BEN # 139

[Adolf Ceska]

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No. 139                              June 22, 1996

aceska at freenet.victoria.bc.ca        Victoria, B.C.
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 Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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ASKELL LOVE (1916-1994) - IN MEMORIAM AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
From: Adolf Ceska <aceska at freenet.victoria.bc.ca>

Dr.  Askell  Love  was  a  world  leader in the science of plant
cytotaxonomy and phytogeography.  His  friend,  Dr.  William  A.
Weber,  published  a short "In Memoriam" note and a bibliography
of Dr. Love's works in the Acta Botanica Islandica (12[1995]: 3-
5 and 6-34, respectively). I have a small  surplus  of  reprints
that I can send you, if you are interested. Please, send me your
mailing address, and please, use my freenet adress:

   aceska at freenet.victoria.bc.ca

NOT ben at cue.bc.ca; you may create a mail storm, if you use BEN's
address.


JUNE 10 -- TODAY IN THE HISTORICAL SCIENCES

1858:  ROBERT BROWN dies in London in the Soho Square house left
to him by  Joseph  Banks,  his  long-time  patron.  One  of  the
preeminent  taxonomic botanists of the early nineteenth century,
Brown had been an exceptionally industrious student of  medicine
and  botany  as  a young man in his native Scotland. Following a
period of naval service as a surgeon's mate, he was appointed in
1801 as a naturalist on the _Investigator_, a British  Admiralty
ship  preparing  to  sail  around  the world. The _Investigator_
voyage gave Brown an extensive knowledge of the  plants  of  the
southern  hemisphere,  and  he returned with specimens of nearly
4,000 species. As a leading figure in London scientific circles,
Brown played an important  role  in  the  establishment  of  the
Department  of  Botany  in  the  British  Museum,  and served as
Librarian and President of the Linnean Society.  Charles  Darwin
in his _Autobiography_ will recollect the many hours he spent in
Brown's company:

   I  saw  a  good  deal  of  Robert  Brown, "facile Princeps
   Botanicorum," as he was called by Humboldt; and  before  I
   was  married  I  used  to go and sit with him almost every
   Sunday morning. He seemed to me to be  chiefly  remarkable
   for  the  minuteness of his observations and their perfect
   accuracy. He never propounded to me any  large  scientific
   views in biology. His knowledge was extraordinarily great,
   and  much  died  with  him, owing to his excessive fear of
   ever making a mistake. He poured out his knowledge  to  me
   in  the  most unreserved manner, yet was strangely jealous
   on some points....Hooker told me that he  was  a  complete
   miser,  and  knew  himself  to be a miser, about his dried
   plants; and he would not lend specimens to Hooker, who was
   describing the plants of Tierra del Fuego,  although  well
   knowing  that  he  himself would never make any use of the
   collections from this country. On the other  hand  he  was
   capable  of  the most generous actions. When old, much out
   of health and quite  unfit  for  any  exertion,  he  daily
   visited  (as Hooker told me) an old man-servant, who lived
   at a distance and whom he supported,  and  read  aloud  to
   him.  This  is  enough to make up for any degree of scien-
   tific penuriousness or jealousy. He was  rather  given  to
   sneering  at  anyone who wrote about what he did not fully
   understand: I remember praising Whewell's _History of  the
   Inductive  Sciences_  to  him,  and  he  answered, "Yes, I
   suppose that he has read the prefaces of very many books."

Today in the Historical Sciences is a feature  of  Darwin-L,  an
international network discussion group on the history and theory
of  the  historical  sciences. Send the message INFO DARWIN-L to
listserv at ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu or connect  to  the  Darwin-L  Web
Server (http://rjohara.uncg.edu) for more information.


NEW PUBLICATION: GEOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Orr,  E.L.  &  W.N. Orr. 1996. Geology of the Pacific Northwest.
   McGraw Hill Co., Inc.  vi+409  p.  ISBN  0-07-048018-4  [soft
   cover] Price: US$39.95.

This  book is a  large  format  publication,  filled  with  many
photographs, maps, diagrams and  drawings  and  containing  long
chapters on British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.


CATKIN-BEARING PLANTS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA - REVISED EDITION

Brayshaw, T. C. 1996. Catkin-bearing plants of British Columbia.
   Royal  British Columbia Museum, Victoria. 213 p. ISBN 0-7718-
   9458-9 [soft cover] Price CDN$24.95

This is a new, updated edition of Dr. Brayshaw's 1976  treatment
of  Salix,  Populus,  Betula  etc.  in British Columbia. Several
species new to British Columbia were added and the  distribution
maps  were updated to include collections up to 1989. The publi-
cation can be ordered from (Visa & Mastercard accepted):

   Royal Museum Gift Shop
   675 Belleville Street
   Victoria, B.C.
   Canada V8V 1X4
   Tel: 604-356-0505
   Fax: 604-356-8197


FERNS ON THE INTERNET
From: Fiddlehead Forum 23(2), March-April 1996

The American Fern Society now has a homepage  on  the  worldwide
web! The page is at http://www.visuallink.com/fern

Also,

Pteridonet  is a new on-line listserve dedicated to the topic of
ferns. To subscribe send a message

   subscribe Pteridonet Your full name

to

   listproc at gac.edu


ADOLF CESKA: I HAVE MOVED AGAIN

In November 1995, I lost my job of a botany curator in the Royal
British Columbia Museum, due to the downsizing that  took  place
in  the British Columbia Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and
Culture. From December 1995 to April 1996 I worked in  the  B.C.
Ministry  of  Forests  on  problems of vegetation classification
(essentially developing a new version  of  the  COENOS  computer
program)  and  on  classification  of wetland plant communities.
Since May 1996 I have been working as an Ecologist in  the  Con-
servation  Data  Centre, B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and
Parks. My responsibility is vegetation classification and  iden-
tification  of  rare  and  endangered  plant communities. My new
address is

   Adolf Ceska
   B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks
   Conservation Data Centre
   780 Blanshard Street
   Victoria, B.C.
   Canada V8V 1X4

   Phone: 604-356-7855 (work), 604-477-1211 (home)
     Fax: 604-387-2733

My private address is:
Adolf Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C., Canada V8W 3S2

I would  like  to thank  all the BEN readers for  their  support
and  encouragement  (please, send me more news and contributions
to post on BEN !). I would like to  stress  that  BEN  does  not
reflect official positions of my employers. Nevertheless, if you
know about some "rare and endangered" vegetation or ecosystem in
British Columbia that should get into the official mill, please,
let me know. Many thanks again.

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