Dr. Şerafettin Tevfik Tertemiz (1879-1957) and his publications on botany

Asuman BAYTOP & Feza GÜNERGUN

Dr. Şerafettin Tevfik (Tertemiz) was a lecturer of botany at the Istanbul Darülfünun between 1909-1933. Graduated from the Civil School of Medicine in 1903, he practised medicine for a few years in Beirut and in Bartın. Having returned to Istanbul , he first became assistant to Dr. Esad Şerefeddin (Köprülü) (1868-1942) and then a professor of botany at the Civil School of Medicine. From 1909 on, he taught botany at the schools of pharmacy and dentistry within the Darülfünun. He retained in this position until the University Reformation in 1933. He retired in 1934 living thereafter as a physician and dealt no more with botany.

His publications on botany consist of four textbooks on pharmaceutical botany and an article:

İlm-i Nebatat-ı Tıbbîden Mebhas-ı Ensice (İstanbul 1910, 109 pp.), İlm-i Nebatat-ı Tıbbîden Mebhas-ı Tasnif-i Nebatat (or İlm-i Nebatat-ı Tıbbî / Botanique Medicale) (İstanbul 1910, 446 pp.), İlm-i Nebatat / Botanique (İstanbul 1340, 208 pp.), Tıbbî Nebatlar / Botanique Medicale (İstanbul 1932, 276 pp.), İlm-i Nebatat hakkında konferans in Genç Kimyager (Nr. 1,2,3,4,5, 1337/1920)

The first book is a collection of his lectures jointly edited by four of his students. It only deals with descriptive botany. The other three are written by Dr. Şerafettin himself. The second book treats the medicinal plants in a systematic sequence and includes both the Spermatophytes and the Cryptogams. The third is apparently the second edition of the first, while the fourth is a re-edition of the second, but in Latin characters and without Cryptogams. The article by Dr. Şerafettin which appeared in five successive issues of Genç Kimyager (Young Chemist) is the full text of a conference he gave on spontaneous generation. A particularity of Dr. Şerafettin's books is that they included the Latin and French equivalents of all family names and most botanical terms as well as the names of active chemical compounds.

Although he has not attempted to inititate any scientific research in this field, Dr. Şerafettin was a dedicated teacher of botany. The textbooks he prepared for the schools of Pharmacy and Dentistry, the emphasis he gave to practical courses in teaching botany, and his endeavours for the foundation of a botanical garden in Kadırga are all indicative of his devotion to botanical education.