92 
sessor to Dr. Hamilton, in the superintendence of the Cal- 
cutta Botanic Garden, constitutes a new æra in the Botany — 
of India. This gentleman, a pupil of the celebrated Horne- 
mann of Copenhagen, entered upon the duties of his office, — 
with an ardour that has rarely been excelled in any country, | 
and which certainly has never been equalled in a tropical | 
climate. At his suggestion, the Directors of the East Inda 
Company placed the garden -establishment upon a footing | 
far surpassing any thing of the kind known in Europe. The 
spot of ground is no less than five miles in circumference, 
and upwards of three hundred gardeners and labourers 
are employed in the charge of it. Gardens, in connexion | 
with it, have been formed in other remote parts of the Indian | 
possessions: collectors have been sent out to discover new, - 
and especially useful plants, and the Residents and othe 
gentlemen attached to science were invited to send the. 
vegetable productions of their respective districts to Calcutta, 
both in a living and dried state; and among these, the 
Hon. Colonel Gardner, for a long time the Company's 
Resident at Sylhet, furnished. most extensive and valuable 
collections. 
In 1820, Dr. Wallich himself undertook a journey 
Nepal, for the purpose of investigating and procuring for the 
Garden and the Herbarium, its rich végetable stores. This | 
journey occupied a period of eighteen months; at thè expira- 
tion of which time, whilst descending the plains on his 
return home, he was attacked with a fever, that obliged him 
to undertake a voyage for the recovery of his health, But 
even this forced absence did Dr. Wallich render subservient 
to the cause of science. He visited Singapore and Penang 
and returned to Calcutta, enriched with new treasures. The 
expedition to Nepal gave rise to the two valuable Fasciculi of 
Plants, entitled Tentamen Flore Nepalensis, in folio, with 
fifty plates, executed in lithography by Hindoo artists. ^. 
In 1825, Dr. Wallich was engaged i in inspecting the vast 
timber-forests of the western provinces of Hindostan, where . 
he had the best opportunities of examining and colini E 
plants of the Kingdom of Oude, the Province of- 
Av, 
