XXXVI FLORA ORCADENSIS. 
person can read his biography without seeing a man 
keen, observant, and possessed of a power of graphic 
description. In him we have a man with wonderful 
insight into the problems which he set himself to 
solve. Nothing of interest escaped his observation. 
His thorough botanical knowledge enabled him to 
gather plants from many almost inaccessible places 
seldom visited. Did he not visit the little island of 
Calf of Flotta to ascertain if Oxalis acetosella grew 
there? Hoy, with its treasures, was a fruitful hunt- 
ing ground for him. Finally, this man with such 
possibilities was stranded in Birsay, with, no doubt, 
a comfortable living, but amid work somewhat uncon- 
genial. Witchcraft and superstition of the vilest type 
turned the sessions, of what should have been edifying 
intercourse, into police courts and criminal repertories 
which must have been hateful to a man of genius and 
nobility ; and then, to crown all, the nemesis of blind- 
ness pursued this man, fron: whose mind had flowed 
forth light and guidance amid the surrounding gloom ; 
and, finally, he was overwhelmed in utter darkness, 
but his mind, full of resources, sought interludes of 
relief in music, which somewhat solaced his last years. 
He died in his 49th year, full of disappointment from 
unfulfilled hopes. | 
RoBERT HEDDLE. 
Robert Heddle was not only a botanist but an 
ornithologist of no mean order. He was joint-author 
of a “ Natural History of Orkney,” part i, with W. 
B. Baikie, M.D., of Kirkwall. It is rather diffi- 
cult to arrive at the true estimate of a life’s work 
