WILLIA:M WRIGHT, A JAMAICAN BOTANIST 333 



at its opening. In a letter to Dr. Carrie (1802), Wright says :— " I 

 h:ive made some progress with the specimens. I look for a large 

 collection soon from Trinidad and Guiana ; but that shall not prevent 

 me from sending you such in the meantime as 1 can spare." 



He died in Edinbugh in the (S5th year of his age, 1819, 



The above notee are taken from the Memoir (1828) written by 

 Dr. Mitchell, which Stokes {Commentaries, p. cxxx) says was 

 published by Wright's three nieces " as a memorial of their affection" ; 

 the portrait which accompanies the memoir is said by Stokes to be a 

 striking likeness. 



Tlie onlv plants of Wright now in Liverpool are contained in a 

 volume in the Free Public Museums, lent for use in the Flora of 

 Jamaica by the courtesy of the Curator, Dr. Joseph A. Chub. It is 

 a small quarto with a MS. title page : — " Plants of Jamaica. By 

 Will"' Wright, ]M.D., F.R.S." and an Introduction by the author, 

 dated 29th'' May, 1783. It contains about 50 somewhat scmppy 

 specimens of plants of medicinal or economic value, each accompanied 

 hy a short popular description, similar to, but differing from, the 

 "Extracts from Dr. Wright's Herbaria " inclu led in the Memoir, 

 pp. 21:6-307. The specimens are arranged according to the Linnean 

 Classes which are indicated by Komaii numerals at the head of the 

 page. The Introduction is as follows : — 



" Botanv is a study of sucli general importance to Mankind, that 

 no line can be drawn to bound its utility. 



" In a commercial country like Britain the advantages will appear 

 great, when we consider, that her colonies and settlements, are dis- 

 tributed throughout every climate of the world, as by this usefull art, 

 the produce of foreign kingdoms may be transferred to our own 

 dominions, whose climate and soil is best adapted for their growth. 



" The Botanist exercises his mind in the noblest, because the most 

 usefull of all pm-suits. His daily discoveries add to the stock of 

 human knowledge, and his name is transmitted to future ages. _ 



" The author of the following remarks, spent the best of his days 

 in the West-Indies, partly in His Majesties service, and partly in 

 private Practice. He appropriated every spare moment, from the 

 duties of his Profession to Botany ; His chief aim was to ascertain 

 the properties of Plants ; whether usefull in Medicine, ni Commerce, 

 the Arts or rui"al CEconomy : how far he has succeeded is not for him 



to say. f. 1 . -,. • 1 



"'He freelv communicates, the substance of his discoveries and 

 researches ; and Hatters himself, his labour will be of advantage to 

 his native country. 



"London 29th. May 1786." 

 We have been unable to find any further trace of Wright's Her- 

 barium, which must have been an extensive one ; and it seems very 

 doubtful whether this volume is one of the quarto volumes Referred 

 to in the following note prefixed to the "Extracts" in the Memoir, 

 p. 213:—" The following Extracts are taken from the herbaries pre- 

 pared by Dr. Wright during his residence in Jamaica. Tlie^ whole 

 work extends to five volumes quarto, and from a notice in Dr. Wright's 



le 



