and condud in- 
fpired; infomuch that he refigned himfelf for life to this 
delightful retirement, without a figh for the vanities or 
the buftle of the world. Here botany conftituted his 
moft favourite amufement. The country within his reach 
was found rich in plants of peculiar beauty as well as An¬ 
gularity, which indeed may be faid in general of all the 
vegetable produdions of New Mexico. Splendid com¬ 
pound flowers, Ihrubs whofe Aiming leaves are inverted 
beneath with a denfe woolly clothing, giving a great 
peculiarity as well as riehnefs of habit, are ftriking cha- 
raderiftics of the Mexican Flora; which is further en¬ 
riched by no fmall proportion of the magnificent tribe of 
palms. To thefe laft Mutis paid particular attention; 
but the hiftory of them, which lie is laid to have pre¬ 
pared, has, as yet, not been given to the public. His 
correl'pondence with Linnaeus was as frequent as circuni- 
ftances would permit, but it appears that many of their 
letters and communications never reached their rel’pedive 
dellinations. To him he fent numerous dried fpecimens, 
many manufeript deferiptions, and a folio volume of 
Indian-ink drawings, quoted in the Supplementum. 
Among the fpecimens were fome of the noble Mutifia, 
firft delcribed in that work, to which feveral new fpecies 
have fince been added. See the next article. 
The year 1778 makes an epoclia in the life of Mutis. 
That year a new archbifliop, Don Antonio Caballero y 
Gorgora, arrived at Santa Fe, who, among the numerous 
letters of congratulation from the fubordinate clergy on 
his arrival, had penetration to dilcover, and good feni’e 
enough to admire, in that of Mutis, fomething very 
. fuperior to the reft. He vifited the writer in his retire¬ 
ment, and his favourable prepofl'eflions were confirmed. 
He determined that fuch a man fliould be made ufeful to 
his country; and, as Mutis had embarrafied his circum- 
ftances afrefli by his mining-projedts, the good archhilhop 
obtained, from the government at home, a fum for the 
paymeht of his debts, a handlbme penfion, and the ap¬ 
pointments of botanill and altronomer to the king. He 
now became the head of a botanical fchool as it were; 
the fuperintendant of a tribe of botanical adventurers, 
employed by the Spanilli government to velligate the 
plants of America. From their labours have originated 
feveral publications, efpecially the fplendid Flora Perti- 
viaua; and the names of Efcallon, Pavon, Ruiz, Valen- 
5 P zucla. 
