!>' MEMORY OF i3A>IEL OLIVER 91 



influx of collections from all parts of the world, and set an example of 

 punctuality and conscientious devotion to duty that has not failed to 

 produce good fruits. Indeed, it was the discharge of his duties that 

 prevented him during later years from continuing the valuable con- 

 tributions to scientific literature which had procured him a distin- 

 guished position among botanists of all countries. He studied all 

 branches of botany, but his fame will rest on his unrivalled knowledge 

 of flowering plants. This vast store of knowledge has always been 

 open to all who chose to consult him, and its direct influence on the 

 writings of others is only known to the few intimately connected with 

 his ofUcial life. Probably no one man ever knew so much as he of 

 those aberrant types which puzzle the most experienced botanists." 



Oliver's work at Kew was not confined to the Herbarium. Almost 

 as soon as he arrived there, he began and carried on from 1859 

 until 1874, when a govei-nraent grant was allowed for the work, a 

 series of lectures to the garden staff. The first ofliicial Guide to the 

 Museums (1861) was from his pen, and in 1872 he published a new 

 and interesting Guide to the Gardens. Apart from his systematic 

 papers, perhaps his most generally useful publication was the Lessons 

 in Elemeniary B of any, which, first published in 1864, has gone 

 through numerous editions, the last bearing date 1910. Its method 

 differed widely from the popular manual as understood by previous 

 and subsequent writers : " gather, first of all'' it said, "a specimen 

 of the Common Battercup," and, proceeding from the known to the 

 unknown, this simple text was developed into an introduction to 

 the characters of the principal orders of the British Flora. Of this, 

 in 1869, he produced an adaptation as a First Book of Indian Botany, 

 " any common annual weed " being substituted for the buttercup, the 

 text and illustrations relating of course to the country for which 

 the book was prepared. Previous to this, he had, in conjunction with 

 W. H. Pitch, drawn up for the Science and Art Department of the 

 Council of Education, a series of coloured illustrations with accom- 

 panying letterpress of the principal natural orders of plants : these 

 were in 1874 issued in volume form. 



Peference has been made to Oliver's work as a lecturer. In 1861 — • 

 the year of his marriage — he succeeded Lindley as Professor of Botany 

 at University College, a post which he resigned in 1888 and which has 

 now for many years been held by his son. In order that his Kew 

 work should not in any way be interfered with, he delivered his 

 lectures at 8 a.m. In 1870, when I was living at Chiswick, I attended 

 a course of these : locomotion was not as easy then as it is now, and 

 it was necessary to start before 7 in order to ensure arriving in time. 

 Admirably clear as were the lectures, and fully illustrated by speci- 

 mens — Oliver always arranged that there should be one for each 

 student^I do not think he was an ideal lecturer : his manner was 

 somewhat jerky and abrupt, and was not such as to encourage 

 questioners — indeed, I do not remember that such a one ever presented 

 himself. Oliver also 'lectured on Botany at the South Kensington 

 Museum. 



When I entered the Herbarium in August, 1869, Kew was at the 

 height of its reputation as the recognized centre of svstematic botanv. 



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