yon Martius on the Life and Writings of Robert Brown. 323 



An inconspicuous plant with which he there became acquainted 

 [Eriocaulon septangulare, the only European representative of an 

 especially American order) caused his life to be diverted into the 

 exclusive service of botany ; for, accompanying a recruiting party 

 of his regiment to London in the summer of the year 1798, and 

 visiting his friend Dr. Withering at Edgbaston, near Birmingham^ 

 on the road the latter caused him to introduce himself, with that 

 plant and his researches upon it, to Dr. Dryander. This learned 

 botanist, librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, astonished at the minute-* 

 ness of the investigation and the fullness of the conclusionsi 

 derived therefrom, recommended the young military surgeon asi 

 a future Master in Botany ; and Sir Joseph Banks from this 

 time forward showed him a paternal kindness. He welcomed 

 him as a regular guest at the celebrated literary breakfasts, 

 during his five months' stay in London, and in December 

 1800 proposed him to the Government as Naturalist to the 

 naval Exploring Expedition to New Holland, under Capt. Flin- 

 ders, then just fitting out. Robert Brown, at this call, gave up 

 at once the military career, came again to London at Christmas, 

 1800, and on the 18th of July, 1801, sailed in the ' Investigator/ 

 from Spithead, to the newly discovered quarter of the globe, 

 whose wonders and rarities had not been exhausted by the 

 Forsters and Sir Joseph Banks. In December the expedition 

 reached Cape Lewin, on the S.W. point of the Australian con- 

 tinent. The survey was commenced at King George's Sound, 

 and continued eastwards j on the east coast (New South Wales) 

 the intertropical regions were especially investigated, and several 

 islands and tracts of the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north coast. 

 Ferdinand Bauer, the most accurate and skilful botanical painter 

 of his time, who had passed through excellent training in Vienna 

 with Jacquin, and in Greece (1786-7) as Sibthorp's associate, 

 accompanied the expedition as draughtsman ; Sir John Franklin, 

 the lost Polar navigator, was one of the midshipmen. The vessel 

 being brought to Port Jackson in July 1803, and declared no 

 longer sea- worthy, Flinders returned home, with the results of 

 his surveys, to obtain a new. vessel. He did not reach England 

 until long after ; since, in spite of a passport from the French 

 Government, he was kept in the Mauritius for six years as a 

 prisoner of war. During this time, R. Brown, with Ferd. Bauer, 

 continued the botanical investigation of New South Wales, and 

 studied the vegetation of Kent Island in Bass's Straits, and of 

 Van Diemen's Land, returning to England, in October 1805, 

 with a treasure of 3900 species of plants, his manuscripts, and 

 1600 drawings of plants. The Linnsean Society of London 

 appointed R. Brown its librarian; and when, in the year 1810, 

 Dryander died. Sir Joseph Banks committed to him the charge- 



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