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Grim, Herman Niclas (or Nicolaj)

 

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors)

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I)

 

Born: 1641, Wisby, Gothland, Sweden. Died: 1711, Stockholm, Sweden.

 

career:

His birth-place Wisby at the time was under Denmark. He studied medicine at Copenhagen, and became M.D. in Holland. In 1663 he accompanied a voyage to Nova Zembla. In 1666 pest physician in Holland (? visited Batavia), in 1671 hospital doctor at Batavia; at least from 1672-75 at Colombo, Ceylon; from 1677-81 in the employ of the Dutch E.I.C. in Java once more. He practised for some time at Nürnberg in Germany (according to Krok in 1680, but he was on the muster-roll of ‘'t Lant van Schouwen’, sailing from Batavia Dec. 18, 1681!). From 1683 onwards he practised in Sweden, finally (1710) as pest physician at Stockholm, later courtphysician.

In 1680 he accompanied W. ten Rhyne (see there) on a tour to Sumatra West Coast.

Author of some botanical papers, e.g. on the benzoin tree of Sumatra.1

According to E. Fries he was the first Scandinavian who studied extra-European vegetation .2

 

collections:

He occasionally sent descriptions and drawings of plants to the Stockholm Academy of Science, and possibly sent dried material to Sweden too. He sold his Indian collections to the Collegium modicum, Stockholm [S], for 80 ‘riksdalers’.3

 

literature:

(1) H.N. Grimmius: ‘De arbore Benzoini Observatio’ and several other papers in Misc. Acad. Nat. Cur. dec. 2 (non vidi).

H.N.Grim: ‘Thesaurus medicus Ins. Ceylaniae etc. (Bataviae 1677; incl. a catalogue of Ceylon plants).

(2) E. Fries, Bot. Utfl. 3, 1864, p. 42.

(3) See letter from Grim to Z. Wattrang, dated Sept. 10, 1686 (in Brefsamling Svensk. Kungl. Akad. vol. 15, p. 794 seq.).

 

biographical data:

Sprengel, Hist. rei Herb. 2, 1808, p. 82-83; E. Fries, Botaniska Utflygter 3, 1864, p. 41-42; Krok, Bibl. Bot. Suec., p. 246-247; Bot. Tidskr. 17, 1890, p. 321, bibliogr.; Geneesk. Tijdschr. N.I. 1911, p. 176-177; L.S.A.M. von Römer, Historische schetsen, Batavia 1921, p. 65-66; Christensen, Den Danske Bot. Hist. 2, 1924-26, p. 27-28.