The New International Encyclopædia/Forskål, Peter

FORSKÅL, fṓr'ska̤l, Peter (1732-63). A Swedish botanist. He was born at Helsingfors, studied at Göttingen, and was professor at Copenhagen. In 1761 he took part in a scientific expedition to Egypt and Yemen, where he collected several hundred plants which had previously been unknown. Seized with an attack of the plague, he died on his journey in Arabia. Among his publications are: Dubia de Principiis Philosophiæ Recentioris (1756); Descriptiones Animalium, Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Insectorum, Vermium, quæ in Itinere Orientali Observavit Petrus Forskal (1775); and Flora Ægyptiaco-Arabica (1775). The genus Forskalia is named in his honor.