American Eden : David Hosack, botany, and medicine in the garden of the early republic / Victoria Johnson.

  • Johnson, Victoria, 1969-
Date:
[2018]
  • Books

About this work

Description

"One goal drove Hosack above all others: to build the Republic's first botanical garden. Despite innumerable obstacles and near-constant resistance, Hosack triumphed when his Elgin Botanic Garden at last crowned twenty acres of Manhattan farmland by 1810. "Where others saw real estate and power, Hosack saw the landscape as a pharmacopoeia able to bring medicine into the modern age" (Eric W. Sanderson, author of Mannahatta). What remains today of America's first botanical garden lies in the heart of midtown, buried beneath Rockefeller Center. Whether collecting specimens along the banks of the Hudson River, lecturing before a class of rapt medical students, or breaking the fever of a young Philip Hamilton, David Hosack was an American visionary who has been too long forgotten. Alongside other towering figures of the post-Revolutionary generation, he took the reins of a nation. In unearthing the dramatic story of his life, Johnson offers a lush depiction of the man who gave a new voice to the powers and perils of nature"-- Provided by publisher.

Publication/Creation

New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, [2018]

Physical description

x, 461 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 25 cm

Edition

First edition.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

"Tear in pieces the doctors" -- "An endless source of innocent delight" -- "Ripping open my belly" -- "He is as good as the theatre" -- "The grass is three feet high in the streets" -- "Doctor, I despair" -- "There are no informed people here" -- "H--k is enough, and even that unnecessary" -- "This delicious banquet" -- "I long to see Captain Lewis" -- "Strange noises, low spirits" -- "Such a piece of downright imposture" -- "You know, better than any man" -- "Instead of creeping along the earth" -- "Your fortunate city" -- "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" -- "Like a romance."

Type/Technique

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    BZP (Hosack)
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9781631494192
  • 1631494198