Jonathan Stokes

Jonathan Stokes (c. 1755 – 30 April 1831) was an English physician and botanist, a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, and an early adopter of the heart drug digitalis.

Stokes was probably born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, around 1755 and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1778, qualifying as MD in 1782.

Stokes became associated with William Withering (1741–1799), physician and botanist, who was a member of the influential Lunar Society.

[4] In 1790 Stokes was elected as one of the inaugural 16 associates of the newly founded Linnean Society of London[1] and corresponded with Carolus Linnaeus the Younger.

He spent the rest of his life in private medical practice in Chesterfield and pursued many scientific interests, publishing A Botanical Materia Medica: Consisting of the Generic and Specific Characters of the Plants Used in Medicine and Diet, with Synonyms, and References to Medical Authors (1812) and Botanical Commentaries (1830).

A letter from Darwin to Dr. Johnstone in Birmingham dated 1788 exists seeking such evidence and trying to accuse Withering of Quackery – the worst insult that could be used at that time.