Samuel Browne (surgeon)

Samuel Browne or Brown (died 22 September 1698) was an English surgeon and botanist. He worked in the English East India Company factory at Fort St. George, Madras. Aside from his work he collected specimens of the local plants, especially grasses, along with vernacular names and made notes on their applications in medicine and other traditional use. He corresponded with several other contemporary naturalists including John Ray, Georg Joseph Kamel (of Camellia fame) and James Petiver.

Browne was stationed at the end of the 17th century at Madras, in the English factory at Fort St. George.Elihu Yale was the administrator of Fort St. George during this period. Browne had previously served aboard a ship, the Dragon, and was locally posted on 7 May 1688 after the death of Dr John Heathfield. The official surgeon appointed by the Company was Edward Bulkley who arrived only in 1692 and even after he did Browne continued to receive pay. Browne took an interest in the local plants and sent collections of dried plants and other botanical material to England along with notes on their local names. These were described by James Petiver, in a series of papers in Philosophical Transactions. Petiver's plants then passed into the hands of Sir Hans Sloane, and to the herbarium of the British Museum. From there they went to the Natural History Museum, London. Petiver was also in correspondence with Reverend George Lewis at Fort St. George, a collector of seashells. Browne was also in communication with Georg Joseph Kamel and John Ray. Some of the communications between Petiver and Browne are on the plants of the region as well as on the works of others. A letter to Petiver is on the 4th book of Bontius (De Medicina Indorum), "his animadversions upon Garcias ab Orto". After his death, Ray and Petiver were in communication with Bulkley. It was through Bulkley that Ray's Synopsis Methodica Avium (1713) included a list of birds and some illustrations by natives from Madras.

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