- Patrick Russell (herpetologist)
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Patrick Russell
Patrick Russell (6 February 1726, Edinburgh - 2 July 1805, London) was a Scottish surgeon and naturalist who worked in India. He studied the snakes of India and is considered the 'Father of Indian Ophiology'. The Russell's viper, Daboia russelii, is named after him.
He was born in Edinburgh to John Russell as the half-brother of Alexander Russell, FRS and William Russell, FRS. He was educated in Edinburgh where he qualified MD. He joined his half-brother in Aleppo, Syria in 1750 and succeeded him as physician to the East India company factory there. He was a keen observer and skilled in clinical practice and he applied his medical skills in Aleppo during an outbreak of the plague.
In 1772 he returned to Englandto practice medicine in London.
He then travelled to Vishakapatnam in Madras Province, India in 1781 at the age of 54 to look after his half-brother who still worked with the East India Company there. He took a great interest in the plants of the region leading to his appointment in 1785 as the company's 'Botanist and Naturalist' in the Carnatic region of the Government of Madras. This post, according to Ray Desmond (1992, European Discovery of Indian Flora) was:
- The Company's expectations of their Naturalist were excessively optimistic. He was presumed to be a linguist, demographer, antiquarian, meteorologist, mineralogist and zoologist (in addition to being a botanist).
He wrote about the plant and animal life of Madras as he had of that of Aleppo. As a physician as well as a naturalist to the East India Company in the Carnatic he was concerned with the problem of snakebite and made it his aim to find a way for people to identify venomous snakes. He spent six years in the Madras presidency during which period he sent a large collection of snakes to the British Museum. He wrote a two volume work An Account of Indian Serpents Collected on the Coast of Coromandel which included drawings done by him. Part of the work was published posthumously. He also made a large collection of plants.
References
- S. Muthiah (2006) The first snakeman of India. The Hindu (23-January-2006) [1]
- Hawgood, B.J. (1994)The life and viper of Dr Patrick Russell MD FRS (1727-1805): physician and naturalist. Toxicon. 1994 Nov;32(11):1295-304. Abstract
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