LINIfEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



plates for the first three volumes of the * Icones ' ; and of Go^feiae^t, j t* 

 Dr. Wight writes as follows : — " I have dedicated it (* Govindooia ') 

 to the artist whose facile pencil produced the drawings for the greater 

 part of the plates of the last three volumes of this work, and whose 

 skill in analytical delineation is, I helieve, as yet quite unrivalled 

 among his countrymen and, but for his imperfect knowledge of per- 

 spective, rarely excelled by European artists " (' Icones,' vi. 34). 

 Dr. "Wight was in the habit of recording meteorological phenomena in 

 the diary which he kept during all his wanderings. He was in con- 

 stant communication with the leading European botanists, and on 

 terms of warm friendship with Brown, Royle, Liudley, the Hookers, 

 Wallich, and others. 



Allusion has already been made to his great liberality in collecting 

 and distributing duplicates for botanical friends ; and good evidence 

 is afi'orded of his public spirit and ardent love of his favourite science 

 by his incumng heavy pecuniary risk in the publication of costly 

 illustrated works, which have been now long out of print. 



Dr.Wight was married, in 1838, to a daughter of L. G. Ford, Esq., 

 of the Medical Board, Madras, and is survived by his widow, four 

 sons, and a daughter. 



In private life Dr. Wight was a man of great generosity and 

 cordiality. Throughout his career he was most liberal and kind in 

 communicating information and rendering assistance to young 

 students of his favourite science ; he thereby endeared himself to 

 many as a fast and firm friend. 



When failing health precluded him from working, he was always 

 eager to help any who wished to avail themselves of the use of his 

 herbarium, and was more anxious for the promotion of botany than 

 for his own celebrity in connexion with it. 



The first serious symptoms of illness appeared in April 1869, and 

 he passed away without suffering on the 26th of May, 1872, at 

 Grazeley Lodge, near Reading. 



When in the future it falls to the lot of some historian to sketch 

 the history and progress of Indian Botany, there will be few names 

 worthy of being placed in the same rank with Robert Wight. 



Dr. Wight was elected a Fellow of this Society on the 17th 

 of January, 1832. 



