Pure Science or Practical Science: The Difficult Choice of the Brussels Botanic Garden (1826-1914)
Botanic gardens’ purposes have varied in time and space from their medicinal origins in the Italian universities to the somewhat multi-purpose function they have today. The history of the Brussels Botanic Garden, established as a company in 1826, suggests that it was first fashioned by the then leading-class and its needs: it tended to focus on agricultural and industrial developments as well as selling luxury goods. Later, as a State institution from 1870 until the First World War, the Botanic Garden had to deal not only with the diversification of disciplines and new trends in the sciences, but also with growing democracy alongside the concomitant political and philosophical issues. In such a context dreams of “pure” science, like taxonomy and floristics, had to cope with practical and political issues linked to the growing social demands and the garnering of votes.