490 IN MEMORY OF HENRY TRIMEN. 



nent part in the work of the Botanical Exchange Club, and this 

 brought him into frequent communication with Mr. J. G. Baker, 

 which developed into personal friendship when the latter came to 

 town in 1866. Somewhat later than this he formed the acquaint- 

 ance of the Hon. J, Leicester Warren (afterwards Lord de Tabley), 

 who, with Mr. Newbould and Mr. Dyer, were his chief botanical 

 friends. With the last of these he projected in 1866 — in which 

 year he added Woljfia arrhka to our British list — the Flora of 

 Middlesex, which, on its publication in 1869, was at once recognized 

 as an epoch-making book in the history of British botany, and has 

 formed a model for subsequent compilers of local floras. It is 

 unnecessary to speak at length of a book so well known and so 

 deservedly admired. It has always been supposed that Dr. Trimen 

 was responsible for the larger portion of the undertaking ; and 

 the interleaved copy of the Flora, which, on going to Ceylon, he 

 left in the Department of Botany, is full of MS. notes which will 

 interest future investigators of the plants of the county. 



Although he had completed his medical course with distinction, 

 it was manifest that Trimen's vocation lay in the direction of 

 botany. He was well acquainted with Mr. Bennett and with Mr. 

 Carruthers, the latter of whom had shown every encouragement to 

 him and to Mr. Dyer at the beginning of their botanical career, and 

 had thus contracted a warm personal friendship with them, which in 

 Trimen's case was never broken. Mr. Dyer had also a desire for 

 botanical work, and, as I have said elsewhere,* it was only after 

 much deliberation that Trimen was chosen to fill the post of assistant 

 in the Department of Botany in the British Museum. It is curious 

 to speculate on the turn that events might have taken had the choice 

 been otherwise. In 1877 Trimen became botanical lecturer to St. 

 Mary's Hospital — a post which he retained for many years. 



Although it was not till 1870 that Trimen's name appeared on 

 the title-page of this Journal in the capacity of assistant-editor, 

 he had for some time had much to do in its management. During 

 Seemann's frequent absences from England, Mr. Carruthers had 

 acted as editor, although his name never appeared in that capacity ; 

 but from 1870 onwards Trimen was responsible in every way for 

 the conduct of the Journal, although his name did not appear as 

 editor until after Seemann's death in 1871. He at once reduced 

 the price of the Journal and introduced many new features, the 

 result being an increased circulation and a much improved table of 

 contents. The pecuniary loss entailed, however, was considerable, 

 although towards the end of his editorship the Journal paid its way. 

 The Journal has from the first been unofficially associated with the 

 British Museum. Dr. Seemann found the Botanical Department a 

 convenient place of reference, and subsequent editors have been 

 members of the Museum stafi^, so that, although the Museum is 

 in no way responsible for what may appear in its pages, it has 

 furnished a convenient medium — more needed, perhaps, formerly 

 than at present — for keeping the botanical world au courant with 



• Jouni. Bot. 1895, 183. 



