ouirvAUY sorici:. -iwr, 



I. ii-n. -('(■!.. K. i;. KiirriKAU. i.M.s. (ni-Ti>.) 



Lii'ut.-Col. Kirtikar \v;vs l)oiii in Bombay on 21t]i .May Id-l'.V 

 After tlio usual (N^llc^e iHlucalion lio joined the (Jraut ^fedical 

 ('ull»'l^-e in 1871 . Three years later lie left for England to compete 

 for the Indian Medical Service. He returned to India in 1877 and 

 was placed on general duty in l^oniba}-. When the Afghan \\;n- 

 hroke out he was on field service from 1878 to 1880. For his 

 gallant hehaviour at the battle of ^laiwand, Surgeon Kirtikar was 

 appointed Civil Surgeon of Thana in 1881. The following years 

 saw him in a ureat variety of offices. He was Fellow of the Bombav 

 University. Sj'ndic in .Medicine, Professor of Anatomy, ]5otany, 

 and Materia ^ledica at the (irant ^ledical College, and held in 

 addition a number of medical appointments. In 1902 he became 

 Brigade Surgeon- Lieut.-Col. In 1904- he retired after completing 

 the 55th year of his age and 27 years of useful and distinguished 

 service. 



The interests of Lieut.-Col. Kirtikar were many and varied, 

 social, literary and scientiiic. There is specially one subject for 

 which he has shown not only a keen interest but also a marked 

 talent throughout his Avhole career, viz.. Botany. It was shortly 

 after his retirement from public service that I j>aid him a visit at 

 Andheri, which he had chosen as a residence" for the rest of his life. 

 I toiuid him amidst his books, chieHy botanic, and he delighted in 

 showino' me his valuable volumes, his microscopes, his collections 

 of dried plants, his water-colours of Alga? and Fungi, and many 

 other things that interest only an enthusiast. All this was the 

 result of his spare hours (for he had been a busy man) ; he had kept 

 liis e\-es open, he had read a good deal, he had seen much in many 

 lands, he had taken notes on many botanical subjects and jotted them 

 <lown in books and on slips of paper that were scattered all over 

 the library. There is no department in Botany, except perhaps 

 physiology, which he did not cultivate. To him personally this 

 wav of studying must have been a source of constant 1:)leasur<^ and 

 we do not blame him for having followed his own likings. But ii 

 we consider, what a talent like his could have achieved in the 

 advancement of botanical science in India, we can scarcely suppress 

 a feeling of regret at the thought, that there was not more method 

 and more concentTation in his way of working. These remarks, 

 however, nmst not close our eyes to the real value of the work 

 he has done. The many contributions to our journal were written 

 at a time when professional duties claimed all his energy, and it is 

 astonishing that he has been able to do so much. A posthumous 

 work of his on the '• Medicinal Plants of India" will soon see the 

 licrht, as he entrusted its publication to his friend 3Iajor B. D. Basu, 

 I. M. S. 



