<scp>Bones</scp> : <scp>The Life and Adventures of Doctor Archibald Menzies</scp> , GraemeMenzies Published in 2024 by Whittles Publishing Ltd. 142 pages, illustrated. <scp>ISBN</scp> 9781849955911.

Trees from the western edge of the American continent have changed the British landscape more than any other part of the world. Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is the tallest tree on the Isles; Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) carpets half the nation's plantations; the monkey puzzle (Araucaria araucana) is without doubt the most recognisable garden conifer. The first scientific records of these giants arose from the momentous and demanding expeditions detailed in Bones: The Life and Adventures of Doctor Archibald Menzies. Graeme Menzies, a Canadian writer with an interest in military history and British Columbia, asserts there are biographical gaps on his namesake and positions himself as the chronicler, seeking to add broader context to the narrow botanical focus of existing works. It is clear from the outset he feels a romanticised connection to his clansman as a person and not just a historical figure. This empathy allows the reader to place themself effectively in Archibald's shoes. Chapters are loosely chronological and the style is engaging, accessible and novelistic in places. The author contends that primary historical sources for Archibald are scant and scattered and laments the irretrievably lost nature of material that would help complete his story. One such document is Archibald's journal from his voyage with Captain James Colnett to Nootka Sound 1786–88. Where no primary sources exist, speculation on what Archibald may have thought and conversations he might have had are introduced. This oscillation between archival detail and narrative conjecture is disorienting at first. The author is candid about his weaving of fact and fiction in the preface. A bibliography, maps and images and extensive endnotes are provided. Botanical convention is inconsistently handled, and an index to more than 50 ships is presented, but none for plants. The Canadian and Hawaiian legs of the expeditions are the focus, with California and Chile barely mentioned. Readers expecting a complete chronicle or a detailed summation of botanical specimens collected by Archibald may be a little disappointed. Bones is narrative-driven and selective. One curious omission is that the title is not explained, though it perhaps has a connection to the naval term sawbones for a ship's surgeon. What adventures they were. Graeme Menzies' descriptive prose shines in his naval set-pieces, notably the Battle of the Saintes (1782). The reader is left to ponder Archibald's reality as the ship's medic when the guns drew silent, witness to men ‘shot, flogged, maimed and murdered.’ The author is keen to share Archibald's interaction with native people and religious views and positions him as an early progressive thinker. He also illuminates Archibald's contribution to the field of virology in downright dangerous conditions. Modern botanists and horticulturists will find the detail of Archibald's developmental route insightful. Rising from modest beginnings he circumnavigated the globe twice before returning to London as a respected physician, naturalist and explorer of great renown. The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew and Edinburgh play a key role in the story, as does his exposure to a litany of noteworthy figures of the 18th century enlightenment. One illuminating tale concerns Sir Joseph Banks, Kew's de facto director, who secured Archibald's place on Captain George Vancouver's Discovery. Archibald was accordingly answerable directly to the King and solely responsible for botanical matters, undermining the irascible Vancouver's authority. Vancouver reassigned a crew member from horticultural tasks, leading to the loss of many living specimens in the purpose-built plant case. The quarrel between the two that followed was so fierce that Vancouver had Archibald arrested. Only a formal written apology from Archibald and Banks smoothing things out with the Admiralty would de-escalate the situation. The book closes by describing Archibald's life back in London as a distinguished member of the scientific community. The epilogue contains musings of what Archibald may have made of the London that came after him. A minor irritation is that Messrs Aiton are repeatedly referred to as directors of Kew. They were of course head gardeners; Kew had no formal director until William Jackon Hooker in 1841. The relationship between Archibald and David Douglas is briefly covered. Douglas is, perhaps unfairly, more generally widely known. Menzies lived to 88, a longevity that left fewer opportunities for romantic mythmaking than Douglas's tragic end in a Hawaiian pit trap at just 35. The imperative for Douglas's work was horticultural introduction rather than the scientific discovery that drove Archibald. It is therefore fair to regard the two side by side. Archibald reconnoitred the area extensively for the first time; Douglas used this information to revisit and collect material in greater quantity and quality which resulted in successful cultivation in Europe. Modern plant collecting still follows these basic principles. Graeme Menzies succeeds in bringing overlooked elements of his remarkable namesake to the surface, though greater botanical detail would have enriched the portrait. Though contradictory in style, the blending of thorough research and digressions into imagined thoughts are an effective device for immersion. The author also succeeds in this regard, the immersion allowing us to get to know the subject a little better. A final thought provoked by Bones: Archibald Menzies documented hundreds of species new to western science but published rarely. The author, a marketing professional, quips ruefully in the epilogue ‘he earned many possible epitaphs [but] in no way was he ever considered a good publicist’. He also ponders whether Archibald was living in the present or the future rather than looking back, or if he lacked the ego required to catalogue his life in his own words. The lesson for us is clear: publication is a responsibility, not a vanity. As botanists and horticulturists, we must take care to ensure that knowledge is shared, not lost.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.