Resumo

WISNIAK, Jaime. Jean-Baptiste Van Mons. Rev. CENIC Cienc. Biol [online]. 2021, vol.52, n.1, pp. 93-105.  Epub 01-Abr-2021. ISSN 2221-2450.

Jean Baptiste van Mons (1765-1842), a Belgian horticulturist, physician, and pharmacist, probably the most famous pomologist of his time, studied the active principle of many plants, particularly that Rhus radicans (poison ivy). He gave a detailed description of the plant, of the poison it contained and its effects on the human body, and the chemical analysis and properties of it active principle. Van Mons is particularly known for the extensive research he carried on the development of new varieties of fruit trees, and the theory that rules this process. He run a large tree nursery and developed some basic principles on the proper way to develop a commercial variety of a tree. The fundamental one was that a natural (wild) species of a tree did not vary through its seedlings in the environment where it originated; as long as it remained there it could only reproduce itself or as a sub-species; its purpose was not to produce better fruit but to assure the maintenance of the species; this it achieved by remaining in a state of dynamic equilibrium with its environment. Van Mons carried on the synthesis of a variety of organic and inorganic compounds, among them the fulminates and was one the first scientists supporting the new chemistry of Lavoisier and Franklin's electrical theory, carrying on a large number of experiments to prove their validity.

Palavras-chave : chlorine; fruit trees; galvanism; mercuric oxide; phlogiston; pomology; Rhus radicans.

        · resumo em Espanhol     · texto em Inglês     · Inglês ( pdf )