JOHN WHITEHEAD. 91 



and explaining how to detach and examine the leaves. Although 

 not in a position to spend much money on his hobby, he had 

 collected personally many of our rarest British plants." 



A letter from Prof. Barker, formerly of the Owens College, who 

 purchased Whitehead's herbarium, gives further particulars as to 

 Whitehead's personality: — " Whitehead worked hard all the week, 

 and took long walks on Saturday afternoons and Sundays in quest 

 of plants. With no help for many years beyond a pocket-lens, he 

 gained an eye-knowledge of the species of mosses which was to me 

 wonderful, and when at last he got a compound microscope, he was 

 delighted with the new "world of cell- structure, &c., opened up to 

 him. It was a firm article of his faith that every one should have 

 the credit for any discovery which was his due, and when he found 

 any other person transgressing in this respect, he would not hesitate 

 to express his opinion forcibly and freely. The late Dr. Wood, of 

 Manchester, who seemed to have been the local authority on mosses 

 in Whitehead's early collecting days, used to come in for severe 

 censure for giving Schimper inaccurate or wrong information, and 

 claiming credit for himself which belonged to others. Dr. Wood, 

 I imagine, had patronizing airs which a man of Mr. Whitehead's 

 sturdy independence would be sure to resent. On one occasion Dr. 

 W^ood explained to a few of them that they were his jackals ! and 

 Mr. Whitehead said he claimed the lion's share of the prey too. 

 With probably little schooling to start with, he evidently educated 

 himself. He could of course speak the dialect of his fellow workmen, 

 but he could also speak and write good English with scarcely a trace 

 of dialect. I think he could even understand pretty well the de- 

 scription of a moss in Schimper's Si/nopsis, though of course he had 

 never learned Latin. He was an excellent example of the educational 

 value of scientific pursuits. His conduct was in all respects tliat of 

 a man of culture. He also took a keen interest in workmen's 

 questions, and on opening a newspaper usually looked first at the 

 cricket or football column. His enforced leisure was occupied 

 almost altogether in working at mosses, and when he died we felt 

 that we had lost the chief authority on that subject in this district. 

 Tlie words on his funeral card seem to me most appropriate — 

 ' One of Nature's nobles, a lover of the meadows, woods, mountains, 

 and dells, and of the verdant mosses that grow around us.' " 



When, a few years back, Whitehead was incapacitated for work 

 by an attack of rheumatism in one of his knees, a subscription was 

 raised in his behalf among leading men of science, to which the 

 lioyal Society contributed £25. This subscription was mainly 

 organized by the Oldham Microscopical Society and Field Clifb, 

 to which, in 1894, Whitehead presented a valuable moss-herbarium. 

 For many years he was the elected president of the Ashton 

 Linnean Botanical Society, and about this time he was appointed 

 first president of the Manchester Cryptogamic Society, of which 

 he was later elected an honorary member. It is to be regretted 

 that the Linnean Society does not more frequently confer its 

 Associateship upon men of this class ; a glance at the present list 

 will show the names of several who from their position might be 



