David Pearce Penhallow (25 May 1854 – 20 October 1910) was a Canadian-American

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 ...

, paleobotanist and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

.McGill Herbarium David Penhallow page
/ref> Born in Kittery Point, Maine, Penhallow graduated from Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1873 (now the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

). When his former professor,

William S. Clark William Smith Clark (July 31, 1826 – March 9, 1886) was an American professor of chemistry, botany and zoology, a colonel during the American Civil War, and a leader in agricultural education. Raised and schooled in Easthampton, Massachuse ...

was asked by the Japanese government to assist in the founding of Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University), Penhallow accompanied Clark and another MAC graduate, William Wheeler, to teach botany and

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

. When Clark departed the Sapporo in 1877, Penhallow served as acting President from 1879 to 1880. During his stay in Japan, Penhallow travelled across the archipelago and among other accomplishments became the first westerner to stay with the

Ainu people The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...

s.Dictionary of Canadian biography David Penhallow entry
/ref> Upon returning to North America in 1880, Penhallow became an assistant to noted

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

botanist

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

and assisted with Gray's research into the distribution of northern hemisphere plants. Penhallow left Harvard in 1882 to become a botanist and chemist at the

Houghton Farm Experiment Station Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada *Houghton Township, ...

which was located in Houghton, New York, however the station closed only one year later. While Penhallow was working at Houghton Farm, Gray was contacted by Sr John Dawson of

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

who was looking for a suitable person to fill the vacancy left at McGill with the death of botanist

James Barnston James Barnston (July 3, 1831 – May 20, 1858), a son of HBC fur trader George Barnston, was born at Norway House (Man.), and trained as a physician at the University of Edinburgh. He obtained an M.D. presenting a thesis ''Observations on scarl ...

. Penhallow accepted and became a lecturer at McGill and in 1883 became the first botanist appointed to the

Macdonald Chair of Botany Macdonald, MacDonald or McDonald may refer to: Organisations * McDonald's, a chain of fast food restaurants * McDonald & Co., a former investment firm * MacDonald Motorsports, a NASCAR team * Macdonald Realty, a Canadian real estate brokerage f ...

. During this time Penhallow delved into the newly developing science of

paleobotany Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeogr ...

with the encouragement of Dawson. He was noted for his early work on

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

fossils of the

Gaspé peninsula The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (; ), is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River that extends from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec, Canada, into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick o ...

and the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

fossils of the

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

coal fields. He conducted detailed work on extinct taxa such as ''

Prototaxites ''Prototaxites'' is a genus of terrestrial fossil fungi dating from the Middle Ordovician until the Late Devonian periods, approximately . ''Prototaxites'' formed small to large trunk-like structures up to wide, reaching in length, made up of ...

'' and ''

Azolla primaeva ''Azolla primaeva'' is an extinct species of "water fern" in the family Salviniaceae known from Eocene fossils from the Ypresian stage (), found in southern British Columbia. The species was first described from poorly preserved material collect ...

''. Penhallow continued with his education and in 1888 he earned his BS from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. Eight years later in 1896 he was awarded both a BS and an MS from McGill 1896, and finally a DS in 1904. After allegedly suffering from a

mental breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

in 1909, Penhallow died on the SS Lake Manitoba during a voyage from Montreal to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penhallow, David Pearce 1854 births 1910 deaths People who died at sea 19th-century American botanists 19th-century Canadian botanists American paleontologists Canadian paleontologists Paleobotanists Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Massachusetts Agricultural College alumni People from Kittery, Maine Hokkaido University faculty 20th-century American botanists 20th-century Canadian botanists