Pharmacy and herbal lore were parts of the classical Dioscorides’ Greek common heritage and of the traditional african medicine
A Voyage to Senegal the Isle of Goree and the River Gambia by Michel Adanson.
- Auteur :
Jacques Mugnier - Publication :
agroservices.fr -
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- Prix :
80 euros
Résumé
Student of Bernard de Jussieu and de Réaumur, Adanson left in 1749 for Senegal to spend four years as an employee with the Compagnie des Indes, a trading company. He published Histoire naturelle du Sénégal, shells (1757) and Familles des Plantes (1763) where he proposed a universal method of classification, now called numerical or adansonian taxonomy. The baobab was named Adansonia by Jussieu and Adansonia digitata by Linnaeus. Michel Adanson wrote the first scholarly account not only of the flora and fauna but of all aspects of the country and the people of Senegal. His Histoire Naturelle du Sénégal contains an account of his travels, followed by a description of shells.
This edition is concerned in the adaptation of the Adanson’s travel to the modern Senegal. The illustrations support a fascinating ethnographic and wildlife discoveries, but few mentions of plants, because he was reserving his botanical discoveries for future volumes. The Adanson’s Herbarium was first published in Nouvelle Flore illustrée du Sénégal et des régions voisines.
In annex, we present the statistical bases for the adansonian taxonomy.