Madeiran Coincidence. Plumbago auriculata, Cape Leadwort, and BEM Monge, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Ah! Coincidences! It was only yesterday that I mentioned great Thunberg and his work on botany in South Africa, and today I must recall him. Here's Plumbago auriculata, Cape Leadwort, which was named Plumbago capensis by Thunberg in 1794. He didn't then know that our plant had already been called specifically 'auriculata' by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French botanist (1744-1829), in 1786. Lamark's designation therefore has precedence.
Plumbago the Plant is thus-named because it was thought to be an antidote for lead poisoning, and that brings us to this espionage ship of the French navy.
The Bâtiment d'Essais et de Mesures Monge (A601) is a so-called Missile Range Instrumentation Ship which supports the firing and tracking of missiles. It's painted white because that keeps down its temperature; the usual lead gray of navy ships would make the ship too warm to function properly electronically.
Anyway... 'Monge' (1990) is for Gaspard Monge, comte de Péluse (1746-1818). He was a great physicist and geometer and mathematician and a lot more, too. As a metallurgist he was fascinated as well by the refining of iron/steel. In this context, he and his colleagues worked with the mineral plumbago, an old name for a form of graphite or lead. And there we are again at the beginning of my little remark...
I took this photo from a beautiful park named for a Saint Catherine above Avenida Sá Carneiro in Funchal.
Madeiran Coincidence. Plumbago auriculata, Cape Leadwort, and BEM Monge, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Ah! Coincidences! It was only yesterday that I mentioned great Thunberg and his work on botany in South Africa, and today I must recall him. Here's Plumbago auriculata, Cape Leadwort, which was named Plumbago capensis by Thunberg in 1794. He didn't then know that our plant had already been called specifically 'auriculata' by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French botanist (1744-1829), in 1786. Lamark's designation therefore has precedence.
Plumbago the Plant is thus-named because it was thought to be an antidote for lead poisoning, and that brings us to this espionage ship of the French navy.
The Bâtiment d'Essais et de Mesures Monge (A601) is a so-called Missile Range Instrumentation Ship which supports the firing and tracking of missiles. It's painted white because that keeps down its temperature; the usual lead gray of navy ships would make the ship too warm to function properly electronically.
Anyway... 'Monge' (1990) is for Gaspard Monge, comte de Péluse (1746-1818). He was a great physicist and geometer and mathematician and a lot more, too. As a metallurgist he was fascinated as well by the refining of iron/steel. In this context, he and his colleagues worked with the mineral plumbago, an old name for a form of graphite or lead. And there we are again at the beginning of my little remark...
I took this photo from a beautiful park named for a Saint Catherine above Avenida Sá Carneiro in Funchal.