Charles Whitlaw (né Whitly) (1771–1850): botanist, horticulturist, charlatan and quack

Abstract

Charles Whitlaw (otherwise Whitly) was born in Yester, East Lothian, and received training in Edinburgh as a horticulturist before emigrating to North America where he spent about two decades from 1794. He collected botanical specimens, some of which are preserved in the herbarium at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin. In the United States, Whitlaw obtained a patent for processing the fibres of Urtica whitlawii which was named after him by Muhlenberg. On returning to Britain, he was proposed for election as a Fellow of The Linnean Society of London, but was black-balled. Returning again to North America Whitlaw gave lectures on botanical topics to general audiences using hand-painted “transparencies” acquired from Dr Robert Thornton. Later Whitlaw established “patent medicated vapour baths” in which he employed various North American plants with reputed medicinal properties. Claiming to be able to cure diseases such as scrofula, Whitlaw outraged the medical establishment and he was branded a charlatan and a quack.