304 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



to the perseverance and painstaking accuracy of Stokes. The 

 first — which from its formal beginning seems to mark the 

 commencement of Stokes's share in the correspondence — is dated 

 from Chesterfield, 26 March, 1820, and acknowledges the receipt 

 of Winch's present of the Essay on the Geographical Distribution 

 of Plants (1819). From this time until 1825 the letters are 

 numerous : they are occupied mostly with botanical matters, but 

 geology holds a considerable place, while birds, fishes, and insects 

 are occasionally referred to. After the end of 1825 the 

 correspondence seems to have ceased, save for a short letter in 

 1827 and another in 1828. 



In 1830 Stokes published the one volume of his Botanical 

 Commentaries. It is an octavo of cxxxiv.-272 pages, without 

 illustrations, and is dedicated " to the memory of W. B. Johnson, 

 M.B., of Coxbeach, near Derby, who died January 13th, 1830, 

 aged 66," of whom he gives further particulars in a note hereafter 

 to be quoted. In this work the marked originality of Stokes's 

 treatment takes a further extension. His earliest works conform 

 to the ordinary use in orthography and punctuation ; but in 

 the Commentaries he anticipates the present movement in favour 

 of a "reformed spelling," and adopts a comparative disuse of 

 commas. He also discards double letters, as in " quils," and 

 silent terminals, as in " activ," " opposit," " climat." Examples 

 of these and other peculiarities, as in the use of capitals and the 

 abandonment of the apostrophe which usually indicates the 

 possessive case, will be found in the quotations made in the 

 course of this paper. 



The preface, which consists of twenty-three pages, is full of 

 interesting matter connected with the need of observation — 

 "every naturalist should rise with the sun"; with horticulture 

 (especially fruit-growing), travel (with special reference to the 

 dangers of Welsh roads), "herbariums" (sic), collecting, medicine, 

 gardens, ornithology (of which he seems to have had considerable 

 knowledge), and other subjects. He is greatly impressed with the 

 necessity of precaution against fire; and his remarks on this subject 

 end in an amusing suggestion : — 



" Bankss herbarium, if I mistake not, is so constructed that 

 in case of fire it may be readily transported. But our public her- 

 bariums should be kept in incombustible buildings, which I fear 

 the British Museum and the house lately occupied by Banks in 

 Soho Square which contains the Linnean herbarium, are not. 

 The Italians less liable to fire than we are build incombustible 

 houses. I cannot help expressing a wish that the proprietors of 

 solitary houses containing collections of books coins statues 

 or paintings should be compelled by act of parliament to hold 

 in readiness the means of extinguishing fires. Chatsworth is well 

 defended by buckets engines and running water within its walls. 

 The engines should be played on the festival of the saint to whom 

 the parish church is dedicated." 



The preface also contains Stokes's views on nomenclature, 

 which, he says, had " almost entirely changed " since he wrote 



