386 Memorial of George Brown Goods. 



upon natural history which emanated from America. In one of his 

 botanical excursions, about the year 1692, he visited the falls of the 

 Roanoke, and, slipping among the rocks, was killed/ 



Lawson, the historian of North Carolina, writing at the beginning of 

 the next century, remarked: "Had not the ingenious Mr. Banister (the 

 greatest virtuoso we ever had on this continent) been unfortunately 

 taken out of this world, he would have given the best account of the 

 plants of America of any that ever yet made such an attempt in these 

 parts." "" The memory of John Banister is still cherished in Virginia, 

 where his decendants are numerous.^ 



John Clayton was also an excellent representative of the new school, 

 and should not be confounded with the Rev. John Clayton who visited 

 America in 1685. John Clayton, the naturalist, as he is styled in Vir- 

 ginian history, appears to have been born in Fulham, a suburb of London, 

 in 1693, and to have accompanied his father, John Clayton, subsequently 

 attorney-general of Virginia, when he came to this country in 1705. He 

 was clerk of Gloucester County, Virginia, for fifty-one years, and died 

 December 15,1773. " He passed a long life, ' ' says Thacher, ' ' in explor- 

 ing and describing the plants of this country, and is supposed to have 

 enlarged the botanical catalogue as much as any man who ever lived." 

 He was a correspondent of Linnaeus, Gronovius, and other naturalists, as 

 well as of Collinson, who wrote of him in 1764 as "my friend John 

 Clayton, the greatest botanist of America." 



Clayton's Flora Virginica, which was edited by J. F. Gronovius, assisted 

 by the young Linnaeus, who was jusi, entering upon his career of success 

 and was then resident in Leyden, began to appear in 1739, subsequent 

 portions being published in 1743 and 1762. It seems to be the opinion 

 of botanists that Gronovius deserves less credit for his share in this work 

 than has usually been allowed him, and that Clayton's descriptions were 

 those of a thorough master of botanical science as then understood. He 

 communicated to the Royal Society various botanical papers, including 

 one upon the culture of the different kinds of tobacco. On his death he 

 left two volumes of manuscripts, and an herbarium, with marginal notes 

 and references for the engraver who should prepare the plates for his 

 proposed work. These were in the possession of his son when the Revo- 

 lutionary war commenced, and were placed in the office of the clerk of 

 New Kent County for security from the invading enem}^ The building 

 was burned down by incendiaries, and thus perished not only the records 

 of the county, but probabl}- one of the most important works on American 

 botany written before the days of Gray and Torrey. 



' His papers and collections were sent to the Bishop of London. The plants are 

 said to have passed into the hands of Sloane, and to be still preserved in the British 

 Museum. It would be interesting to know what has become of his manuscripts. 



^ John Lawson, History of North Carolina, Raleigh edition, p. 134. 



3 See The Bland Papers and Slaughter's History of Bristol Parish, ist and 2d 

 editions. 



