Anders Thiodolf Saelan (Sælan) (born 20 November 1834 in

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

; died 24 June 1921 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) was a Finnish physician and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. He reformed Finnish

mental health care A mental health professional is a health care practitioner or social and human services provider who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental disorders. This broad category was developed as a ...

during his decades as chief physician of Lapinlahti Psychiatric Hospital in Helsinki.

Life and career

Saelan's parents were Anders Johan Saelan (1795–1841), pastor of

Jämsä Jämsä () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region, about southwest of Jyväskylä. The municipality has a population of (), which makes it the second most populous town of the Central Finland after ...

, and Antoinette Henrietta Kristina Müller. He attended Porvoo Upper Secondary School (1844–1848) and Porvoo High School (1848–1851) and became a university student in 1851. Saelan graduated from the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in physical mathematics in 1855 and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 1857. Saelan studied in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

from 1860 to 1861. He became a

Bachelor of Medicine A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...

in 1859 and a licentiate and

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

and Surgery in 1865. He later became a Master of Joy (''Riemumaisteri'', an honorary degree awarded to those working for 50 years since receiving a master's degree) and Honorary Doctor of Philosophy in 1907 and a Doctor of Joy in 1917. Saelan was an

amanuensis An amanuensis ( ) ( ) or scribe is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. It may also be a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In some aca ...

of the

University of Helsinki Botanical Garden The University of Helsinki Botanical Garden is an institution subordinate to the Finnish Museum of Natural History of the University of Helsinki, which maintains a collection of live plants for use in research and teaching. The Botanical Garden ...

from 1859 to 1866, an additional doctor of the National Board of Medicine from 1861 to 1864, and an acting doctor from the

Tornio Tornio (; ; ; ) is a city and municipalities of Finland, municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border Twin cities, twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is wat ...

and Lapland districts as a from 1864 to 1865. Saelan worked at Lapinlahti Psychiatric Hospital as a

resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceut ...

from 1865 to 1868 and as an attorney general from 1868 to 1904. His dissertation ''Om självmordet i Finland i statistiskt och rättsmedicinskt hänseende'' ("About suicide in Finland in statistical and forensic terms") was the first Finnish study to deal with

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

s from a medical point of view. He was awarded the title of

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 1877. For several decades, he was Finland's most important expert in

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

and

Botanical work

Saelan's other field was botany, where he was also one of the most important Finnish researchers of his time. He published more than 100 papers on the floristics (plant geography) of Finland. He was an avid botanist and spent much of his time in the Lapinlahti hospital park. Saelan, at the time a young graduate, collaborated with

William Nylander William Andrew Michael Junior Nylander Altelius (born 1 May 1996) is a Swedish professional ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nylander was selected by the Maple Leafs in t ...

to publish ''Herbarium Musei fennici'' in 1859. This was a catalogue of the specimens in the herbarium of the botanical museum. Nylander wrote about the

cryptogam A cryptogam (scientific name ''Cryptogamae'') is a plant, in the broad sense of the word, or a plant-like organism that share similar characteristics, such as being multicellular, photosynthetic, and primarily immobile, that reproduces via sp ...

s, while Saelen dealt with the

phanerogam A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. la ...

s. This catalogue listed 1,025 species of

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Ti ...

s, 333 mosses, 316

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s, 71

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

, and 375

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

. The moss genus '' Saelania'' is named in honour of Thiodolf Saelan.

Personal

Thiodolf Saelan was married in 1873 to Naema Lovisa Vivika von Knorring (1850–1920). They had four children: Gertrud Maria (1875–1911), Karl Thorvald (1878–1959), Eva Johanna Paersch (1883–1966), and Sigyn Naemi Lindberg (1888–1965). Karl Saelan was the technical director of the .

Selected works

* * * * *

References

Cited literature

* {{Authority control 1834 births 1921 deaths Scientists from the Grand Duchy of Finland Botanists from the Russian Empire 19th-century Finnish botanists 20th-century Finnish botanists Finnish psychiatrists 19th-century Finnish physicians 20th-century Finnish physicians Swedish-speaking Finns People from Lappeenranta University of Helsinki alumni