56 Stokes^ s Botanical Co?nme?iiaries. 



the lichens upon an old post, or to entertain himself with the 

 phenomena of vegetable monsters. " When will a botanic 

 farmer," exclaims this amiable patriarch of science, '' begin 

 with his next wooden fence to mark, month after month, the 

 progress of vegetation, till it decays, recording the growth of 

 its inhabitants in another Journal of a Naturalist f^'^ ;» . 



" Many oWects of enquiry present themselves to the minds of in4ividuals 

 which they do not pursue, from the shbttrifess and uncertainty of life, or a 

 doubt of continued residence. Who would not wish to khow how lichens, 

 Fuci, Sertulariae, and corals grow ; but the lichen which excites the wish 

 grows perhaps on a distant mountain,, or adheres to a mass of rock too large 

 to be portable, and, if marked, some geologist breaks it off with his hammer. 

 When will some observer, resident on the sea-shore, relate the growth of the 

 i^'iici which vegetate between high and low water-mark ? When will some 

 zoologist take lodgings for a summer at Red Wharf Bay near Beaumaris, in 

 Anglesea, to observe in Ellis's aquatic microscope the growth of Sertulariae ? 

 If a society possessed of a garden would invite the travelling bo^nist 1;o 

 send specimens of lichens growing on rock, they might be deposited in their 

 garden, and their dimensions given in their catalogue, and their growth be- 

 come the subject of future histories. I have often observed posts and rails 

 in a state of decay covered with iichen/raxineus and Priinastri, and have 

 wished to know theijr age. Wheij wil( a botanic farmer begin with,hi^ next 

 wooden fence, and mark, month after month, the progress 6r vegetation till 

 it dec^Sj'Tecol'dihg" the groWtH df itsi ifclhabitfeints in dnother Journal^ of a 

 Naturalist !" {^rti.y^.-n.) '^i '' ; r *" ;!:v,'--,- /i t» ■ ■ •-. - - ■ r/i, 



After a d,edication to the j^iemory; jof a deceased friend, he 

 enters upon a preface, replete with the product of an active 

 mind, original, minute, instructive, full of anecdote, and 

 amusing. He i^ the C9nnecting link, bet^vee^ri' 'tHe^fdssn arid 

 recent botanists^' and sjf)'eaks fartiiliariyjbf pWi^s'^^ rffJ'V^- 



garded \)y the present generation as' belonging' to' ^liotl^er^ 

 of the world." Among the rest of 'Hi^ inf<Drmatifc>hJ,^ fe gi'ves'ah 

 account, qf all the botanic garden^ within his knowledge,^ fi^ofn 

 Paradise dqwHw^rds. ' . ' ' ;.' rr-^if»q 



.' ■. ■ / \ : .' -V: >^. jnofi ^r 



" Soho gardai, north of !^irmingh^m, , on. -siiideouS sand ^p^ gr^>1el, 

 cultivated by Boulton, , paatner, of Wa^t, in ,the i manufacture^ pf^Ayatt's 

 improved steam-engine. Hither resorted, on the Sunday nearest the full 

 moon, James Watt, engineer, and fellow-labourer with Black on 'l^t^rit 

 heat, arid who, as well as Mrs. Wat?ts, collected plants in Cornwall ^"Okmes 

 Kier, translator of Macquer's Ch(^nic<d Dictionary ; Erasmus DarwinyaiJtl\or 

 of Zoonomia (a work which would be oftener consulted if it had, ar\,jnd^x 

 to volumes and pages) and PHytologia^ and who, in conjunction with 

 Boothby, author bf fables, and Jacksori, pi"inter of the work, plarinidd ahd 

 published a translation of Linnaeus' s dew. Plant, and Syst.-V^g.y in Sivojs. 

 8vo,- and W. Withering, who, in conjunction with Sne}r^ of , Belmoht, arid 

 Turton of Stafford, planned, and which he afterwards executed, tlje fii'st 

 version, revised'by me, of Linnaeus's generic descriptions and specific cha- 

 racters of British plants, under the title of a 'Botanical Arrangemeiit.' On 

 Priestley's accepting the office of pastor of the Presbytman congregation 

 in New Meeting Street in Birmingham, the Luntu* Society changed its day 

 of meeting to Monday, the members dining in rotation at each other's 



