XXVI PROCEEDINGS OE THE 



destined for the medical profession. At this early period the 

 strong inclination of his mind to the study of Botany gained for 

 him the favourable notice of the amiable Professor of Natural 

 History, Dr. "Walker; and he was induced, in the year 1791 

 (being then in the eighteenth year of his age), to lay before the 

 Natural History Society, of which he was a member, his earliest 

 Paper, containing an enumeration of such plants as had been dis- 

 covered in North Britain subsequent to the publication of Light- 

 foot's ' Flora Scotica,' with critical notes and observations. Al- 

 though this Paper, like most of those read before the Society, was 

 not intended for publication, it led to the communication of his 

 specimens and observations to Dr. Withering, who was then en- 

 gaged in the preparation of the second edition of his ' Arrange- 

 ment of British Plants,' and laid the foundation of a warm and 

 intimate friendship between them. In 1795, soon after the embodi- 

 ment of the Pifeshire Regiment of Fencible Infantry, he obtained 

 in it the double commission of Ensign and Assistant- Surgeon, and 

 proceeded with it to the North of Ireland, in various parts of 

 which he was stationed until the summer of 1798, when he was 

 detached to England on recruiting service. Fortunately for him- 

 self and for science, this service enabled him to pass several 

 months, during this and the succeeding year, in London, where 

 he availed himself to the utmost of the library and collections of 

 Sir Joseph Banks, from whom his already established botanical 

 reputation obtained for him a cordial reception. In 1799 he re- 

 turned to his regimental duties in Ireland, from which he was 

 finally recalled, in December of the following year, by a letter 

 from Sir Joseph Banks, proposing for his acceptance the post of 

 Naturalist in the Expedition for surveying the coasts of New 

 Holland, then fitting out under the command of Captain Flinders. 

 Within two days of the receipt of this letter, which placed within 

 his reach the so-much coveted opportunity of devoting himself 

 entirely to his favourite pursuit, he quitted the regiment and the 

 military service; and in the summer of 1801 he embarked at 

 Portsmouth, full of ardour and confident of success. His absence 

 from England lasted more than four years, during which the 

 southern, eastern, and northern coasts of New Holland, and the 

 southern part of Van Diemen's Land, were thoroughly explored. 

 In the month of October 1805 he arrived in Liverpool with a col- 

 lection of dried plants amounting to nearly 4000 species, a large 

 proportion of which were not only new to science, but exhi- 

 bited new and extraordinary combinations of character and habit. 



