300 'DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS [l86l. 



To Dr. Gray he wrote, (Dec. 1861) : — 



" You may rely on it, I will send you a copy of my Primula 

 paper as soon as I can get one ; but I believe it will not be 

 printed till April 1st, and therefore after my Orchid Book. I 

 care more for your and Hooker's opinion than for that of all 

 the rest of the world, and for Lyell's on geological points. 

 Bentham and Hooker thought well of my paper when read ; 

 but no one can judge of evidence by merely hearing a 

 paper." 



The work on Primula was the means of bringing my 

 father in contact with the late Mr. John Scott, then working 

 as a gardener in the Botanic Gardens at Edinburgh, — an 

 employment which he seems to have chosen in order to 

 gratify his passion for natural history. He wrote one or two 

 excellent botanical papers, and ultimately obtained a post in 

 India.* He died in 1880. 



A few phrases may be quoted from letters to Sir J. D. 

 Hooker, showing my father's estimate of Scott : — 



" If you know, do please tell me who is John Scott of the 

 Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh ; I have been corresponding 

 largely with him ; he is no common man." 



" If he had leisure he would make a wonderful observer ; to 

 my judgment I have come across no one like him." 



" He has interested me strangely, and I have formed a very 

 high opinion of his intellect. I hope he will accept pecuniary 

 assistance from me ; but he has hitherto refused." (He 

 ultimately succeeded in being allowed to pay for Mr. Scott's 

 passage to India.) 



" I know nothing of him excepting from his letters ; these 

 show remarkable talent, astonishing perseverance, much 

 modesty, and what I admire, determined difference from me 

 on many points." 



So highly did he estimate Scott's abilities that he formed 



* While in India he made some admirable observations on expression 

 for my father. 



