Isaac Lawson (died 1747), was a Scottish physician. He became a student of Leyden University on 17 May 1730. There he studied medicine and botany under Herman Boerhaave and

Adriaan van Royen Adriaan van Royen (11 November 1704 in Leiden – 28 February 1779 in Leiden) was a Dutch botanist. He was a professor at Leiden University and is associated with Carl Linnaeus. He is best known for his work on flora of Southeast Asia. Adr ...

, and became the intimate friend of Linnaeus, whom he several times assisted with gifts of money. In conjunction with

Jan Frederik Gronovius Jan Frederik Gronovius (also seen as Johann Frederik and Johannes Fredericus) (10 February 1690 in Leiden – 10 July 1762 in Leiden) was a Dutch botanist notable as a patron of Linnaeus. John Clayton, a plant collector in Virginia sent him many ...

he was at the expense of the printing of the ''

Systema Naturæ ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

'' of Linnaeus in 1735. Lawson obtained his doctorate in medicine on December 28, 1737 in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

with a thesis on zinc oxide, his thesis being entitled ''Dissertatio Academica sistens Nihil.'' From spring to autumn 1738 he undertook an extensive trip to the most famous German mines, during which he made extensive

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

s for his private mineral collection. Via

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

he first arrived in

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...

. From there he went on excursions to

Zellerfeld Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The City is the location of the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort ...

and Clausthal. Three weeks later he traveled on to

Sankt Andreasberg Sankt Andreasberg is a former town in the Goslar (district), district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2011, it is part of the town Braunlage. It is situated in the Harz, approximately 7 km west of Braunlage proper, and 2 ...

. He sent samples of his collected minerals to

Hieronymus David Gaubius Hieronymus David Gaubius (24 February 1705 – 29 November 1780) was a German physician and chemist. Life He was a native of Heidelberg. He studied medicine and sciences at the Universities of University of Harderwijk, Harderwijk and University ...

Johann Andreas Cramer Johann Andreas Cramer (14 December 1710 – 6 December 1777) was a German metallurgist and chemist who published some of the early ideas on metallurgy and chemistry in his books which included ''Elementa Artis Docimasticae'' (1741). Cramer was bor ...

and Gronovius. His further path led him via

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, where he met

Johann Ernst Hebenstreit Johann Ernst Hebenstreit (15 January 1703 – 5 December 1757) was a German physician and naturalist born in Neustadt an der Orla. He was a student at the University of Leipzig, where in 1728 he earned his philosophy degree, and one year later o ...

and

Christian Gottlieb Ludwig Christian Gottlieb Ludwig (30 April 1709 – 7 May 1773) was a German physician and botanist born in Brieg, Silesia (now Brzeg, Poland). He was the father of physician/naturalist Christian Friedrich Ludwig (1757–1823) and of Christian L. Ludw ...

. In Freiberg he met

Johann Friedrich Henckel Johann Friedrich Henckel (1 August 1678 – 26 January 1744) was a Prussian physician, chemist, metallurgist, and mineralogist. He taught chemistry and mineralogy at the Bergakademie Freiberg where his students included Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, A ...

every day. When he arrived in Karlsbad, he realized that his plans to travel to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

were no longer realistic, and he returned to England via Flanders and Holland. He afterwards became a physician to the

British army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and took part in the Austrian Wars of Succession. His death is possibly due to wounds inflicted at the

Battle of Lauffeldt The Battle of Lauffeld, variously known as Lafelt, Laffeld, Lawfeld, Lawfeldt, Maastricht, or Val, took place on 2 July 1747, between Tongeren in modern Belgium, and the Dutch city of Maastricht. Part of the War of the Austrian Succession, a Fr ...

on 2 July 1747. He died at

Oosterhout Oosterhout (; from ''ooster'', "eastern", and ''hout'', "woods") is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in . Population centers The municipality of Oosterhout includes the following pla ...

in the Netherlands in the same year.

Legacy

Linnaeus dedicated to him the genus ''Lawsonia'',Carl von Linné: ''

Genera Plantarum ''Genera Plantarum'' is a publication of Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). The first edition was issued in Leiden, 1737. The fifth edition served as a complementary volume to ''Species Plantarum'' (1753). Article 13 of the Internati ...

''. Leiden 1742, p. 160 the

henna Henna is a dye prepared from the plant ''Lawsonia inermis'', also known as the henna tree, the mignonette tree, and the Egyptian privet, the sole species of the genus ''Lawsonia''. ''Henna'' can also refer to the temporary body art resulting fr ...

of the East. Lawson is mentioned in Dr. Maton's edition of Linnaeus's ''Diary,'' and included in his reprint of Richard Pulteney's ''View of the Writings of Linnaeus.'' Another Isaac Lawson, possibly a son, entered Leyden University 13 March 1747, and is described in the register as Britanno-Edinburgensis.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Isaac 1747 deaths 18th-century Scottish medical doctors British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession Scottish mineralogists Leiden University alumni