BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 61 
of the Botanic Garden at Rostock, having been published in 1795. 
Professor Link was one of those men whom, coming between the pre- 
sent and the past, it must be gratifying to the memory of living botan- 
ists to have met. He was contemporary with Linnæus, having been 
eighteen years old when the great author of the ‘ Systema Nature ’ died, 
and, from his botanical tastes, was probably acquainted with that 
naturalist’s writings long before his decease. Dr. Link was in Great 
Britain at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement 
of Science, at Glasgow, in 1841. Those who were present on that 
occasion will not forget his vigorous, yet venerable appearance, and the - 
zeal with which he entered into the scientific business of the Asso- 
ciation. ' 
We have no particulars of the early life of Heinrich Friedrich Link , 
but we know that he graduated at Göttingen in 1789, having read on 
that occasion an inaugural thesis on the Flora of Gottingen, referring 
more particularly to those found in calcareous districts. Shortly after- 
wards he was appointed Professor of Botany at Rostock ; subsequently 
he held the same chair at Breslau; but the latter and larger portion of 
his scientific life was spent at Berlin. He practised at Berlin as a 
physician among an extensive circle of friends, who had a high opinion - 
of his medical skill. Although the name of Link fills a large space in 
the literature of botany, his mind was not of the highest order, and his 
contributions to science are not likely to make a very permanent im- 
pression. Still, he was an energetic, active man, with an observant — 
mind, a retentive memory, and with considerable power of systematic _ 
arrangement. Hence his works, like those of Linnæus, have been 
among the most valuable of the contributions to the botany of the cen- 
tury in which he lived. Of these, his * Elementa Philosophiæ Bo- — 
tanice ’ may be quoted as the most useful. This work, which was 
published in 1824, has served as the basis of most of our manu: 
and introductions to botany since that period. In this work he 
especially dwelt on the general anatomy of plants, and gave a new 
arrangement of the tissues. In order to render it more available for 
study, he published subsequently a series of plates, under the title - 
‘Icones Anatomico-Botanice,’ consisting of very faithful representa- 
tions of the microscopical structure of various parts of the plant. 
The Elements have gone through several editions, and, though supe 
seded, like most other works of the kind, by the publication 
