•May 23, 1859.] OBITUARY.— BROWN-HALLAM. " " 241 



noblest generalizationB in the relations and classification of living 

 plants, he was much too sagacious and circumspect to pronounce 

 hastily on the affinities between the lapidified, extinct groups of vege- 

 tables and those which now prevail. 



Those persons who, like myself, were intimately acquainted with 

 this distinguished and benevolent man, can testify that in every 

 action of his life he preserved the most scrupulous rectitude of 

 conduct, dictated by the sincerest love of truth ; * and that, when- 

 ever occasion required, he gave ample proofs of a lofty and inde- 

 pendent spirit. No event within my recollection called forth, in a 

 more marked manner, his love of independence, than when, in the 

 year 1830, a great majority of the men of science having publicly 

 expressed a wish that Sir John Herschel should become the Presi- 

 dent of the Eoyal Society, a Prince of the blood royal was proposed 

 in opposition to the man of our choice. Then it was that, co- 

 operating with my deceased friend, I saw the influence produced 

 upon my associates by the honest and unflinching exertions of this 

 respected leader in science. The result of that struggle, as is well 

 known, was the election of the Duke of Sussex by a small majority ; 

 whilst it is a fact highly creditable to the memory of that kind- 

 hearted and accomplished Prince, that he subsequently lost no 

 opportunity of paying marked attention to those Fellows of the 

 Society who had conscientiously supported his opponent, at the head 

 of whom stood Robert Brown. In truth, his Eoyal Highness, to his 

 great honour, farther distinguished himself, in the year 1838, by 

 welcoming Herschel on his return from the Cape, and by presid- 

 ing over the entertainment given to that great astronomer by 400 

 men of science, at which I had the honour of acting as a vice-presi- 

 dent in union with Eobert Brown. 



As an attached friend of the dying philosopher, it was my privi- 

 lege to witness how his noble, calm, and unruffled spirit was 

 preserved to the last ebb of life ; and it was a sad but gratifying 

 solace to me, that I was one of those of his scientific associates who, 

 well knowing how to estimate the value of the man, had the privi- 

 lege of following to the grave the remains of the truly illustrious 

 Eobert Brown. 



Hallam. — The celebrated historian, Henry Hallam, has gone 

 from among us, full of years and of honour. Many an abler pen than 



* My friend Dr. Fitton also possesses a letter from Baron Humboldt to himself, in which 

 the gi-eat traveller, besides an enumeration of the works of Robert Brown, also dilates on 

 his many private virtues, as well as on the simplicity of his character. 



