| (1677-1718) He was the first of many
Scottish physicians to the tsars and was put in charge of all medical
services in Russia. His great library became the core of the library of
the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Peter and Great carried a torch at
his funeral.
Surgeon in Ordinary of Peter’s court, the
Scotsman Robert Erskine or Areskin, as he was called in Russia, was an
avid gatherer of Russian natural rarities or «the naturalia». When in
1714 the museum occupied the Summer Palace and required a special staff to
look after and preserve it, Areskin was appointed «chief supervisor» of
the collections. By gathering herbs and plants one by one and observing
the process of their collecting, he later created numerous herbariums,
like the first Russian herbarium, which was also made by him. These
herbariums were arranged in the fashionable baroque style: each grass was
placed in an elaborately carved holder. |
