The journals of Hipólito Ruiz, Spanish botanist in Peru and Chile, 1777-1788
By: translated by Richard Evans Schultes and María José Nemry von Thenen de Jaramillo-Arango ; transcribed from the original manuscripts by Jaime Jaramillo-Arango.
Contributors: Schultes, Richard Evans.; Jaramillo-Arango, María José Nemry von Thenen de.; Jaramillo-Arango, Jaime, 1897-1962.
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Portland, Or
Language: eng
Number of pages: 357
Subjects: Ruiz, Hipólito, 1754-1816 -- Travel -- Peru.; Ruiz, Hipólito, 1754-1816 -- Travel -- Chile.; Botany -- Peru.; Botany -- Chile.; Peru -- Description and travel.; Chile -- Description and travel.
Other titles: Journals of Hipólito Ruiz
Description: The book is the translation of the diaries of Hipolito Ruiz, early botanical explorer of South America, who spent 11 years exploring the towns, villages, fields, forests, and mountains of Peru and Chile from 1777 to 1788. Newly translated by Richard Evans Schultes, the Journals offer valuable information for modern-day readers.

Descriptions of about 2000 plants, fully indexed in the book, make the Journals an extensive botanical resource, while observations of landscape, weather, and native cultures create a unique historical picture for students of geography, geology, anthropology, and colonial history.

As a historical find, the Journals are a remarkable document. Recounting the first of a series of Spanish expeditions to the New World, the story they tell is one of great sacrifice and hardship in the name of science. Bad weather, fatigue, and all the dangers of travel in the wilds were endured, as well as disasters including the death of artist Jose Brunete and the loss of a manuscript to fire. In the scientific realm, Ruiz's studies may be considered ground-laying work in the discipline of ethnobotany.

By relating the uses of plants by natives, such as the extraction of quinine for the treatment of malaria, to his description of the plant in its native environment, Ruiz employed methods central to modern science.
Notes: Includes index.