Sir John McClelland (1805–1883) was a British

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

with interests in

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, who worked for the

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 ...

. In 1835 he was sent on a mission (Tea Committee) to identify if tea could be grown in north-eastern India along with

Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich FRS FRSE (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British ...

and William Griffith. This mission ran into troubles with the members of the group. McClelland was appointed 1836 as the secretary of the "Coal Committee", the forerunner of the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

(GSI), formed to explore possibilities to exploit

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n coal. He was the first to propose hiring professional

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

s for the task. He was also involved in surveys of forests and his reports led to the establishment of the Forest Department in India. He also served as an interim superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden from 1846 to 1847 and was editor of the ''Calcutta Journal of Natural History'' from 1841–1847.

Legacy

McClelland is commemorated in the name of the mountain bulbul, ''Ixos mcclellandii''. A species of

venomous snake Venomous snakes are species of the suborder Serpentes that are capable of producing venom, which they use for killing prey, for defense, and to assist with digestion of their prey. The venom is typically delivered by injection using hollow or g ...

, ''

Sinomicrurus macclellandi ''Sinomicrurus macclellandi'', commonly known as MacClelland's coral snake, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to southern and eastern Asia. Etymology The specific name, ''macclellandi'', is in honor ...

'', is also named in his honor.

Work

In his work as an ichthyologist he described many speciesDey, Subhas C. (1984). "Ichthyological developments in Assam during Nineteenth Century". ''Indian Journal of History of Science'' 19 (4): 297–313
PDF
and several genera of fish, among them ''

Schistura ''Schistura'' is a genus of fish in the stone loach family Nemacheilidae native to the streams and rivers of the southern and eastern Asia. Some of these species are troglobitic A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or ...

''.

Writings

*McClelland J (1839). "Indian Cyprinidae". ''Asiatic Researches'' 19: 217–471.

References

External links

Darwin correspondence
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClelland, John 1800 births 1883 deaths British businesspeople 19th-century British medical doctors British geologists British ornithologists Indian ornithologists 19th-century British businesspeople

Legacy

Work

See also

Writings

References

Further reading

External links