1882-83-] Edinburgh NatiiTalists Field Cliib. 49 



the finest in Europe ? or to find him associated, in special work 

 with such men as Taylor and Greville and Berkeley, who at that 

 time were in the zenith of their fame ? Hooker's power of work 

 was something altogether unique, and extended over a long period. 

 Monuments of his toil still have a conspicuous and enduring char- 

 acter : they are the pyramids of botanical literature, and having 

 them before our minds, we are not surprised at the honours which 

 were heaped upon him in his professional life. From the Chair of 

 Botany in Glasgow, he rose to the directorship of the celebrated 

 gardens of Kew, and afterwards was decked with the garland of 

 knighthood, which he wore with modesty and grace, amidst a large 

 circle of congratulating friends. The plant selected to bear his 

 distinguished name is worthy of it : Hookeria lucens is well known 

 to every muscologist, and is a special favourite, as under the micro- 

 scope it is exquisitely beautiful. 



The American continent is represented in the subject we are 

 now considering by only one name, but that name is a " tower of 

 strength." John Bartram flourished from the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century, nearly to the time of Hooker's birth in 1785. 

 He belonged to the good old-fashioned, drab-suited, broad-brimmed 

 Quakers. He had a passion for plants from his youth, which mani- 

 fested itself not only in searching for them and examining them, 

 but in planting and nursing them. It was said of him by a friend 

 that he would ride fifty or a hundred miles to get a new plant. 

 This fact shows what metal he was made of. He who does not 

 cheerfully endure fatigue, and hunger, and self-denial, if needs be 

 risk, in this work, is not worthy the name of a botanist. It was on 

 the banks of a river near Philadelphia that Bartram founded his 

 garden, which really was the first botanical garden in America. 

 He planned it, laid it out, and filled it with plants chiefly collected 

 by himself. This self-taught man literally made the world wonder 

 at his success. The great Linn.'Bus said of him that he was the 

 greatest natural botanist in the world — a testimony which we may 

 readily accept, coming as it does from such an aiithority. George 

 III. appointed him as " American Botanist" to himself — an appoint- 

 ment which conferred as much honour on the monarch in giving it 

 as it did on the man who received it. This man, Bartram, has 

 fallen asleep, but his spirit and energy have been perpetuated in 

 others. He goes marching on through the wide world. The tastes 

 he gratified, the pleasure he imparted, the knowledge he diffused, 

 and the successes he achieved, were all as so much choice seed 

 cast into the soil of national life, and which to after generations 

 have yielded a golden harvest. 



I cannot now give particulars respecting the six continental 

 names already mentioned : they are the names of men whose memo- 

 ries will be cherished by muscologists to the end of time. Some 



