John Scouler (31 December 1804 – 13 November 1871) was a Scottish naturalist.

Life

Scouler, the son of a calico-printer, was born in Glasgow on 31 December 1804. He received the rudiments of his education at

Kilbarchan Kilbarchan ( gd, Cill Bhearchain) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry. History ...

, but was sent very early to the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. When his medical course there was completed, he went to Paris and studied at the Jardin des Plantes. On moving to England, Dr. (afterwards Sir) William Jackson Hooker secured for him an appointment as surgeon and naturalist on board the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

's ship ''William and Ann''. The vessel sailed from London on 25 July 1824 for the Columbia River, touching at Madeira, Rio de Janeiro and the Galapagos. His companion on the voyage out and in many excursions at the several ports was the botanist, David Douglas. Scouler's journal of the voyage reports the instruction he received from early workers on Vancouver's expedition, such as

Archibald Menzies Archibald Menzies ( ; 15 March 1754 – 15 February 1842) was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist. He spent many years at sea, serving with the Royal Navy, private merchants, and the Vancouver Expedition. He was the first recorded Euro ...

, familiarising himself with the botany of the region and the preparation of specimens. His stay at the Columbia river appears to have lasted from April to September 1825. The voyage returned in the early part of 1826. Soon after his return to England, Scouler shipped as surgeon on the ''Clyde'', a merchant vessel that went to Calcutta, touching by the way at Cape Horn and Madras. On his return to Glasgow, he settled down to practice medicine (graduating M.D. in 1827), until he was appointed, on 18 June 1829, professor of geology and natural history and mineralogy in the

Andersonian University The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal c ...

. In 1834, he was appointed professor of mineralogy, and subsequently of geology, zoology, and botany, to the Royal Dublin Society, a post he held until his retirement on a pension in 1854, when he returned to Glasgow. The state of his health in 1853 and 1854 induced him to visit Portugal. He also made a tour in the Netherlands and, in later years, visited Scandinavia. After his retirement he occasionally lectured and he superintended the Andersonian Museum. He had been elected a fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

in 1829, and made LL.D. of Glasgow in 1850. He died at Glasgow on 13 November 1871. He was buried at Kilbarchan. Scouler was the author of more than twenty papers on various natural history subjects and

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

published between 1826 and 1852. He established, with two medical colleagues, the ''Glasgow Medical Journal'', and in 1831 was one of the editors of Cheek's ''Edinburgh Journal of Natural and Geographical Science''. He contributed notes and an appendix to the fourth edition of Dr. King's ''Principles of Geology explained'' (8vo, Edinburgh, 1853). ''Scouleria'', a genus of plants, and Scoulerite, a mineral, were named in his honour. Other species epithets, such as '' Enicurus scouleri'' and ''Hypericum scouleri'' commemorate his name. Scouler made large collections of specimens in the western regions of North America and the Galapagos. He bequeathed his books, which included many of great rarity, to Stirling's Li brary in Glasgow.

References

;Attribution: {{DEFAULTSORT:Scouler, John Scottish naturalists Scottish botanists Scottish explorers Scottish zoologists 1804 births 1871 deaths Scottish geologists Scottish mineralogists Scottish meteorologists Scottish surgeons Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Scientists from Glasgow Academics of the University of Strathclyde Alumni of the University of Glasgow 19th-century Scottish medical doctors 19th-century British botanists