As many historians of Spanish America are well aware, José Celestino Mutis is one of the leading figures in the cultural and intellectual history of New Granada. Between his departure from Cádiz in 1760 and his death in Bogotá in 1808, Mutis—physician, scientist, and teacher—prepared a group of scholars in a variety of disciplines while attending to his medical duties and research interests. Many of the leaders of the independence movement came from this same group of men. A particularly noteworthy achievement was the establishment of the Botanical Expedition of New Granada in 1783.
The author of this study makes use of primary and secondary sources to outline the life and work of Mutis. The first three brief chapters on Cádiz of the time, the Mutis family, and Mutis’s youth will be of value to anyone interested in this illustrious sabio, particularly since they are based almost entirely on archival sources. In contrast, the remaining chapters are drawn largely from published works such as Mutis’s Diario de observaciones (1957), and, in fact, several chapters are taken verbatim from Mutis’s diary or correspondence (Archivo epistolar, 1968). These chapters pertain to Mutis’s voyage to Cartagena, his teaching and research, educational reform, the Botanical Expedition, the astronomical observatory, and similar endeavors. The work is a worthwhile introduction to the scientific and other intellectual pursuits of Mutis in New Granada.
