3GG TlIK .TOU]{NAL OF EOTANT 



It was in 1G32 that Goodyer sent to Thomas Johnson the descrip- 

 tions and corrections of Gerard's Herbal which appeared, with due 

 acknowledgement, in the edition of 1G33. He began a further series 

 of emendations which extended to the first twenty-two chapters of 

 the work ; these are printed by Mr. Gunther (pp. 71, 72) and, as he 

 says, " are characteristic of the accuracy and carefulness of [Goodyer's] 

 work." The descriptions in Gerard are here reprinted in full, with 

 numerous others hitherto unpublished, more than 250 plants being 

 specially noticed ; arranged in the order usually followed in British 

 floras, they extend to nearly a hundred pages, and are exceedingly full 

 and accurate ; the localities (of which Mr. Gunther gives in the index 

 a special list) are added in most instances. Among the descriptions 

 is one of JSLonotropa Hj^popiti/s which is not among the Magdalen 

 MSS. but occurs on the back of a page of Banister's herbarium 

 (Herb. Sloane, vol. 158, p. 249 verso), where the writer of this notice 

 was f.)rtunate enough to find it when going through the Sloane 

 collection. 



A list (pp. 100-lOS), in which Mr. Gunther smms up Goodyer's 

 botanical labours, arranged under modern names followed by the 

 locality and name taken from the MSS., precedes the descriptions, 

 and is so arranged as to present other information — a more judicious 

 assortment of type and the introduction of ' clarendon ' would have 

 made this more easy of consultation. The identifications are, as Is 

 everything in the book, very carefully done, though a close examina- 

 tion would probably detect matter for comment. One such instance 

 occurs In connexion with the plant described by Goodyer in Ger. 

 emac. (p. G77) as Acinos odoratissimum. This Mr. Gunther (p. IGG) 

 identifies with Ocimum hasUicum L., as he also does the plant 

 described by Goodyer (p. 120) as *' Acinos," although he adds that 

 the description of the latter " differs essentially from that printed in 

 Gerard." It do s not seem that Goodyer regarded them as identical ; 

 he describes the flowers and leaves of odoj^atissimitm as " like those 

 of Basil," and saj^s " it is to be considered whether the seedes of 

 sweete Marjerome [among which it was found] degenerate and send 

 forth this herbe or not." 



After the descriptions comes the section (pp. 19G-282) devoted to 

 Goodyer's Library ; this had attracted the attention of the late 

 Canon Vaughan, who had sounded its praises in an article on Goodyer 

 as " A Forgotten Botanist of the Seventeenth Century." The Cata- 

 logue of the Library is full of Interest; some of the volumes contained 

 MS. notes, here printed, others, " signatures or personal memoranda " 

 which suggested comment and make us wish for more : e. q. " E,Ic. 

 Downes " provokes a reference to Samuel Downes, M.D., who made 

 the collection of dried plants presented by J. Downes in 1731 to 

 Shrewsbury School " ; does anyone know about this collection or its 

 donor? Camcrarius's Epitome (158G) was "perhaps Goodyer's first 

 botany book ; the marginal headings and English names may have 

 been added by him as a boy." A facsimile page of Goodyer's notes 

 (not botanical) from Kay's Cat. PL Cant, occupies p. 223; his 

 signature and reproductions of his drawings appear elsewhere in the 

 book. 



