Real Expedición Botánica, New Spain

The items in this collection relate to the work of the Real Expedición Botánica during the period 1790-1804 and particularly to issues of staffing and facilities. WMS/Amer.38 and 42 focus on the removal of the botanist Jayme Senseve for incompetence, his replacement by the physician José Mariano Mociño, his reinstatement and the issue of payment to Mociño for his work. WMS/Amer.44 relates to attempts by Martin de Sessé y Lacasta to gain space in the Hospital General de San Andrés to carry out tests upon indigenous drugs discovered by the expedition. WMS/Amer.43 summarises the achievements of the expedition with particular reference to their medical side.

1790-1804

4 volumes manuscript, bound.

Purchased 1962.

The Real Expedición Botánica was launched by the Spanish crown in the late 18th century to investigate the indigenous flora of New Spain. The expedition was led by Martin de Sessé y Lacasta until his return to Spain in 1803 and thereafter by Vicente de Cervantes.

Described in: Robin Price, An Annotated Catalogue of Medical Americana in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1983).

The items in this collection formed part of the Guerra Collection.