70 Linnean Society. [May 25, 



active both in the House of Commons and out of it in the arrange- 

 ment of the standard of weights and measures. 



In 1806 he married Mary Anne Gilbert, and in 1817 he assumed 

 the name of her family, in pursuance of the injunction contained in 

 a wUI of her uncle, Charles Gilbert, Esq., of Eastbourne, in Sussex. 

 By this marriage he had seven children, of whom only four sur- 

 vived him ; John Davies Gilbert, Esq., the present Sheriff of Sussex, 

 and three daughters. 



He became a Fellow of the Societ)'^ of Antiquaries in 1820, and 

 was likewise Fellow of the Astronomical and Geological Societies. 

 He continued to perform the office of Treasurer of the Royal So- 

 ciety, till in 1827 he became President of that distinguished body. 

 In the year 1831 he retired from the chair, and was succeeded by His 

 Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex. In 1832 he received from the 

 University of Oxford the Degree of Doctor of Laws, by Diploma. 



His last visit to his native county took place in 1839. On lea- 

 ving Cornwall he came through Exeter and Oxford to London, and 

 returned after a few days to Oxford. This last journey, which was 

 attended by some untoward circumstances, was too much for his 

 sinking strength. On his return to London he fell into a state of 

 lethargy, from which, though he was enabled to reach his home, he 

 never fully recovered, but after lingering in this state for some time, 

 he expired, on the 24th of December, 1839, and in the 73rd year 

 of his age. 



The Rev. Joseph Goodall, D.D., Provost of Eton College. — Dr. 

 Goodall was ardently devoted to the study of Natural History, but 

 more especially to Conchology, with which science he was tho- 

 roughly acquainted, and his collection in that department was re- 

 garded as one of the most valuable in this country. He w.as ever a 

 warm and zealous friend of this Society. 



The Reverend Patrick Keith. — Mr. Keith long and successfully 

 cultivated the interesting department of Vegetable Physiology, 

 to which he published an Introduction in 1816, under the title of 

 * System of Physiological Botany,' in two volumes, 8vo. The 

 work contained the fullest and best account of the subject at that 

 time in the English language, and was, moreover, enriched by nu- 

 merous original remarks. Mr. Keith was hkewise the author of a 

 Botanical Lexicon, published in 1837, and three separate Memoirs, 

 printed in the 11th, 12th and 16th volumes of the Society's Trans- 

 actions ; the first on the Formation of the Vegetable Epidermis, the 

 second on the Development of the Seminal Germ, and the third 

 on the Origin of Buds. Several jmpers on botanical subjects, from 



