31 
Joseph Hooker that he communicated it to the Linnean. Society, 
and his observations on the vegetation of the island were published 
in the Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 168 (1879), p. 302; 
Among the results of this journey may be mentioned a careful 
study of the genus Halophila (Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin., 1877-78), 
and a valuable monograph of the genus Pandanus (Journ. Linn. 
Soc. Bot, xvii.), a genus of considerable difficulty, based largely 
on his own observations in the field. 
On his return he completed his graduation in Medicine taking 
the M.B. with Honours in 1877, and then proceeded to the Uni- 
versities of Strasbourg and Wiirzburg to continue his botanical 
studies. In 1879, at the age of 26, he was appointed Professor 
of Botany in Glasgow, and in 1884 he was elected Sherardian 
Professor of Botany at Oxford, and in virtue of his office assumed 
the charge of the Oxford Botanic Garden. 
“You sent me to Oxford ”’ he wrote in one of his last letters 
to Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, and during his short tenure of that 
office he quickly made his influence felt in reviving the neglected 
Botanic Garden, and no doubt we may trace back to his Oxford 
Professorship the development of that interest in Botanic Gardens 
which has resulted in his remarkable achievements at Edinburgh 
and placed him on the highest pinnacle of the science and practice 
of Horticulture. It must not be overlooked, however, that during 
his tenure of the Glasgow Professorship the main range of Plant 
houses at the Botanic Gardens was rebuilt and other notable 
improvements effected which showed his knowledge of the 
needs of plants and his keen interest in their successful 
cultivation, 
In 1880 he visited the island of Socotra at the instance of 
the British Association and with funds supplied by that body, 
and the elaboration of the material he there secured, after a stay 
of about seven weeks on the island, occupied him fully for some 
eight years after his return. His systematic work on the flora 
of Socotra was only equalled by his investigations into economic 
questions, and he was able to determine the sources of such 
famous drugs as Socotrine Aloes (Aloe Perryi), Dragon’s Blood 
of Socotra (Dracaena Cinnabari), known to Dioscorides, and the 
socotrana Balf, fil., be forgotten, since from it have been derived 
a large variety of most valuable winter-flowering Begonias that 
now are one of the principal winter adornments of our conserva- 
tories. (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., Vol. xxxi., 1888.) 
While he was at Oxford he rendered two services to Botany 
for which botanists owe him a lasting debt of gratitude. He was 
one of the founders of the Annals of Botany and the Editor from 
the start in 1887 until 1912. ..Dr. D. H. Scott, who was his 
colleague in the Editorship for almost 20 years, writes ‘“ I consider 
the Annals owed more to him than to anyone....,.......he worked: 
all the financial business with the Press most successfully and also 
