 In Cuba he collaborated in the search for a treatment of a parasitic illness that had been spreading rapidly.Back in New Spain, he was joined by a group of Spanish botanists selected by Casimiro Gómez Ortega, director of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid.These included Vicente Cervantes, the first professor of botany in New Spain, who continued to live in the country until his death in 1829; José Longinos Martínez, who organized the Gabinete de Historia Natural, the precursor of the Museum of Natural History; Juan Diego del Castillo, pharmacist and botanist; and José Maldonado.