1864.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 73 



prevail at last. No studies are better calculated to promote 

 friendly intercourse. The investigation of God's works is well 

 fitted to calm unruly passions, and to promote humility and har- 

 mony. In speaking of the eflfects of the practical prosecution of 

 Botany, the late Dr. Johnston of Berwick remarks : ' There is a 

 pre-arranged and beneficial influence of external nature over the 

 constitution and mind of man. He who made nature all beauty 

 to the eye, implanted at the same time in His rational creatures 

 an instinctive perception of that beauty, and has joined with it a 

 pleasure and enjoyment that operate through life. AVe are all 

 the better for our botanical walks, when undertaken in a right 

 spirit : they soothe, soften, or exhilarate. The landscape around 

 us becomes our teacher, and from its lesson there is no escape; 

 we are wooed to peace by the impress of nature's beauty, and the 

 very air we breathe becomes a source of gratification and pleasure. 

 The companionship of those who are prosecuting with zeal and 

 enthusiasm the same path of science is a delightful feature of such 

 excursions. The feelings excited on these occasions are by no 

 means evanescent : they last during life, and are recalled by the 

 sight of the specimens which were collected. These apparent 

 iiisignificeiit remnants of vegetation re call many tales of adventure, 

 and are associated with the delightful recollection of many a friend. 

 Many a time, while carrying on our botanical researches in the 

 widt! field of nature, and visiting the Alpine districts of this and 

 other lands, have I felt the force of these remarks. On the 

 last occasion that I presided over Section D at Liverpool, in 1854, 

 I was associated with my late deeply -lamented colleague, Edward 

 Forbes, who was President of Section C. ; and, on looking back to 

 his career, I feel, that I cannot give a better example of a true 

 naturalist— one who took a wide and expanded view of nature in 

 all her departments, and at the same time exhibited such a genial 

 spirit as endeared him to all. I have elsewhere remarked 

 that with all his knowledge, he combined an afi'ability, a 

 modesty, a kindness, which endeared him to every one. 

 No student of nature was beneath his notice; no feat recorded by 

 a pupil, however humble, was passed with neglect. He was ready at 

 all times to be questioned, and was prompt to point out any spark 

 of merit in others. He had no jealousy, and never indulged in 

 attacks upon others. He gave full credit to all ; and he was more 

 ready to see the bright than the dark spots in their character. 



