Georg Joseph Kamel

Georg Joseph Kamel
Born 21 April 1661
Brno, Moravia
Died 2 May 1706 (1706-05-03) (aged 45)
Philippines
Fields botany, zoology, natural history
Author abbrev. (botany) KAMEL
Author abbrev. (zoology) KAMEL

Georg Joseph Kamel (21 April 1661, Brno, Moravia, Czech Republic – 2 May 1706, Manila, Philippines), also known as Jiří Josef Kamel (Czech), Georgius Josephus Camellus (Latin) or Jorge Camel (Spanish), was a Jesuit missionary, pharmacist and naturalist known for producing first comprehensive accounts of the Philippine flora and fauna and for introducing Philippine nature to the European learned world.[1] A number of Kamel's treatises were published in the Philosophical Transactions, while his descriptions of Philippine flora appeared as an appendix to the third volume of John Ray's Historia Plantarum. Carl Linnaeus named the well known genus of flowering plants Camellia in Kamel's honour.

Life

Kingdom of Bohemia

Kamel was born in the city of Brno in the Margraviate of Moravia, part of the Kingdom of Bohemia, then ruled by the House of Habsburg.

He was trained as a lay brother pharmacist at the Jesuit College in Brno. On November 12, 1682 he entered the Society of Jesus, spending his novitiate in Brno and his exams in Krems. In 1685 he was sent as an assistant apothecary to the Holy Trinity College in Jindřichův Hradec, but was soon promoted and moved to the pharmacy of St. Vittus in Český Krumlov.[2] During this time, Kamel applied to be sent to the Jesuit overseas missions and his request was granted.[1]

Philippines

Through Cádiz and New Spain, Kamel arrived in Manila in 1688, where he was assigned to the local Colegio Máximo de San Ignacio. Upon his arrival, he is said to have established the first Jesuit pharmacy in the Philippines, to which he soon added a botanical garden.[3] Given the lack of medical personnel, in addition to work in the pharmacy where he would prepare remedies, Kamel fulfilled the role of a physician, prescribing doses and regimens.

Through Kamel's labours, the Jesuit College in Manila soon became the most reputed one in the Philippines, as his treatment was sought by persons of high authority. At the same time, observing the Christian ideals of charity, he supplied remedies to the poor and the indigenous people for free.[3] Kamel's reputation fast extended even beyond the Philippine Islands, as he entered into scholarly correspondence with learned men both in Europe and Asia. Namely, he exchanged letters, information and specimens with Willem ten Rhijne, a Dutch botanist in Batavia; Samuel Browne and Edward Bulkley, two English surgeons in Madras; and two members of the Royal Society, the apothecary James Petiver and the naturalist John Ray.[1]

Kamel's Work

Kamel drew, described and commented on diverse parts of Philippine nature: from plants and minerals to animals and monsters (see below). Although the first consignment of his treatises fell into the hands of pirates and was lost, he successfully shipped his accounts to London where they were published by his correspondents Ray and Petiver. Kamel's descriptions of Philippine herbs, shrubs and trees were published as a 96-page appendix to Ray's third volume of Historia Plantarum (1704), while the remainder of his works appeared the Philosophical Transactions. Kamel was the first to acquaint Europe with species such as the tarsier, the colugo or the St Ignatius bean, a medicinal plants and source of strychnine.

The majority of Kamel's surviving notes are now kept in the British Library in London, while one volume each are held in the Natural History Museum, London and the Maurits Sabbe Library in Leuven, Belgium. Copies of parts of Kamel's work can be found in his birthplace in Brno, the Czech Republic, alongside his birth register records and several other documents.

Overview of Works

Published as an appendix to John Ray's Historia Plantarum
Published in Philosophical Transactions

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kroupa, Sebestian (Nov 2015). "Ex epistulis Philippinensibus: Georg Joseph Kamel SJ (1661–1706) and His Correspondence Network". Centaurus. 57 (4): 229–59. ISSN 1600-0498.
  2. ↑ Muzeum Český Krumlov http://www.muzeumck.cz/gallery/barokni-jezuitska-lekarna/
  3. 1 2 Murillo Velarde, Pedro (1749), Historia de la Provincia de Philipinas de la Compañia de Jesus, Manila, p.393v–394r
  4. ↑ IPNI.  Kamel.

Literature

External links


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