LnwBAN SOCIETY OF Loin)ON. xliii 



lections and living in splendour on the proceeds; " and " ■without the 

 slightest inquiry, and in the absence not only of aU proof, but of any 

 attempt to procure proof, on the mere ipse dixit of a reckless 

 accuser, I was condemned unheard ; and the first and last intimation 

 that I received of the matter from them was a curt notice, that did 

 not reach me till six months after the attack, that my subsidium had 

 been cut ofi'. . . . I have been left to proceed with my work in London 

 without the slightest allowance or remuneration, and have had to 

 pay out of my own means the expenses of my various publications, 

 to which, on the faith of my promised subsidium, I had committed 

 myself; and when I have sent to the Portuguese Government copies 

 of my works, I have never been gratified by the smallest expression 

 of approval, or with any recognition of my self-sacrifice and 

 devotion." 



It is only proper to put these facts on record, as they afibrd a clue 

 to much of Dr. "Welwitsch's conduct and character during the last 

 few years of his life in London. Not that he ever withdrew his hand 

 from his work. He worked at his collections without intermission 

 from early morning till late at night, in spite of frequent fevers and 

 other reminders of his tropical life, and was indefatigable in making 

 himself acquainted with all that was published in botanical and 

 entomological science, and naming and arranging his collections in 

 accordance ; but he felt deeply the unworthy conduct of the Govern- 

 ment of the country in whose service he had sacrificed the best part 

 of his life, and he became suspicious and averse to society. With 

 the exception of a visit to Paris in 1867, in connexion with the 

 Exhibition there, he lived constantly in London, alone and absorbed 

 in his work, in spite of ill-health sufiicient to have caused most men 

 to seek rest and quiet. It was not, however, tUl the summer of 

 1872 that there was any reason for anxiety. A fire at that time in 

 the house where he lodged, and the narrow escape of his collections, 

 which were scorched and blackened by the smoke, produced a severe 

 nervous shock, and soon after he became seriously ill. It soon be- 

 came evident that his disease was a fatal one ; nevertheless he con- 

 tinued to work, and the singular strength of his constitution was 

 exceedingly striking ; but at last he was obliged to give up, and 

 after a painful illness of about six weeks, during which he was 

 cheered by the visits of some of his London botanical friends, he 

 died on the evening of the 20th October. The funeral at Kensal 

 Green on the 24th was attended by a number of scientific men and 

 a representative of Portugal. 



