Martius, CARL FRIEDRICH PHILIPP VON

Martius, CARL FRIEDRICH PHILIPP VON, traveller and naturalist, was born on 17th April 1794, at Erlangen, and studied medicine there. In 1817-20 he went to Brazil as member of a scientific expedition sent out by the Austrian and Bavarian governments, and by his researches in that country acquired a reputation which ranked but little inferior to that of Humboldt. This reputation was chiefly established by the books he published after his return—one on the journey (3 vols. 1824-31), several on the cryptogams, palms, and other plants of Brazil, on the medicine of the Indians, and on the ethnology and languages of that region, besides other botanical works. He was professor of Botany (1826-64) and Director of the Botanic Garden (1832-64) at Munich, and died in that city on 13th December 1868.