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 (; ) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is almost contiguous with Johnstone, about 5 miles or 8 km west of the centre of Paisley. The village's name means "cell (chape ...

, but was sent very early to the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. When his medical course there was completed, he went to Paris and studied at the

Jardin des Plantes The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...

. On moving to England, Dr. (afterwards Sir)

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botany, botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew Gardens, Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botan ...

secured for him an appointment as surgeon and naturalist on board the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

's ship ''William and Ann''. The vessel sailed from London on 25 July 1824 for the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

, touching at

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, 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. During his naval expeditions, h ...

, 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. In 1834, he was appointed professor of mineralogy, and subsequently of geology, zoology, and botany, to the

Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) () is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economically. It was long active as a learned ...

, 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 collec ...

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 Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

subjects and

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

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 ''Hypericum scouleri'', known by the common name Scouler's St. John's wort in English, is a flowering species of plant from western North America. It grows in areas around streams and wetlands from Canada to the highlands of Mexico. It is sometim ...

'' 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 Library in Glasgow.

References

;Attribution: {{DEFAULTSORT:Scouler, John Scottish naturalists 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 Scottish botanists