Joshua Brookes (24 November 1761 – 10 January 1833) was a British
anatomist
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
and
naturalist.
Early life
Brookes studied under
William Hunter,
William Hewson, Andrew Marshall, and
John Sheldon, in London. He then attended the practice of
Antoine Portal and other eminent surgeons at the
Hôtel-Dieu de Paris In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...
.
Brookesian Museum
Brookes became a teacher of anatomy in London, and the founder of the Brookesian Museum of Comparative Anatomy. This private museum is described in the 1830 catalogue ''Museum Brookesianum''.
Later life
Elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...
in 1819, Brookes gave up teaching in 1826, in bad health. After vainly endeavouring to dispose of his museum collection entire, he sold it off piecemeal. The final sale took place on 1 March 1830, and on 22 following days. He died on 10 January 1833 in Great Portland Street, London.
Works
Brookes was the first to place the
Cheetah
The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...
in its own
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
, which he established in 1828 as ''Acinonyx''.
His published writings included:
* ''Lectures on the Anatomy of the Ostrich'' (''
The Lancet
''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823.
The journal publishes original research articles, ...
'', vol. xii.);
* ''Brookesian Museum'', 1827;
* ''Catalogue of Zootomical Collection'', 1828;
* ''Address to the Zoological Club of the Linnean Society'', 1828;
* ''Thoughts on Cholera'', 1831, proposing hygienic and sanitary precautions; and
* a description of a new genus of ''
Rodentia
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are nat ...
'' (''Trans. Linn. Soc.'', 1829).
Legacy
The
generic name, ''
Brookesia
''Brookesia'' is a genus of chameleons, endemic to Madagascar, that range from small to very small in size, and are known collectively as leaf chameleons (though this name also commonly is used for species in the genera ''Rieppeleon'' and ''Rham ...
'', is in honour of Joshua Brookes.
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Brookes", p. 40).]
Joshua Brookes once encountered Chang and Eng, the original Siamese Twins. According to Frederick Drimmer's book ''Very Special People'', Brookes "provided a document declaring that the twins 'constitute a most extraordinary Lusus Naturae
port of nature the first instance I have seen of a double living child; they being totally devoid of deception, afford a very interesting spectacle, and they are highly deserving of public patronage.'"
References
*Dobson, J. (1952) ''Eighteenth Century Anatomists: Joshua Brookes, Practitioner'', 180–4.
Notes
;Attribution
1761 births
1833 deaths
British zoologists
British anatomists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
British expatriates in France
{{UK-zoologist-stub