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sessor to Dr. Hamilton, in the superintendence of the Cal- 

 cutta Botanic Garden, constitutes a new sera in the Botany 

 of India. This gentleman, a pupil of the celebrated Horne- 

 mann of Copenhagen, entered upon the duties of his office, 

 with an ardour that has rarely been excelled in any country, 

 and which certainly has never been equalled in a tropical 

 climate. At his suggestion, the Directors of the East India 

 Company placed the garden -establishment upon a footing 

 far surpassing any thing of the kind known in Europe. The 

 spot of ground is no less than jfive miles in circumference, 

 and upwards of three hundred gardeners and labourers 

 are employed in the charge of it. Gardens, in connexion 

 with it, have been formed in other remote parts of the Indian 

 possessions :' collectors have been sent out to discover new, 

 and especially useful plants, and the Residents and other 

 gentlemen attached to science were invited to send the 

 vegetable productions of their respective districts to Calcutta, 

 both in a living and dried state; and among these, the 

 Hon. Colonel Gardner, for a long time the Company's 

 Resident at Sylhet, furnished most extensive and valuable 

 collections. 



In 1820, Dr. Wallich himself undertook a journey to 

 Nepal, for the purpose of investigating and procuring for the 

 Garden and the Herbarium, its rich vegetable stores. This 

 journey occupied a period of eighteen months; at the expira- 

 tion of which time, whilst descending the plains on his 

 return home, he was attacked with a fever, that obliged him 

 to undertake a voyage for the recovery of his health. But 

 even this forced absence did Dr. Wallich render subservient 

 to the cause of science. He visited Singapore and Penang, 

 and returned to Calcutta, enriched with new treasures. The 

 expedition to Nepal gave rise to the two valuable Fasciculi of 

 Plants, entitled Tentamen Florce Nepalensis, in folio, with 

 fifty plates, executed in lithography by Hindoo artists. 



In 1825, Dr. Wallich was engaged in inspecting the vast 

 timber-forests of the western provinces of Hindostan, where 

 he had the best opportunities of examining and collecting the 

 plants of the Kingdom of Oude, the Province of Rohilcund, 



