OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : MAY 29, 1866. 129 



upon this great order, the Species Filicum, was completed only two yeai's 

 ago; when the indefatigable author, upon the verge of fourscore, imme- 

 diately and courageously entered upon the preparation of a condensed 

 Synopsis of all known Ferns, and had made considerable progress in 

 the undertaking, when the attack of a prevalent epidemic suddenly 

 closed his long, honored, and most useful life. 



Sir William Hooker was doubtless the most prolific botanist of the 

 age, even exceeding Linmeus in this respect, — having published about 

 seventy volumes (including the journals he edited) and over four thou- 

 sand plates, all the earlier ones from his own drawings, and having de- 

 scribed as many new species as there were of plants known in the time 

 of Linnaeus. This is not so extraordinary when we consider that his 

 term of authorship covers fifty-five years, no part of which was unpro- 

 ductive, and that his opportunities were unusually great, through his 

 numerous pupils and distant correspondents, — inspired by his zeal and 

 attached by his generosity and winning ways, — who sent him the vege- 

 table productions of all lands; as also by his public spirit and influence 

 with men in office, through which governmental facilities were secured, 

 and botanists appointed when possible to all exploring expeditions and 

 voyages. His opportunities, therefore, were of his own making, and 

 were improved by a sustained industry and single devotion to his pur- 

 suit, that have never been surpassed. Like Linnasus also, but unlike 

 most naturalists, so well had he calculated his powers and directed his 

 aims, that he left no half-finished works behind him, but completed 

 everything he undertook, excepting that upon which he had just en- 

 tered when he was called to his rest. Mere amount of publication in 

 descriptive botany may be of small or equivocal merit. Of Hooker it 

 is to be remarked, not only that he did a vast amount of botanical work, 

 but that he did it surpassingly well. 



John Lindlet was born at Catton, near Norwich, on the 5th of 

 February, 1799, and was educated at the grammar school of that town. 

 His father was a nurseryman of some consideration, and the author of 

 a well-known work upon the orchard and kitchen garden. Young 

 Lindley's bent for natural history was congenital, and his special voca- 

 tion, as the practical illustrator and introducer of the natural system 

 into common use wherever the English language is spoken, was early 

 indicated. In one of his first lectures, a sketch of which has just been 

 printed from his manuscript, he gave a lively account of his early 

 endeavors after botanical knowledge, and the small satisfaction that 

 VOL. VII. 17 



