XXXll PROCEEDINGS OE THE 



cutta. A vacancy having occurred in the charge of the Botanical 

 G-arden at Saharunpore, Dr. Eoyle was, fortunately for science, 

 selected as the best-qualified candidate, and appointed Superin- 

 tendent in 1823. No station in India is more happily situated 

 for the cultivation of the natural sciences. Eastward of Delhi, 

 elevated 1000 feet above the level of the sea, near the extreme 

 northern limit of that part of the great plain of India which 

 is included in the valley of the Ganges, within a few miles of 

 the Sewalik Hills, and mthin easy range of the great chain of 

 the Himalayah, the position commands alike the tropical flora 

 and fauna of the plains of India, the temperate of the snowy 

 range, and every transitional stage between the two. Dr. Eoyle 

 possessed the acquirements, through education and self-culture, 

 the energy of character, and the ardent love of science, to avail 

 himself to the full measiu-e of these advantages. Tlie public 

 garden, supported by a native endowment, and laid out after the 

 simple native geometrical plan, with abundance of fruit-trees and 

 common flowering plants, was entirely remodelled by the new 

 superintendent, after the most approved style of English land- 

 scape gardening. A large addition was made to the nimiber of 

 species grown, indigenous and exotic ; a scientific arrangement was 

 introduced ; a conservatory sprung up ; an ample stream of running 

 water was introduced, which fell into an artificial lake ; in short, 

 every refined alteration was adopted by which a tame oriental 

 garden could be converted into a beautifully-planned and useful 

 scientific institution. The whole was the creation of Dr. Eoyle. 

 His other duties, including the medical charge of the station of 

 Saharunpoor, with two hospitals, deprived him of the oppor- 

 tunities of travelling, necessary for the thorough investigation of 

 the nattiral history of so rich a field ; but, to compensate as much 

 as possible for this drawback, he deputed parties of plant-col- 

 lectors in successive years to the various mountain provinces in 

 • the neighbourhood, across the snowy range into the Thibetan 

 boundary of Kunawur ; and as far westward as the valley of 

 Cashmeer. By these means he soon amassed a rich and valuable 

 herbarium. But his natural bent was most strongly exhibited in 

 the investigation of the properties of plants, and their application 

 to the wants of man. For a considerable time he supplied the 

 hospitals of Bengal with indigenous drugs, as substitutes for the 

 expensive articles imported from Europe. He devoted himself 

 with great success to the identification of the articles now occurring 

 in the bazaars of the East with the medicines familiar to the 



