TRANSNATIONAL CAREERS IN THE SERVICE OF EMPIRE: GERMAN NATURAL HISTORIANS IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON

In the night of 6 March 1754, the Saxonian literary critic and natural historian, Christlob Mylius, died of pneumonia in London, aged 36 years. He bequeathed only 36 shillings in cash, but outstanding debts of £120. For Mylius, London was supposed to have been only an intermediate stop on his way to America, where he first wanted to explore the British-dominated North, and then go on to Dutch Surinam to send back botanical specimens, astronomical data, and descriptions of the fauna and native peoples to Germany. With Mylius’s death, a unique expedition project of German natural history came to a