Benjamin Heyne
FLS (1770, Pirna, Döbra – 6 February 1819, Madras) was a German
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
,
naturalist, and
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
who worked in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
as a Botanist to
Samalkot
Samarlakota (Telugu:సామర్లకోట) is a town in Kakinada district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The town forms a part of Godavari Urban Development Authority. It was previously known as ''Chamarlakota'' (Telugu:చామ ...
in the
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
under the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
. He collected and described plants from southern India, many of which were named after him by European botanists.
Life and work in India
The son of German
classical scholar
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
and
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
Christian Gottlob Heyne
Christian Gottlob Heyne (; 25 September 1729 – 14 July 1812) was a German classical scholar and archaeologist as well as long-time director of the Göttingen State and University Library. He was a member of the Göttingen School of History.
...
and Therese Weiss, daughter of German
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
and
lutenist
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can refe ...
Sylvius Leopold Weiss
Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist.
Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until ...
, Benjamin Heyne was born in Döbra, Germany. In later life, Heyne joined the
Tranquebar
Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kave ...
Mission run by
Moravians
Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Silesi ...
where he took an interest in the botanical gardens. Through
William Roxburgh
William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE Linnean Society of London, FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish people, Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known ...
he obtained a position in the Madras Presidency as a botanist at Samalkot around 1794. He was involved in introducing new food plants to overcome famines and these included potatoes and breadfruit. After the fall of Tipu Sultan, he was appointed to look for a new site for a botanical garden in Mysore and he chose Lalbagh. He moved many specimens from Samalkot to Lalbagh. He was formally titled "Naturalist and Botanist" in 1802. Heyne made an observation in 1815 that ''
Bryophyllum calycinum'' was more acidic in taste in the morning than in the afternoon, among the earliest observations on
Crassulacean acid metabolism
Crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis, is a carbon fixation pathway that evolved in some plants as an adaptation to arid conditions that allows a plant to photosynthesize during the day, but only exchange gases at night. ...
.
![Heyne_map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Heyne_map.jpg)
Heyne married Charlotte Rebecca, daughter of L.C. Topander of Jaganaikepuram in May 1803. A mistress, Mrs Maria Clasina Heyne is recorded of having died at Hyderabad on 9 April 1809 while his wife Charlotte died in Bangalore on 29 July 1816. Heyne died at Vepery.
Bangalore collections
In 1800, after
the fall of Mysore, the
Lalbagh botanical garden
Lalbagh Botanical Garden or simply Lalbagh (), is an botanical garden in Bangalore, India, with an over 200-year history. First planned and laid out during the dalavaiship of Hyder Ali and later managed under numerous British Superintendents ...
at
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
was appropriated by the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
''"as a depository for useful plants sent from different parts of the country"''. Dr. Benjamin Heyne, the Company's botanist at
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, was ordered by the
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
,
Richard Wellesley to accompany the Surveyor, with the following instructions:
"A decided superiority must be given to useful plants over those which are merely recommended by their rarity or their beauty,... to collect with care all that is connected with the arts and manufacturers of this country, or that promises to be useful in our own; to give due attention to the timber employed in the various provinces of his route,... and to collect with particular diligence the valuable plants connected with his own immediate profession, i.e. medicine."
An important task assigned to the colonial botanical gardens was dealing with
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
, the largest obstacle to colonial expansion.
Heyne was placed in charge of the Lalbagh botanical garden till 1812. He did a great deal of collecting at
Coimbatore
Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...
and Bangalore and compiled a large collection of plant specimens which were forwarded to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
He collected more than 350 species from the
Western Ghats and more than 200 species were named by him. He sent about 1500 of his Indian botanical specimens to the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
botanist
Albrecht Wilhelm Roth
Albrecht Wilhelm Roth (6 January 1757 – 16 October 1834) was a physician and botanist born in Dötlingen, Germany.
He studied medicine at the Universities of Halle and Erlangen, where he received his doctorate in 1778.
After graduation, he pra ...
, whose work ''Novae plantarum species praesertim Indiae orientali'' (a book of Indian flora) is largely based on Heyne's botanical specimens.
Mysore survey
![N W View of Nandydroog 646247](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/N_W_View_of_Nandydroog_646247.jpg)
Benjamin Heyne was assistant to
Francis Buchanan on his Mysore Survey. He recorded in his Journal, his visits to sites with Col.
Colin Mackenzie
Colonel Colin Mackenzie CB (1754–8 May 1821) was Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist. He surveyed southern India, ...
: "To Sautgur Hill (near
Conjeeveram) with Mackenzie. Of the
Sienite
Syenite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock with a general composition similar to that of granite, but deficient in quartz, which, if present at all, occurs in relatively small concentrations (< 5%). Some syenites contain larger proport ...
, they made formerly Cannon balls of which many are found lying all over the Hill." and at Nandydroog which was: "this morning cloathed with a white fog, when the rest of the country was Clear. The country hereabouts pretty well cultivated. Yesterday morning was with Capt. Mackenzie in the Fort, in which the houses, very few excepted, were empty. The garden in it that was formerly famous is entirely neglected and nothing in it worth attention but a few apple and coffee Trees."
Dr. Benjamin Heyne died at Madras in 1819.
Publications
* 1793. ''"Plants of the Coromandel coast: a collection of watercolor botanical drawings of 394 plants and flora"''. Not published
* 1800. Joseph Joinville, Thomas John Newbold, James Sowerby, Benjamin Heyne, Mark Wilks, HW Voysey, Theodore Edward Cantor, J. Postaus, John Grant Malcolmson. ''"List of minerals contained in the Museum of the Honble East India Company"''. 76 pp.
* 1813 February. ''"On the formation of sulphur in India"'', Benjamin Heyne, East India Company, Madras Army, , Philosophical Magazine Series 1, Volume 41, Issue 178 pages 101 - 104, Now published as: Philosophical Magazine Series 2
* In 1814, Dr. Heyne authored his major work: '
Tracts, historical and statistical, on India: with journals of several tours through various parts of the peninsula: also, an account of Sumatra, in a series of letters'', 462 pp., printed for R. Baldwin and Black, Parry and Co.,
* 1819. '
On the Deoxidation of the Leaves of Cotyledon calysina'': in a Letter to
A. B. Lambert. 3 pp. (this was among the earliest evidences for what is now known as
Crassulacean acid metabolism
Crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis, is a carbon fixation pathway that evolved in some plants as an adaptation to arid conditions that allows a plant to photosynthesize during the day, but only exchange gases at night. ...
)
* 1818. P.J. Siddons, Benjamin Heyne. An examination of so much of the tracts, historical and statistical, on India, & c. & c.& c., by Benjamin Heyne, as Related to the account of Sumatra, with various notices on the subjucts of cannibalism, slavery, & c. Ed AJ Valpy. 99 pp.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyne, Benjamin
Scottish botanists
Scottish naturalists
Scottish surgeons
1770 births
1819 deaths
British taxonomists
Botanists active in India
Botanists active in South Asia
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
British East India Company people
18th-century British botanists
19th-century British botanists
Place of birth missing