1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. I was in London 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: a few weeks ago and I finally went to the 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: British Museum, Yeah, which I loved. There's a cool thing 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: there that I didn't realize in its layout, which is 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: that the early areas of the museum that you passed 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: through are really fascinating because they're set up almost as 9 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:38,160 Speaker 1: though you're walking through a grand personal study where someone's 10 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: personal collection is housed. And that's because you kind of 11 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: are what sets it off. And what confused me initially 12 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: is that there aren't a lot of like placards and 13 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: shelf talkers telling you what you're looking at. You can 14 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: find that information if you look for it. And then 15 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: you come across the bar of Sir Hans Sloan, and 16 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: there's lots of signage about him and his legacy, and 17 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: that's because most of the things you're looking at are 18 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: things he collected in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, or 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 1: replicas of those things. Like it's kind of purposely made 20 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: to look like here is his personal collection, and then 21 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: there's more. Once you get in through that into the 22 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,279 Speaker 1: museum proper, you get to see all the cool stuff 23 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: like the Rosetta Stone and whatnot. But we don't get 24 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,559 Speaker 1: a whole lot of Hans Sloan education in the US. 25 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: I didn't that I can recall. I don't think i'd 26 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: ever heard his name before. Honestly, I knew about him, 27 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: but only because of reading that I have done as 28 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: an adult, like connected to this podcast. So I decided 29 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: he would be an interesting topic. His legacy, as acknowledged 30 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: by the British Museum is mixed. He is the reason 31 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: there's a British Museum, but there are a lot of 32 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: problematic aspects to the way that he gathered his collection 33 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: and really like the resources that enabled him to do so. 34 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about him today. Yeah, I 35 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: think there are also some problematic aspects to the British 36 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: Museum more broadly, but that's like way beyond the scope 37 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:13,239 Speaker 1: of today. Oh, for sure, We've talked about it multiple times, right, 38 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: Like our whole episodes on the Elgin Marbles discuss all 39 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: of those problems at length. Yeah, there are multiple issues, Yeah, 40 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: but they're pretty forthright about his problems, I will say so. 41 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:35,079 Speaker 1: Hans Sloan was born on April sixteenth, sixteen sixty in Killiele, Ulster, County, 42 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: Down Ireland that sits on the east coast of what's 43 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: now Northern Ireland, southeast of Belfast. He happened to be 44 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: born the same year the Royal Society was founded, and 45 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: that would become an important part of his life. The 46 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: Sloane family was not wealthy, but they were in a 47 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: unique position. Hans's parents, Alexander Sloan and Sarah Hicks Sloane, 48 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: had each moved to Killyle from Scotland as servants of 49 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: the wealthy Protestants who had moved there as part of 50 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: the plantation of Ulster. We also talked about the plantation 51 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: of Ulster recently. Alexander and Sarah had met in Ulster 52 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: and gotten married, and Hans was their seventh and last child, 53 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: but one of only three who survived childhood. His surviving 54 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: older brothers, James and William, became a lawyer and a merchant. 55 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,239 Speaker 1: Because this Loans were part of a colony that was 56 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: established on seized land, there was a degree of privilege, 57 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: even for those who were working in service to the 58 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: aristocracy that had been granted that land. Biographer James del 59 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: Borgo notes in his book Collecting the World quote he 60 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: likely enjoyed highly cordial, if not familial, relations with the 61 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: aristocratic Hamiltons, whose company appears to have lent him an 62 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: easy sociability around persons of different rank, which was later 63 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: to be one of the hallmarks of his own extensive 64 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: social circles. From an early age, plants fascinated Hans, and 65 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: he also loved exploring and learning about nature in general. 66 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: He is said to have wandered all over that land 67 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: that di Hamilton's had been granted. He wrote as an 68 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: adult that he was quote very much pleased with the 69 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: study of plants and other parts of nature, and that 70 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: he had observed nature out in the fields in his childhood, 71 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: as well as when visiting other people who had collected 72 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: various natural items. He also described, for example, watching pete 73 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: be dug up to be used as fuel and being 74 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: very intrigued by all of the root systems that were 75 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: revealed when that pete was pulled up from the earth, 76 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,280 Speaker 1: and he also noticed that animal skeletons and sometimes even 77 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: pieces of gold were entangled in the roots. He to 78 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: Tracy's Dismay was a fan of the coin Horde. He 79 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 1: started his own little collections as a kis with plants 80 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: and things like seagull eggs that he found around home. 81 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: As a teenager, Sloane went through some sort of horrible 82 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:13,600 Speaker 1: illness described as a violent hemorrhage. This illness stopped his 83 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: life in its tracks for several years, from the ages 84 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: of sixteen until nineteen. He rarely left his room, and 85 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: he had very frequent bouts of coughing, in which he 86 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: would spit up blood. Sloane would occasionally have this problem 87 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:33,159 Speaker 1: crop up throughout his life. He lived longer than average, 88 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,119 Speaker 1: though This early experience made him take his health really 89 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:41,359 Speaker 1: seriously and he was extremely cautious regarding his diet. He 90 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: drank very little. This may have also informed his decision 91 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: to study medicine. Yeah, when we say he drank very little, 92 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: we mean alcohol. He was big on hydration, as you'll 93 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: hear in a little while. When it came time for 94 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: higher education, Sloane studied medicine, first in London and then 95 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: in France. And of course this is a time when 96 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: the path to a medical degree was quite different than 97 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,919 Speaker 1: it would be today. While in London, he kind of 98 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: went the root of an apothecary and he learned how 99 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: to prepare plants for medicinal purposes from a chemist who 100 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: had moved to the city from Germany named Nikolaus Staphorst. 101 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:17,559 Speaker 1: This was in addition to a number of other things 102 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: that Sloane did as a little bit of a sort 103 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: of self directed study. He often visited the physic Garden 104 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 1: in Chelsea to study plants and to learn to tell 105 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:30,159 Speaker 1: them apart on site, and he also made an effort 106 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: to just connect with like minded people who could help 107 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: him along in his learning and teach him what they knew. Next, 108 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: Sloane went to France, where he attended the University of 109 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,840 Speaker 1: Orange and graduated with his medical degree from there in 110 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: sixteen eighty three. He had read the work of a 111 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: number of notable French scientists and physicians before he went there, 112 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: and he was able to reach out to some of 113 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: those authors to further extend his network of colleagues and mentors. 114 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: One of the men he befriended was botanist Joseph Pitton 115 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: div Turnfort, who is now recognized for laying the foundation 116 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: of plant classification. That idea of classification of plants and 117 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: animals that had not already been identified was something that 118 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: tourn four was really driven by, and it no doubt 119 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: influenced Sloane in his own collecting of specimens when he 120 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: had the opportunity to travel a few years later. Yeah, 121 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: there was a whole ideology of like, we could lose 122 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: any of this at any time, we need to collect 123 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: and catalog all of it so we know what we 124 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: have on earth. And that was a lot of what 125 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: Sloane bought into. So after getting his medical degree, Sloane 126 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: spent another two years in France before he moved back 127 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: to London, and though he was still fairly young, he 128 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: was just twenty five at the time. He was elected 129 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,559 Speaker 1: to the Royal Society as a fellow in sixteen eighty five, 130 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: and his next step was to actually practice medicine, which 131 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: he did under the mentorship of Thomas Sydenham. In sixteen 132 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: eighty nine, opened up his own medical practice out of 133 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: his home in London. Uh that was not uncommon for 134 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: doctors at the time. They often worked out of their houses. 135 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: When Hans was twenty seven, two important things happened. First, 136 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: he became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. 137 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: That's something that comes up pretty frequently on the show, 138 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: but we don't usually note what a true distinction that was. 139 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: At the time, there were only a couple dozen men 140 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: who had been given that distinction, So this was a 141 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:32,679 Speaker 1: very small select group. Yeah, I think I read a 142 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: stat and don't quote me that by the mid eighteen 143 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: hundreds it was still like less than fifty people. It 144 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: was not something that everybody just got by virtue of practicing. Second, 145 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: he was offered the chance to go to Jamaica as 146 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: a personal doctor to the island's new British governor, Christopher Munk, 147 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: second Duke of Albemarle. Sloan and Monk had actually met 148 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: before Sloan had gotten his medical credentials in so they 149 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: did have a degree of familiarity with one another. This 150 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: was really a dangerous job offer. The travel to get 151 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 1: there alone was likely to encounter any number of problems, 152 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: and this was smack dab in the middle of what's 153 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: known as the Golden Age of piracy, with the Caribbean 154 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:22,320 Speaker 1: known as an especially active place in that regard. Several 155 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: of Hans Sloan's friends tried to persuade him to turn 156 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: down the appointment, but he managed to get a lot 157 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: of money and a lot of authority as part of 158 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: the deal, and so he took it. He was to 159 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:36,960 Speaker 1: be paid six hundred pounds a year, plus another three 160 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,680 Speaker 1: hundred pounds up front as sort of a signing bonus, 161 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: and he was not only in charge of Monk's healthcare, 162 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: but of the entire fleet, and then when he got there, 163 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: of basically everyone and everything that lived on the grounds. 164 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 1: So that meant that he also was getting a management 165 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:56,839 Speaker 1: position as he helmed the team of physicians and apothecaries 166 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: that would be there as well as on the journey. 167 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: The trip with Monk was destined to be the beginning 168 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: of an impressive lifelong collection for Sloan, but that wasn't 169 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:10,560 Speaker 1: something that was born solely of his own desires. When 170 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: he left London to cross the Atlantic, he carried with 171 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: him requests to collect samples from a number of his 172 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: colleagues in the medical field, some of them had been 173 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: the ones to urge him not to go. During this 174 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: time at sea, he made notes regarding his observations of 175 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:30,559 Speaker 1: the things he could see in the ocean, referencing dolphins, jellyfish, birds, 176 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: and phosphorescence, among other things. Yeah, I love that His 177 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: friends were like, don't go, don't go, don't go. Well, 178 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:38,199 Speaker 1: if you're going anyway, here's my wish list as why 179 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: as you're there. Coming up, we're going to talk about 180 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:45,319 Speaker 1: Sloan's time in Jamaica, but first we will pause for 181 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. After the three month long voyage it 182 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 1: took to get to Jamaica, Sloan was away from London 183 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: for another fifteen months. He didn't only go to Jamaica. 184 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: He also visited Barbados, Saint Kitts, and Nevis, and he 185 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:13,319 Speaker 1: made additional stops throughout the Caribbean. And he collected specimens 186 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 1: on all of his travels, hundreds of them. Some accounts 187 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,240 Speaker 1: put the number around eight hundred, but some note that 188 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: as exclusively the number of plant samples he acquired, and 189 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: he did also collect various fauna. This was by no 190 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: means the entirety of the collection he would eventually have, 191 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: and we will talk more about that in just a bit. 192 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,080 Speaker 1: Floane's impression of life in Jamaica was a little bit odd. 193 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: He thought, for example, that the meat of the turtles 194 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: there was causing a blood infection in the people who 195 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: ate it. He noted that people sweated heavily. Medicine in 196 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 1: the seventeenth century was still grappling with a lot of 197 00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: the concepts that are pretty well understood today. By the 198 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:01,200 Speaker 1: time Sloane was in Jamaica, For example, scientists had understood 199 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: that blood flowed through the body thanks to the pumping 200 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: of the heart for about fifty years. They understood that 201 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: humans and most animals require oxygen to breathe. That was 202 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: a concept less than thirty years old, and there were 203 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: still plenty of physicians who believed in diagnosing patients based 204 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: on Galen's system of the four humors. Clone was really 205 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 1: ahead of the game and a lot of ways when 206 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:28,360 Speaker 1: it came to medical ideology. Though one of the things 207 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:31,560 Speaker 1: he advocated for was that everyone drink more water and 208 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: less alcohol. Doesn't seem as though that was a well 209 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: accepted piece of advice. The popular belief at the time 210 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,560 Speaker 1: was that you needed to drink alcohol to digest food 211 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:47,360 Speaker 1: better in hot climates. That one really kind of flummockses 212 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: to me, because I love a cocktail, but drinking alcohol 213 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: when it's really hot out is kind of nightmarish to me, 214 00:12:54,240 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: So I'm like, why, why it does seem likely that 215 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:03,199 Speaker 1: Sloane would have stayed in the Caribbean for much longer 216 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: had it not been for the fact that his employer died. 217 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: According to the History of Parliament that is online, Monk 218 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: liked Jamaica, but it didn't really like him back quote. 219 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: His principal achievement was the recovery of a wrecked Spanish 220 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 1: treasure ship, the first successful salvage operation of modern times, 221 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:24,440 Speaker 1: which brought him and estimated forty eight thousand pounds for 222 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,679 Speaker 1: an investment of eight hundred pounds. But he did not 223 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,200 Speaker 1: enjoy his wealth for long. Drink and the climate finished 224 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 1: him off on six October sixteen eighty eight. Monk was 225 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: really young when he died, just thirty five, and there 226 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: isn't a whole lot of information about his death and 227 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,720 Speaker 1: what sorts of attention Sloan may have given him as 228 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 1: his doctor. In Sloane's own words, Sloane made some notes 229 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: about Monk's health, noting that he didn't seem entirely healthy 230 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: even before the trip started. We also know that he 231 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,679 Speaker 1: bled Monk as a treatment on occasion, and he gave 232 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: him medicine for jaundice. Monk had a history of heavy drinking, 233 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:05,439 Speaker 1: and it seemed that he continued to do so in 234 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:09,560 Speaker 1: Jamaica despite all advice against it from Sloane as well 235 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,040 Speaker 1: as other physicians. And it is from those other physicians 236 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: that we actually have the information that we do about 237 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: Monk's case. Sloan left it out of his published accounts, 238 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: perhaps out of respect or gauging by the accounts that 239 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: do exist, because it sounds like a truly awful end 240 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: that maybe Sloane did not think would be appropriate for 241 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 1: all readers. Even post mortem. The body of the Duke 242 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: proved to be a challenging case for Sloane. It fell 243 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 1: to him to figure out how to preserve his employer's 244 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,840 Speaker 1: remains for transit across the Atlantic when he had died 245 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: in a climate where the locals insisted that you had 246 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: to bury a body within twelve hours. The idea was 247 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: the heat accelerated decomposition so much you had to do 248 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: it that quickly. After an extensive preparation that involved removing 249 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: some organs, filling the box with powder to dry it out, 250 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: and wrapping it in linen that had been soaked in 251 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: a mix of resin, wax and fat, Monk's body was 252 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: sealed into a coffin covered with pitch and shipped back 253 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: to England for burial. At that time, Sloane's time in 254 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:17,440 Speaker 1: the Caribbean came to a close, and during that time 255 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: in the Caribbean, all of monks and Sloans and other 256 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:25,240 Speaker 1: people's activities on Jamaica were of course made possible by 257 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: enslaved labor. The colonization of Jamaica goes all the way 258 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: back to Columbus, when he claimed the island for Spain, 259 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: even though there were people there already. In the early 260 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,760 Speaker 1: fifteen hundred, Spain built a settlement on Jamaica and enslaved 261 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: the indigenous population of the island, the Arawaks. They sometimes 262 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: go by other names as well. In addition to being 263 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: worked to death, many Arawoks died as a result of 264 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: exposure to diseases that were brought by the Spanish, and 265 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: the high death rate of that indigenous population led the 266 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: Spanish to start bringing in enslaved people from Africa to 267 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: the island to fill those losses of the enslaved workforce. 268 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: In sixteen fifty five, Britain battled Spain over possession of 269 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 1: Jamaica and one and in sixteen seventy Britain formally took 270 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,480 Speaker 1: possession of the island. From there, the slave trade that 271 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: went through Jamaica ramped up considerably. This is a very 272 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: simplified and quick overview of how we get to the 273 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: point where Hans Sloane was there. We have an episode, 274 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 1: for example, on the Maroon Wars in the archive from 275 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen that covers two uprisings of the enslaved people 276 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: of the island against the British colonists who ruled there. 277 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: There is a lot more history and nuance to all 278 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: of that, but we just want to make clear what 279 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: was going on. Additionally, Sloane was actively involved in behaviors 280 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 1: as a doctor that exploited the black enslaved workforce, particularly 281 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 1: the women. There are instances in his notes where he 282 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: prescribes that patients should drink breast milk from enslaved black women. 283 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: He also add that enslaved women should serve as wet 284 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,479 Speaker 1: nurses for the families of white colonists. But when it 285 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 1: came to treating illnesses in the black population, which was 286 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: something that was absolutely part of his job, Sloane's notes 287 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: indicate that he was less likely to believe them when 288 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:22,119 Speaker 1: they described their symptoms than he would his white patients. Overall, 289 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:25,640 Speaker 1: his writing about the non white population is lace throughout 290 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: with racism and a sense of superiority. It broke my 291 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:34,120 Speaker 1: heart reading that, because these are problems that persist today 292 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: in the medical community of listening to black people and 293 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: other people of color when they talk about how they 294 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 1: don't feel well, and it was going on in the 295 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: sixteen hundreds as well. But the most Germane part of 296 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: this story is that while there is a lot of 297 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: discussion about Sloan collecting various flora and fauna on Jamaica, 298 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:00,040 Speaker 1: in most cases those samples were procured for him I 299 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: enslaved people from West Africa. According to the British Museum, 300 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,679 Speaker 1: most of those people could be traced back to Ghana 301 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,199 Speaker 1: and Cotduvoir. And that was not only a matter of 302 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: those people gathering samples at the direction of Sloan. These 303 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: were people that had a deep understanding and knowledge about 304 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: the flora of the island and that heavily informed the 305 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: direction of the collection. So as we talk about his 306 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: immense collection and others that belonged to various British collectors 307 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 1: that would eventually come into his possession, the work involved 308 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,479 Speaker 1: in gathering those materials has to be credited to enslaved people. 309 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:40,720 Speaker 1: There is also another way in which slavery directly benefited 310 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,159 Speaker 1: Sloan's collecting that we're going to talk about in just 311 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,399 Speaker 1: a moment. One of the more fun sides to the 312 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: story of the Jamaica trip, but one that we have 313 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,120 Speaker 1: to do some myth busting on, has to do with chocolate. 314 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,679 Speaker 1: Sloane is said to have discovered while there a local 315 00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: beverage made using the cacal plant, but he didn't really 316 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:02,960 Speaker 1: care for it. It upset his stomach and it was 317 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,200 Speaker 1: too bitter, so he decided to doctor it up by 318 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,120 Speaker 1: making it with milk instead of with water, and that 319 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: version he loved. When he got back to London, he 320 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 1: started making it there. Sloane touted the health benefits as 321 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: well as the deliciousness of his drink, and soon it 322 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: started popping up as an offering at London's apothecaries. And 323 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 1: the story goes that Sloane's cacaw drink got the attention 324 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: of a name that will likely be familiar to listeners, 325 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: and that is the Cadbury Brothers, and from there it 326 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:37,120 Speaker 1: became a retail sensation. But that story isn't really accurate. 327 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,439 Speaker 1: The story is often held up as the tale of 328 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:46,439 Speaker 1: Hanslane inventing milk chocolate or hot chocolate or both, but 329 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:50,640 Speaker 1: it's a bit more complicated than that. Milk chocolate absolutely 330 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: already existed. There were even recipes for it available in 331 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:59,199 Speaker 1: England well before Sloane's trip. There were also versions of 332 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:03,160 Speaker 1: hot chocol drinks made with milk and cinnamon in Jamaica 333 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: before he got there. It does seem like he encountered 334 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:10,160 Speaker 1: it for the first time when he arrived there, and 335 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 1: he might have even believed that he invented it. He 336 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: definitely prescribed chocolate and milky hot chocolate beverages as a 337 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 1: health drink once he was back in London, but he 338 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: was also not the only physician to do that, nor 339 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,199 Speaker 1: was he the first. This seems more than anything to 340 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,240 Speaker 1: be a case where name recognition kind of drives the 341 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 1: bus with this whole narrative, because most people knew his name, 342 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:39,280 Speaker 1: that name was used on commercially produced chocolate products in 343 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: England and along the line, there was just a mythology 344 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:47,359 Speaker 1: that developed of his having invented it. Yeah, the Slow 345 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 1: name has persisted into very modern times. As part of 346 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:58,679 Speaker 1: the Chocolate Legacy of England. After returning to London in 347 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: sixteen ninety three, slow And became the Secretary of the 348 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: Royal Society, and in this role he actually had a 349 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:10,640 Speaker 1: fairly significant impact. He restarted the publication of philosophical transactions 350 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:14,399 Speaker 1: and he expanded its offerings. He also picked back up 351 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: with his medical practice. Despite having lost his first very 352 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,679 Speaker 1: high profile patient at a pretty early age, Sloan was 353 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: in demand among the most powerful and important people in Britain. 354 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,680 Speaker 1: He continued to be the personal physician for the Duke 355 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:33,119 Speaker 1: of Albemarle's widow, and he became Physician Extraordinary to Queen Anne. 356 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,880 Speaker 1: He actually had quite an impressive collection of patients, which 357 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:41,120 Speaker 1: included names like John Locke, Samuel Peeps and recent frequent 358 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,879 Speaker 1: mention on the show Robert Walpole, among others. He was 359 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:48,200 Speaker 1: also employed as a physician at Christ's Hospital, which was 360 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 1: a charity hospital that offered care to London's poor citizens. 361 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 1: On May eleventh, sixteen ninety five, Sloane married a woman 362 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: named Elizabeth Langley Rose. Elizabeth was the widow of Folk Rose, 363 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 1: who was one of the doctors who, along with Sloane, 364 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 1: had treated the Duke of Albemarle in Jamaica. Before his death, 365 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: in addition to being a doctor, Rose had acquired several 366 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: estates and plantations in Jamaica. When Rose died in sixteen 367 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,879 Speaker 1: ninety four, those passed to Elizabeth, and through Elizabeth, that 368 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:27,159 Speaker 1: considerable worth passed to Hans Sloane, and that money enabled 369 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 1: him to continue collecting at a rate that would not 370 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,639 Speaker 1: have been possible with only his income as a physician. 371 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 1: He received one third of the profits of the Rose plantations. 372 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: And this is the second way that slavery enabled his 373 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 1: work that we alluded to earlier. Sloane had enough money 374 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:50,160 Speaker 1: coming in through Elizabeth's Caribbean properties that he was able 375 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,399 Speaker 1: to donate the entirety of his salary at the Charity 376 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: Hospital back to that organization. He and Elizabeth had three children, 377 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 1: but only two, both of them daughters, survived until adulthood. 378 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: Several years after his trip to Jamaica, in sixteen ninety six, 379 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 1: Sloane published a project that he had been working on 380 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: since he completed his travels, and that was a catalog 381 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,960 Speaker 1: of his plant collection from abroad. The Latin language catalog 382 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: was titled Catalogus Plantarum k in Insula Jamaica, and while 383 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: it was his first book about the work he did 384 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: while he was there, it was not his last. He 385 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:31,359 Speaker 1: compiled a much larger project in two volumes titled in brevity, 386 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: The Natural History of Jamaica. Natural History of Jamaica, which 387 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 1: is also titled A Voyage to the Islands Madeira, Barbados, Nevis, 388 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: Saint Christopher's and Jamaica, took a long time to complete. 389 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:48,159 Speaker 1: His first volume was published in seventeen oh seven, eleven 390 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 1: years after the Plant Catalog, and it was another eighteen 391 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,720 Speaker 1: years before he published the second volume. There's an event 392 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,680 Speaker 1: that takes place in seventeen fourteen associated with Sloane that's 393 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: differ dificult to substantiate, although it does make sense given 394 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,200 Speaker 1: some of the things that happened after it. So it's 395 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 1: often been repeated that as Queen Anne was on her 396 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: deathbed that year, Sloane cared for her, and while she 397 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 1: was ill, there was a Tory move to try to 398 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,400 Speaker 1: put an exiled Stewart on the throne. And the part 399 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: of all of this that is alleged to involve Sloan 400 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: is that he is believed, although there is not hard proof, 401 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: to have kept Queen Anne alive long enough to get 402 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:31,600 Speaker 1: the documentation in place to ensure the Hanoverian succession and 403 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 1: the coronation of King George the First. King George the 404 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:39,520 Speaker 1: First also held Sloane as his personal physician, and in 405 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 1: seventeen sixteen Hans Sloane became a baronet by order of 406 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: the king. It was extremely unusual for a physician, no 407 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:51,399 Speaker 1: matter how well known or respected, to be granted a 408 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:55,400 Speaker 1: hereditary title. In fact, it had never happened before this, 409 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: and one theory is that this was a form of 410 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: thank you from George the First for Sloane's service in 411 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: securing the hanover throne. We don't really know that for sure, 412 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: and we probably never will, but we do know something 413 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: quite interesting about the time that Sloane served George the First. 414 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,719 Speaker 1: It was while he was the king's physician that Sloane 415 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 1: adopted the policy that the entire royal family should receive 416 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:27,680 Speaker 1: smallpox inoculations. He had also had his own family inoculated, 417 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,040 Speaker 1: which was very forward thinking. Edward Jenner's work to find 418 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: a smallpox vaccine was still decades away, but this is 419 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:39,399 Speaker 1: another instance where progressive work came at a human cost. 420 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: Sloane tested the process on incarcerated men in Newgate Jail 421 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: before administering inoculations to the Royal family. After suffering a 422 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: stroke in June of seventeen twenty seven, George the First 423 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: died and he was succeeded by his son, George the Second, who, 424 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: like the previous two monarchs, kept Hans Sloane on as 425 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,879 Speaker 1: a Royal physician eight years before George the seconds ascension. 426 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: In seventeen nineteen, the Royal College of Physicians elected Hans 427 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,119 Speaker 1: Sloan its president and he held that post for the 428 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,359 Speaker 1: next sixteen years. During his time as President of the 429 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: Royal College of Physicians, Sloane also served as President of 430 00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:24,159 Speaker 1: the Royal Society. He gained that position in seventeen twenty 431 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,199 Speaker 1: seven and he served in that role for fourteen years. 432 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 1: So for eight years he was helming both of those 433 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,840 Speaker 1: societies at the same time. Kind of makes him like 434 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,959 Speaker 1: the Grand Puba of all things science in London. He 435 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,359 Speaker 1: ended his presidency with the Royal Society in seventeen forty 436 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: one when he retired from his work. But though he 437 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:49,640 Speaker 1: wasn't in active practice or holding office with any professional societies, 438 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:54,159 Speaker 1: Sloane was not idle in his retirement. Throughout his career 439 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: in medicine, Sloan had been particularly interested in ie health. 440 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,639 Speaker 1: In seventeen forty five he published Account of a Medicine 441 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 1: for soreness, weakness, and other distempers of the eyes. We're 442 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: going to take a break here to hear from the 443 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:11,639 Speaker 1: sponsors who keep stuff you missed in history class going, 444 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: and when we come back, we're actually going to backtrack 445 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 1: on the timeline just a little bit to focus on 446 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:30,639 Speaker 1: Sir Hans Sloan's collection of specimens and their fate. After 447 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 1: his trip as a young physician to Jamaica, Sloan was 448 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: completely bitten by the collecting bug, and he continued to 449 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,480 Speaker 1: gather specimens even when he wasn't traveling. He developed a 450 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: network and had people that would go out and seek 451 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: out collections and buy them for him, and he also 452 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,880 Speaker 1: did this by acquiring other collectors' collections. For example, when 453 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: William Charlton died in seventeen oh two, Sloane got his 454 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,880 Speaker 1: cabinet of curiosities. Charlton, whose name had been Courting before 455 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 1: he changed it, was from a very wealthy family that 456 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: had made a fortune in the Caribbean starting in the 457 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:09,640 Speaker 1: sixteen twenties, so another example of a collection that clearly 458 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: was built on the back of enslaved labor. Charlton was 459 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 1: a member of Sloane's social circle, as was apothecary James Pettiver, 460 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: who had also assembled an impressive collection, which Sloane got 461 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:27,200 Speaker 1: when Petiver died in seventeen eighteen. His collection became so 462 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: enormous that his house at number three Bloomsbury, where he 463 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:35,399 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth had moved in seventeen hundred, was bursting, and 464 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: so he bought the house next door as well. By 465 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,320 Speaker 1: the time he purchased Number four Bloomsbury, he had become 466 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 1: a well known and well respected name, not just in 467 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: England but throughout Europe, and as a consequence, he and 468 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:53,840 Speaker 1: Elizabeth entertained a lot of famous visitors. Carl Naeus came 469 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:58,720 Speaker 1: to see Sloane's remarkable assortment of specimens. Hans Sloan had 470 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: to move his collection one more time in seventeen forty 471 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: two to a space that could better accommodate it. That 472 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: was a manor house in Chelsea, where King Henry the 473 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: Eighth had once lived, and it was right next to 474 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: the Chelsea Physic Garden. That was the place where he 475 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: had studied plants in his early years to memorize them. 476 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: He continued to receive an array of famous guests there 477 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,160 Speaker 1: for visits. The Sloane home was not open to the public, 478 00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,920 Speaker 1: but people could use their social connections to basically be like, 479 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,719 Speaker 1: do you know Sir Hans Sloan? Can you get me 480 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 1: in touch with them? And then they would make appointments 481 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: and come to the house and see everything. Sloan's retirement 482 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: in seventeen forty one had not been due to a 483 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 1: desire to do less. It was because he was physically 484 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: unable to keep going at the pace that he had 485 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: maintained for decades. He had been having some sort of 486 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: ailment or condition that caused paralysis at times. As we mentioned, 487 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 1: he did continue to work as much as he could 488 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: for as long as he could. Sloane died on January eleventh, 489 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty three, in London, and he was ninety two. 490 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,920 Speaker 1: His death announcement in the papers read quote Thursday morning. 491 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: Died at his house in Chelsea, very much advanced in years, 492 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: but blessed with all his faculties of understanding. To the 493 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 1: last of his life, Sir Hans Sloane baronet. During Sloane's life, 494 00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 1: he had amassed a collection of more than seventy one 495 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 1: thousand items and more than fifty thousand books. What happens 496 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: to such a collection when its owner passes without heirs 497 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,560 Speaker 1: who want to deal with it. Remember, he had only 498 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: surviving daughters. While he was on his deathbed, he stated 499 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: that he wished to bequeath his massive collection to Britain, 500 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 1: but though the collection was a gift, it could only 501 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: be given if Parliament agreed to pay twenty thousand pounds 502 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: so that his executors could manage the transfer and any 503 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 1: necessary work that came with it, and so that the 504 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,640 Speaker 1: collection could be open to the public. That had been 505 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,160 Speaker 1: Sloane's aim in his collecting for quite some time. He 506 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: had believed for years that he was putting together a 507 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:13,160 Speaker 1: repository of information for Britain. Parliament agreed to his terms, 508 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 1: and when Sloane passed, the whole lot became the property 509 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: of the country, and this is how the collection of 510 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: the British Museum began. This provision Sloane made that his 511 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: possessions should be conveyed to the government so they could 512 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:29,240 Speaker 1: launch a public museum. Was like many things about his life. 513 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: Unusual museums before this and most of Europe were operated 514 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 1: by churches or royal houses. This concept of a museum 515 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: that anyone could visit was quite novel. The British Museum 516 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:46,000 Speaker 1: Act seventeen fifty three established the British Museum on paper 517 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: and provided for the acquisition of Sloane's collection, as well 518 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,640 Speaker 1: as other manuscript collections. It provided for the world's first free, 519 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: national public museum. Over the next several years, a building 520 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:04,280 Speaker 1: was a coincidentally near one of Sloane's early homes in London, 521 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:08,200 Speaker 1: and in seventeen fifty nine the British Museum opened its doors. 522 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: This was not the only museum to get parts of 523 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:15,160 Speaker 1: Sloane's life's work. The Natural History Museum is home to 524 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 1: his collection of one hundred twenty thousand dried plant samples, 525 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:23,239 Speaker 1: which are contained in nearly three hundred volumes. Sloane had 526 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,200 Speaker 1: stipulated in his will that his collection had to remain 527 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:28,840 Speaker 1: in the city of London, quote where they may, by 528 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:32,760 Speaker 1: the great confluence of people, be most used. He had 529 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: also stipulated that the collection not be separated. The Natural 530 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 1: History Museum didn't get the plant collection until the eighteen eighties, 531 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 1: and it is in the city, so it still falls 532 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 1: more or less in the spirit of his wishes. According 533 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: to the museum, this plant collection quote is the largest 534 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 1: surviving botanical collection from the early modern period, about fifteen 535 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,200 Speaker 1: hundred to eighteen hundred, and contains plants collected in more 536 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 1: than seventy countries and territory worldwide. Antarctica and Australasia are 537 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:07,960 Speaker 1: the only continents not represented. In nineteen seventy three, the 538 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 1: British Library also got some of Sloan's books and manuscripts, 539 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: and while there have been a lot of efforts made 540 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:20,360 Speaker 1: at conservation and specially built spaces to house the collection 541 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,880 Speaker 1: in its various homes, there have been some pieces lost 542 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 1: over the years, particularly some of his preserved small animal 543 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 1: specimens like lizards and birds. Some of those have not survived. 544 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: Some did not even survive When he was alive. There 545 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,880 Speaker 1: are stories of his friends dropping stuff, for like putting 546 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:42,479 Speaker 1: their drinks on top of manuscripts and really getting him 547 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:47,960 Speaker 1: quite angry. Everything he ever collected was not there when 548 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: he passed. Today there is a statue of Sir Hans 549 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,600 Speaker 1: Sloan in the Chelsea Physic Garden. A statue was first 550 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 1: dedicated to him there in the years immediately following his death. 551 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 1: Then in two thousand and two, Queen Elizabeth the Second 552 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:05,120 Speaker 1: unveiled a copy of the statue in Sloane's hometown of Killiele, 553 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: and in twenty fourteen the Physic Garden got a new 554 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,400 Speaker 1: version of the Sloane statue after the first one had 555 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: become quite brittle and was breaking down. Sir Hon Sloan, 556 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: I have feelings. I have listener mail from our listener, 557 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,879 Speaker 1: Sarah Grayton, and I'm reading this too late to fix 558 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,839 Speaker 1: the thing that she says we should fix. Sarah writes, Hey, 559 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,200 Speaker 1: Ali and Tracy, just to start, I love your podcast 560 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,399 Speaker 1: and I've been listening for years. I've learned so much 561 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,040 Speaker 1: while enjoying myself. Thank you. I wanted to give you 562 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,000 Speaker 1: a heads up about your use of the term British 563 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 1: Isles in your recent episode, as I know you are 564 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,319 Speaker 1: both sensitive to the correct terms to use. While I 565 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:47,799 Speaker 1: know it is used as a geographical term, it is 566 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 1: controversial as it implies ownership of the entire island of 567 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: Ireland by the United Kingdom. The Irish government does not 568 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: recognize the term and discourages its use. Irish people generally 569 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:01,640 Speaker 1: prefer to just say Ireland Britain. I think it's important 570 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,880 Speaker 1: to use terms that are acceptable to both British and 571 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,320 Speaker 1: Irish people. Thanks. I don't have a pet myself allergies, 572 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 1: but I attach a pet tax my brother's king Charles Liz, 573 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:14,600 Speaker 1: who is just the best dog ever, best regard, Sarah. 574 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: This is one of those things where I asked an 575 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,360 Speaker 1: Irish person, but they were Irish American and they were like, 576 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:24,000 Speaker 1: I think that's cool. So you know my apology. I 577 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: feel like we had a conversation about this in the 578 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:31,240 Speaker 1: show sometime very long ago, because I tend to default 579 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,280 Speaker 1: more to saying Britain and Ireland when we're recording stuff. 580 00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,880 Speaker 1: But I have also heard people that live in the 581 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:42,200 Speaker 1: other islands that are also part of Britain feeling excluded 582 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 1: by that language. So it's one of those things where 583 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,160 Speaker 1: I have felt like there's not one perfect term yes 584 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:51,560 Speaker 1: that works the best. Yes. So you know, as you 585 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:54,760 Speaker 1: are correct, we never want to make anybody feel excluded 586 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:56,560 Speaker 1: or offended, but it is a little bit of tricky 587 00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 1: yeah footing to actually find something that makes everybody yeah, 588 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:05,720 Speaker 1: feel included and acknowledged. So I surely apologize to anybody 589 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:11,480 Speaker 1: who did, feel, of course, excluded or or hurt in 590 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,359 Speaker 1: some way by that. Yeah, and if any of those 591 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:19,799 Speaker 1: ghosts were chagrined, also to them, although many of them 592 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:22,800 Speaker 1: go back far enough that the modern politics and thinking 593 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: is probably a mystery to them as well. But thank you, 594 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 1: I really do appreciate it, Sarah. If you would like 595 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 1: to write us, you can do so at History Podcast 596 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio dot com. You can also subscribe to the 597 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,279 Speaker 1: podcast on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to 598 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:45,160 Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Stuff you Missed in History Class is 599 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:49,560 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 600 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 601 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.