William Woodville (1752-1805). Medical botany. 2d ed. London: printed and sold by William Phillips, 1810. Linnæana D92, v.4

William Woodville (1752-1805). Medical botany. 2d ed. London: printed and sold by William Phillips, 1810. Linnæana D92, v.4

Hey Baba Reba, Rhubarb Pie! Scottish doctors, surgeons, and naturalists played a pre-eminent part in Anglo/Russian natural history in the 18th and early 19th centuries, for example, John Fraser (1750-1811) as royal botanical collector to the Tsar; Matthew Guthrie as physician in St. P.; John Rogerson at the Russian court; Robert Erskine (1677-1718) as Peter the Great's chief physician. And then there was James "Rhubarb" Mounsey, physician to both the Empress Elizabeth and Peter III, and finally, director of the medical chancery, responsible for all medical affairs throughout Russia. Since the Renaissance, rhubarb (a.k.a. Mongol Metamucil), native to far eastern Russia and China, had resisted Europe's attempts to get a handle on importing it successfully and on its very special botanical and chemical properties. Known and highly valued at least since 2700 B.C. as a cathartic, explorers, botanists, physicians, and pharmacists attempted to adapt it for use in the West, but there were many varieties and it didn't breed true by seed. James Mounsey was to play a big part in acquiring the "real" rhubarb for the English pharmacopoeia. Woodville's account is a good beginning to the story of how it became a state monopoly for Russia and an important commodity for the East India Company. Historian Clifford Faust has written a whole book on the subject.

Linnaeana D92, vol. 4