Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cargill, James

1367499Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 09 — Cargill, James1887George Thomas Bettany

CARGILL, JAMES (fl. 1605), botanist, was a medical man resident at Aberdeen, who studied botany and anatomy at Basle while Casper Bauhin was professor of those sciences. Bauhin, for whom a professorship was founded in 1589, enumerates Cargill among those who sent seeds and specimens to him, and a definate record of his aid in regard to several species of fucus, together with his descriptions of them, is given in Bauhin's 'Prodromus.' He aided Geener in the same way, and also Lobel (or Lobelius), who, in his 'Adversaria' (1605), refers to him as a philosopher, well skilled in botany and anatomy. No other record is known of Cargill.

[Casper Bauhin's Prodromus Theatri Botanici, Frankfort-on-Main, 1620, p. 154; Pulteney's Historical Sketches of the Progress of Botany in England, 1790, ii. 2.]