16 HANKS CELEiniATlON 



To enter upon a description of the contents of tliese Aolunips 

 would be beyond my present provinc-e : it must suflice to pay that 

 tliey inrlude letters from It-iuiers of scieni-e and art and from 

 otiu'rs wliosc nauK's are prominent in tlie liistory of the period — 

 17t)<)-lSli> — wliicli lliey cover. JJot:iny of course liolds its ])lace 

 aminiti tlie suljjccis discussed in llie letters; but- the evidence 

 scattered tlirouf^li his Herbarium and still more the M.SS. in his 

 hand reliitiiig to his travels and the ])Iants then collected afford 

 abundant testimony to the pi-ominent position whicii that science 

 — the first wliicli attracted liim — held in Jiiinks's esteem and to 

 the kn(»\vle(l<;e which he ])ossessed, and it is es[)ecially to the ]\1S!S. 

 that 1 propose to call sitteniion. 



Perhaps the most interestiii<j; are those connected with his \oyage 

 to ^Newfoundland in 17<)(). Of this voy.ige liunLs kept a Journal, 

 which, after ilie dispersal of his MISS, in \bbii, came into the 

 possession of the late IS. W. ISiUer, a Fellow of this Society, at 

 whose death it was purchased, with the rest of his library, by the 

 South Australian JJranch of the Koyal (leofjrapliical So'-iety of 

 Adelaide. It was in two volumes; of the first of these, front 

 April 7 to No\. 17, we have in the Department of Botany 

 a transcript by Eanks's sister Sarah Sophia, made in 177l?; thi^ 

 second of only niiieteeii ])at:es, from his arrival in the Tap;us at 

 the latter date, contains nothing of interest, in tlie 'Journal of 

 JJotany' for 19041 gave some account of theXew foundland Joui'nal, 

 whicli is of considerable toi)ograpliical and scientific interest 

 and abounds in notes on the natural history of the island, atid 

 expressed a hope that it might he published ; it would be a graceful 

 commemoration of this centenary if the Linnean Society could 

 see its way to such an uiulertaking, but this would probably be 

 impracticable under present conditions. A. jMS. note in the 

 Correspondence states that this is the earliest Banksian journal 

 in existence. 



Another MS. volume contains Banks's MS. list of the 2l!0 plants 

 collected — this is the earliest cataloi;ue of Newfoundland plants, 

 and as such is well worthy of ])ublication. It is arranged in 

 accordance with the Linnean system, and the habitat and locality 

 of each species is noted; specimens of each are in the Ilerbariuu), 

 the sheets beinjj; endorsed by Banks with the locality in accordance 

 with Liiinicns's direction (Phil. Bot. p. 7). It ajipears from a 

 note ill his Journal that Banks also collected "a box of seeds" 

 and a "box of earth with plants in it"; but these were destroyed 

 in a severe storm encountered on the fifth of November '• off the 

 Western Islands " on the homeward voyage. 



On his return Banks employed Ehret to make drawings of 

 twentv-two of the more interesting of his plants ; these, beautifully 

 exe(;uted on vellum, are also in the Department of Hotany. l'i\e 

 of them are reproduced in Aiton's ' Hortiis Kewensis,' and on the 

 original drawings of three is a note by Banks stating that thev 

 were taken from " dry specimens brought from New fouudland.'* 



