New Advent
 Home   Encyclopedia   Summa   Fathers   Bible   Library 
 A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z 
New Advent
Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > C > George Joseph Camel

George Joseph Camel

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

(Kamel).

Botanist, born at Brünn, in Moravia, 21 April 1661, died in Manila, 2 May, 1706. He entered the Society of Jesus as a lay brother in 1682. Although sometimes spoken of as "Father Camellus" it is not sure that he was ever a priest. He was sent as a missionary to the Philippine Islands six years later. There he took up the study of the plants and the natural history of the Islands and sent the results of his investigations to Europe where they were published in the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" (London). In his honour, Linnaeus gave the name Camellia to a genus of evergreen shrubs remarkable for the beauty of their flowers, among them being the well-known Japan rose (Camellia Japonica). The mere enumeration of Camel's contributions to the pages of the "Philosophical Transactions" is ample evidence of the industry of this simple missionary and his orderly method of investigation. Besides many treatises on the plants and animals of the islands, Camel left two bulky volumes on the "Medicinal Plants of the Philippine Islands", which were published in part in the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" (London) and in the "Historia Plantarum" of Ray. In the library of the Jesuits at Louvain there is a manuscript collection of his drawings, representing 360 varieties of plants and herbs of the Island of Luzon. Ray published the text of the work, but omitted the drawings. Camel established a pharmacy in Manila where the poor were supplied with remedies gratis.

About this page

APA citation. Spillane, E. (1908). George Joseph Camel. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03216b.htm

MLA citation. Spillane, Edward. "George Joseph Camel." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03216b.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.

Copyright © 2023 by New Advent LLC. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

CONTACT US | ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT