"The reputation of Costa Rica as a promoter of the protection of its natural resources is due to a long and complex process, whose roots had not been well unraveled." In view of this situation, the author of this book - an amateur historian and historian - set out to clarify the origins of this event and, thanks to abundant documentary sources, especially correspondence deposited in scientific bodies abroad, he was able to reconstruct his genesis.

Thus, it is now revealed who were the key characters, as well as the most decisive facts of the aforementioned process, during the 19th century. In this sense, the bold and pioneering work of the Danish botanist Anders Oersted is confirmed, between 1846 and 1847, and it is documented how the contributions of the German naturalists Karl Hoffmann, Alexander von Frantzius and Julián Carmiol, arrived in the country in 1854, were constituted in his spine; for this they had the invaluable scientific support of museums in Berlin, as well as the Smithsonian Institute, in Washington, in whose collections today many specimens of our flora and fauna remain deposited. "