MUTIS, Joseph Celestino, an eminent natural historian, but peculiarly distinguished for the ardour of his botanical researches, was a native of Spain, and born at Cadiz on the 6th of April 1732. His parents were respectable inhabitants of that city, and conferred on him the best elementary education that could be acquired in Andalusia. His first instructions were received in the College of San Fernando, in his native city, and thence he was removed to the [7:15:649]University of Seville. In both these seminaries he was distinguished, as well by his application and talents, as by the modesty of his demeanour. He attended the classical and mathematical course as taught in the latter seminary, as well as to the study of theology; and during his residence there, he sedulously applied himself to anatomy, medicine, and natural history. The ardour he displayed for this class of pursuits was great, so that when he removed to Madrid in 1757, he had made such progress as to enable him to become a lecturer on anatomy. It was then usual for the court of Madrid to select some promising young men, and send them to Leyden, Paris, or Bologna, to improve their faculties, and advance their knowledge of the sciences. Mutis was selected for this purpose; but about the same period Don Pedro Messia de la Cerda was appointed viceroy of New Granada, and proposed to the ardent naturalist to accompany him, in the quality of physician, to that interesting country. His natural modesty and love of retirement induced him to relinquish the opportunity of visiting different countries, and thereby increasing his knowledge in Europe, and to devote himself to the examination and description of those objects of natural history which the mountains of South America presented, and which had previously been scarcely explored by any scientific European.

He embarked with the viceroy, and landed at Carthagena in the year 1760. The various new productions that met his eye at every point in that hot climate did not detain him from ascending towards the mountain plain, where, at the city of Santa Fé de Bogota, he fixed his abode.

He had scarcely reached the destined place of his residence, before he began to arrange his plan for the collection of those plants to the study of which he was attached, and the descriptions of which formed the delight of his life, and the basis of his future fame. He soon began a correspondence with Linnaeus, which continued during the life of that celebrated man, who procured his admission to the academy at Stockholm. His accuracy, diligence, and enthusiasm were highly estimated by the Swedish botanist, who felt, in the eulogiums he paid him, that he very imperfectly gratified his own sentiments of respect and admiration.^[1. In memoriam Josephi Coelestini Mutis, Americes summi Botanici, qui historiam plantarum Americanarum, in primis palmarum, pulcherrimam parat, et plurima nova hinc opuscula communicavit. (Linn. Suppi, p. 57.) Nomen immortale quod nulla actas unquam delebit. (Linn.) ] His skill was speedily known throughout Europe by all the botanists of considerable eminence, as his discoveries were communicated to many of them through the extensive correspondence which he maintained.^[2. Cavanilles, in writing, thus expresses himself: “In honorem sapientissimi viri (J. C. Mutis) qui jure merito Botanicoum in America princeps salutatur, debetque etiam inter primates Europeos colocari.” ]

At the time Mutis arrived at Santa Fé de Bogota, that capital was in profound ignorance of science; and even in the university, the true system of the universe was so little known, that he is represented as having encountered great difficulties, when he first taught that the world turned upon its own axis, revolved round the sun, and was in reality only a planet of the solar system. With the approbation of the viceroy, he began to dispense mathematical, and especially astronomical knowledge, to the pupils in the college of the Rosario; and he had the satisfaction, long before the close of a protracted life, to see a race of scholars formed on the principles of the, Newtonian philosophy, in spite of the anxious and alarming fears of their parents, who, on its first introduction, considered it as impious, or at least heretical.

He continued diligently exploring the Andes for every vegetable production, during the intervals of instruction in astronomy, and continued both pursuits with unabated ardour. When his patron Cerda had finished the period of his viceroyship, he proposed to Mutis to return with him to Spain; but he was so much fascinated with the solitude of the vast woods and extended plains, with the features of nature displayed on the boldest scale, and the deep azure of the unclouded sky, that he determined, under their favouring auspices, to spend the remainder of his life in South America, in the contemplation of vegetation and of the starry world. His studies, instead of producing scepticism, strengthened his religious faith, and, under its influence, he entered into holy orders in 1772. From that period he divided his time between religion and the sciences; and whilst in the former he was a model of ecclesiastical virtue, he displayed in the latter the qualities of a genuine philosopher.

It was a fortunate circumstance, both for the science of botany and for the fame of Mutis, that the court of Madrid felt a peculiar interest in the promotion of that study, and appointed commissioners in each of its extensive dominions in America, to investigate, arrange, describe, and draw their various productions. Mutis was appointed president of the botanical board for the viceroyalty of Santa Fé, and commenced his operations by the project of that great work the Flora of Bogota, which only the munificence of a government could enable him to undertake. In 1782, he selected the spot most favourable for executing this great design, and, judging the central situation of Mariquita, at the foot of the mountains of Quindiu, to be the best adapted for his purpose, he removed thither, and resided in that place for the succeeding seven years, in pursuance of his plan of study. The place was admirably chosen; for though at the foot of the Andes, it is on a high level, and in a temperate climate; and, being in the vicinity of the river Magdalena, though considerably higher, it has the advantage of easy access to every degree of temperature, and to all the various family of plants which the greatest possible differences of climate can produce. In this secluded town, he and his pupils were constantly employed in roaming in the extensive plains, penetrating the thickest woods, scaling the highest mountains, and at times encountering the severe heat of the valleys, whilst collecting every rarity of the vegetable kingdom. He there created a class of painters, who drew the plants as they were collected; and he had a school of engraving, in which were executed some of those large plates, which have excited so much admiration amongst the botanists and artists of Europe. The state of his health, arising principally from the exertions he made and the hardships he encountered in these pursuits, induced him to remove from Mariquita in 1772, and fix his residence again in the capital, to which he was also drawn by the desire of being nearer to a greater number of artists than could be collected in the retired spot from whence his exploratory journeys had been directed. His labours in perfecting the Flora were continued with unabated industry till the end of his life; and, after his decease, the work was continued by some of his pupils, though it received serious interruptions from the civil wars, in the course of which some of those appointed to continue it were cut off amidst the contests of the various revolutionary factions. Amongst these is particularly to be regretted Don Francisco Caldas, who was endeared to Mutis, and most nearly resembled him in his industry, and his attachment to the study of natural history. Besides the great work, the Flora, Mutis finished one on the history of the trees of the quina species, and exercised his great acuteness in the investigation of the [7:15:650]varieties of that family, the bark of which has introduced a new era in the practice of medicine.

Amidst his botanical labours, Mutis never neglected his astronomical observations and experiments. It had often been suggested by philosophers in Europe, that the moon had probably an influence on the barometer, similar to what it exercises on the tides. The situation of Santa Fé was favourable for a variety of experiments, which Mutis conducted, and by which he ascertained the fact so clearly, as to remove all doubts on the subject. He was instrumental in obtaining powers from Madrid for the construction of an observatory on the summit of the Andes, at a far higher elevation than any of the observatories of Europe are placed. He had remarked, that the blue of the firmament appears darker in proportion to the elevation at which the observer stands, and that on the highest attainable situations, the sky seems almost black; so that the stars shine with a brilliancy uninterrupted by clouds, and, even in day-light, are visible without the help of glasses.

He deemed the position favourable for astronomical observations, and especially for those of the fixed stars; for being near the equator, it commanded a view of the constellations both of the northern and southern hemispheres; and, from its height, the observer is little liable to interruption from intervening clouds, or to errors from the inconstancy of the refractions. At his earnest recommendation, and under his inspection, the observatory was begun in 1802, and finished in the following year. Some instruments were collected in the country, and others were ordered from Europe. The first were, as may be supposed, destitute of those improvements which have been more recently introduced; and it unfortunately happened, that some of those exported from Europe were lost on the passage. The apparatus had not been completed when Mutis died, and the political storms which since agitated that country have prevented the completion of the collection. The founder had, however, directed the course of observations to be prosecuted with as much attention as the imperfection of the instruments would admit. Though the wise intentions of Mutis have been delayed, we may hope that they have not been frustrated, but may look forward to a time when the catalogue of fixed stars in the southern hemisphere shall be considerably augmented, and their positions determined with the greatest accuracy. In the mean time, some astronomical and meteorological observations have been made and published, in a periodical register, and the exact latitude and longitude of the observatory has been determined. Its elevation above the level of the ocean, as determined by barometrical observations, frequently repeated, is 9416 feet. As this observatory is the first erected in South America, and as it stands much higher than any other that ever was constructed, if its advantages shall be properly improved, it will be a benefit to science, and a durable monument to the fame of its founder.

Mutis enjoyed good health throughout a long life, which was closed in a manner worthy of a philosopher and a Christian, without pain or struggle, on the 11th of September 1808. He left various manuscript works on plants, on meteorology, and on mining; an herbarium of upwards of 20,000 plants, more than 5000 drawings of plants, and a large collection of woods, of shells, of minerals, and skins of animals. He had also a very extensive collection of oil-paintings, of all the various animals of the viceroyalty, coloured in exact conformity to nature. It was the last wish he expressed, that his valuable collections might furnish the basis of a national museum; but the turbulent season which commenced soon after his death, and the unsettled state in which public affairs subsequently continued, have hitherto prevented the fulfilment of his wishes. (See El Espanol. Diario de Santa Fé.)