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Patrick Matthew (20 October 1790 – 8 June 1874) was a Scottish landowner and fruit farmer, who contributed to understanding of horticulture, silviculture, and agriculture in general, with a focus on maintaining the British navy and feeding new colonies. He published the basic concept of natural selection as a mechanism of evolution in an obscure appendix to his 1831 book ''On Naval Timber and Arboriculture''. Matthew failed to develop or publicise his ideas concerning natural selection; Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace were credited with publishing the theory of evolution by natural selection in 1858; and historical analysis shows no firm evidence that either Darwin or Wallace encountered Matthew's earlier work before he contacted them in 1860. Darwin then publicly acknowledged that Matthew's brief statement in the appendix had anticipated by many years the principle of natural selection in ''On the Origin of Species''. == Life == Patrick Matthew was born 20 October 1790 at Rome, a farm held by his father John Matthew near Scone Palace, in Perthshire. His Mother was Agnes Duncan, stated to belong to the family of Admiral Duncan, the ancestor to the Earls of Camperdown.〔 Calman, WT (1912) “(Patrick Matthew of Gourdiehill, Naturalist )”, ''Handbook and Guide to Dundee and District'', AW Paton and AH Millar (Eds), the British Association for the Advancement of Science, pp. 451-7 (see (The Patrick Matthew Project » More On Matthew )〕 On his father's death and while only seventeen, he took over the management of ''Gourdiehill'' in the Carse of Gowrie, between Perth and Dundee. He inherited ''Gourdiehill'' through his mother, in the possession of whose family it had been for more than two hundred years. He was educated at Perth Academy and the University of Edinburgh, though he did not graduate, as he had to take over the responsibilities of managing and running the affairs of a somewhat modest but significant property estate. Over the years he would successfully nurture, cultivate, and transform much of the estate's farmland and pastures into several large orchards of apple and pear trees, numbering over 10,000. He became an avid proponent as well as interested researcher of both silviculture and horticulture, both of which influenced his growing awareness of the forces of nature. This awareness, along with his own experiences acquired from years of working his own modest estate would later frame a strong base of reference to form his own opinions and theories. In 1807, Matthew returned to manage the family estate. Between 1807 and 1831 ( 1831 being the year of publication on the subject of Naval Timber) he periodically travelled to Europe, sometimes seeking scientific enlightenment or agricultural or economic advice, as well as attending to business matters. Some of his encounters with noted men of science came during these travels, especially in France. Later, between 1840 and 1850, he travelled more extensively in what is now northern Germany. It was during these travels, especially to the Hamburg area that are significant to be noted and understood. Hamburg was a significant thriving center of trade, having direct ocean access to the North Atlantic. Matthew recognised this and proceeded to research what he deemed to be gainful opportunities. The political settings of the Prussian Empire era in regards to the Region of Schleswig-Holstein were something that Patrick Matthew was and became even more well aware of. It was after much research, of the regional market dynamics and trade parameters present, along with the bustling river port facilities and farmlands surrounding Hamburg, that brought him to settle on the purchase of two farms in Schleswig-Holstein. Matthew married Christian Nicol in 1817,〔 and they had eight children: John (born 1818) , Robert (1820), Alexander (1821), Charles (1824), Euphemia (1826), Agnes (1828), James Edward (1830), and Helen Amelia (1833). Robert farmed Gourdiehill in Patrick's old age, Alexander took over the German interests; the other three sons emigrated, initially to America. Matthew became interested in the colonisation of New Zealand and was instrumental in setting up a 'Scottish New Zealand Land Company' . At his urging, James and Charles Matthew emigrated to New Zealand, where they set up one of the earliest commercial orchards in Australasia using seed and seedlings from Gourdiehill.〔Dempster W.J. 1983. ''Patrick Matthew and natural selection: nineteenth century gentleman-farmer, naturalist and writer''. Harris. Edinburgh. with corrections/additions from review of Dempster By G J Tee in 〕 John Matthew remained in America, sending botanical tree specimens back to his father; these included (in 1853) the first seedlings known to have been planted in Europe of both the Giant Redwood (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') and the Coastal Redwood (''Sequoia semperiverens''). A group of trees of these species still thriving near Inchtures in Perthshire come from these seedlings. Matthew gave many more seedlings to friends, relatives and neighbours, and redwoods can be found throughout the Carse of Gowrie; these as well as some elsewhere in Scotland (e.g. at Gillies Hill near Stirling Castle) are thought to have been grown from the 1853 seedlings. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Patrick Matthew」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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