1886-87.] open ing A ddrcss. 7 



from the scientific world. The discovery should at once be 

 made known through the recognised mediums of publicity; 

 but how much of its value is taken away when the precise 

 locality, surroundings, and soil in which the plant grew are 

 unknown even to the collector himself ? I am not one of 

 those who believe in publishing the precise spots on which 

 rare plants grow, as it has too often led to their eradication. 

 However, it can do no harm to name the mountain or glen 

 where the rarity is to be found, as it will place on record the 

 locality, and prevent future botanists, if they come across the 

 station, claiming a record. Beyond this, a very accurate note 

 of the spot where the plant grew should be preserved in the 

 herbarium in which the specimen is placed. It is extra- 

 ordinary how much doubt has been thrown upon the work of 

 some botanists through their want of keeping a proper record 

 of stations. Perhaps no man suffered more in his reputation 

 at one time from this than the greatest of our Scotch field 

 botanists, George Don. He was a man that each of us may 

 well aspire to take as an example in his zeal to add to the 

 existing knowledge of the Scottish flora. His solitary wander- 

 ings among our Highland mountains for weeks at a time may 

 well astonish us — at night generally making some mossy 

 hollow his bed and a stone his pillow, with no roof over him 

 except the arch of heaven. But even with all his enthusiasm 

 and devotion to science, George Don sometimes did too much. 

 Long after his death acrimonious disputes took place among 

 botanists regarding Don's work, as there were numbers of 

 plants which he alone had recorded in Scotland, and for which 

 he gave either vague localities or none at all. As time rolled 

 on and Scotch stations for these plants were not found, the 

 botanists of fifty or sixty years ago began naturally enough to 

 cast doubts on the reality of Don's work. Some even hinted 

 that he had got specimens of certain plants from abroad and 

 noted them as Scotch ; while others, who thoroughly believed 

 and trusted him, did their best to defend his memory. The 

 war of differing opinions was waged for years, and was carried 

 on till recent times. However, one by one the plants noted 

 and recorded by him have been rediscovered where he found 

 them about ninety years ago, and now we hold his memory 

 sacred as that of a noble and honest man. It was only last 



