82 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



bent upon the links, the heather on the moor, have each associated 

 with them a multitude of tributary and interdependent species ; and 

 ere we can understand these complex social aggregates, and ere we 

 beo-in to account for their nature and their distribution, we are 

 involved in a network of problems — biological, meteorological, 

 chemical, and geological. In the study of these difficult and 

 very interesting problems Professor Flahault is a leader and 

 pioneer. With him Smith made long journeys over the South 

 of France, from the Pyrenees to the Italian Riviera, a country 

 most admirably adapted to illustrate the methods of research 

 involved, by reason of the great diversity and the clear lines of 

 demarcation of the many distinct areas of vegetation contained 

 within it. 



On his return home Smith began at once, not ignorant of and 

 not deterred by the magnitude of the task, to map out the botanical 

 topography of Scotland. Single-handed and with tireless industry 

 he began and continued this task, travelling on foot incredible 

 distances, and recording faithfully an immense multitude of details. 

 Of much of this work the record is unfinished ; some of it is labour 

 that has been spent in vain. But happily Smith lived to bring part 

 of it to completion and to see its first-fruits harvested. 



His first publication of importance was a paper on " Plant 

 Associations of the Tay Basin," read before the Perthshire Society 

 of Natural Science, [the first part of which was] pubhshed in the 

 Proceedings of that Society in 1898 [and the second and concluding 

 portion, accompanied by an excellent map, in the same Proceedings 

 for 1899-1900, pp. 69-87] . Short though it was, this paper attracted 

 the attention of so high an authority as Professor Engler of Berlin, 

 who makes special reference to it in a recent Memoir on the History 

 of Plant Geography as being the first attempt to apply to the vege- 

 tation of Britain the modern methods of topographical research. In 

 the beginning of 1899 Smith published in Natural Science a paper 

 " On the Study of Plant Associations," a clear and concise exposition 

 of the literary history of the subject ; and in May of this year he 

 was invited to give a lecture before the Royal Scottish Geographical 

 Society in Edinburgh on his Botanical Survey of Scotland. He 

 told me, with pleasure and gratitude, of the warm praise he received 

 on this occasion from Sir John Murray, and, in particular, of the 

 cordial and generous encouragement given him by Mr. Benjamin 

 Peach, of the Geological Survey. 



The publication of certain of his maps was undertaken by the 

 Society, and two of these, representing the districts of Midlothian 

 and of Northern Perthshire, appeared, accompanied by descriptive 

 articles, in the July and August numbers of the Scottish Geographical 

 Magazine. These maps are an enduring monument to his talent 

 and his devotion 



As a teacher, no less than as a student. Smith was painstaking 

 and successful. His lectures were models of careful preparation. 

 With a high view of his duty towards his students, he never spared 

 himself in their service. He had a faculty of exposition such as 

 does not always accompany even the soundest knowledge of a 



