THE REV. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., F.R.S. 307 



It was about 1845 (about the time of the potato-disease) that 

 Berkeley's writings begin to treat more particularly of the morpho- 

 logical aspect of his subject. He was always aware of the importance 

 of this, but the awakening in him (as in continental writers) began 

 about this period. He henceforth busied himself much with plant- 

 diseases, both those caused by Fungi and others — non-parasitic. 

 His papers on Vegetable Pathology in the ' Gardeners' Chronicle ' 

 are among his best work. He still kept up his labours in Systematic 

 Mycology, but morphological work had fascinated him as well. 

 Under other circumstances this would have undoubtedly borne even 

 more conspicuous fruit. As it was, Berkeley saw the necessity of 

 employing the methods of research which were becoming so 

 successful in the hands of the Tulasnes, De Bary, and others. 

 Broome, who appeared to read everything in the way of mycological 

 literature, frequently asked his opinion on controversies of the day, 

 and Berkeley, to judge by his replies, was generally cautious 

 enough in his judgments. One notable instance is a letter about 

 De Bary's researches on the Mycetozoa. Cautious, however, as he 

 was, the example of Berkeley was an admirable one to mycologists, 

 in this country, who in those days had nothing but heaped-up abuse 

 for the great investigators on the continent who were founding 

 anew the study of Fungi. Of these great men Berkeley speaks with 

 unfailing respect, even when he differs from their opinion and 

 distrusts their results. Almost the only contemptuous words in the 

 whole series of Berkeley's letters are those he applies to their 

 detractors in this country, of whose slipshod methods and intolerable 

 conceit he used the most unsparing language. 



The 'Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany' appeared in 1857, 

 and this perhaps was his greatest work from the point of view of 

 public utility. It did more to spread a knowledge of Cryptogamic 

 Botany than is commonly recognised. It was a work of great 

 originality, and of very remarkable insight. Its influence may be 

 best measured by its effect on our native literature during succeeding 

 years. ' The Outlines of British Fungology' followed in 1860, and 

 supplied mycologists with numerous figures of Fungi in a handy 

 form. From this time onward the fruits of Berkeley's labour 

 continued to appear in the form of numerous papers scattered in 

 many journals. Honours came to him. He received the gold 

 medal of the Royal Society, a reward which he valued very highly, 

 in 1863. It was not till 1879 that he was elected a Fellow. In 

 that year he presented his herbarium of Fungi to Kew, and not 

 long afterwards his books. After that date his scientific activity 

 slowly slackened, and during recent years he lived a very quiet and 

 retired life. Various portraits have been published, including a 

 very good one by Mr. Worthington Smith in the ' Gardeners' 

 Chronicle,' which, as so often happens to good portraits, the subject 

 of it did not altogether like, as he confesses to Mr. Broome. What 

 is more to the point, however, his frieuds, the best judges, all like 

 it. An oil portrait of him by Peel was painted in 1878, and 

 presented to the Linnean Society, but it is not attractive. 



A9 for Berkeley's position in the scientific world, it is un- 



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