Francis Boott, physician and botanist, was born in Boston, Mass., of British parents. He was educated at Harvard, but in 1820 he turned to the study of medicine, first in London under the tutelage of Dr John Armstrong and then in Edinburgh (M.D. 1824). In 1825 he returned to London, where he practised medicine until 1832, before retiring early in order to pursue his own scientific and literary interests. He became a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1819 and was its Secretary, 1832-1839, and Treasurer, 1856-1861. He was the author of several books, including Two lectures on materia medica, published in 1837. He died of pneumonia, in London, in 1863.
From the guide to the Notes of a course of lectures on materia medica delivered in 1827 by Francis Boot, 1827-1831, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)
