372 A SKETCH OF THE PROGEESS OF 



The smaller botanical works of Johnson are all very scarce books; in 

 1847 they were collected and republished by Mr. Pamplin, under the title 

 of Opuscida omnia botanica ThomcB Joknsoni, and edited by T. S. Ealph, 

 A.L.S., the volume being dedicated to Edward Forster and "William Borrer. 



The Theatrum Botanicum, or Theater of Plants, by John Parkinson, ' the 

 King's herbarist,' was published in 1640,* during Johnson's lifetime. 

 Parkinson was an older man than Johnson, having been born in 1567 ; and 

 like him, was an apothecary in London. He had a garden in Long Acre 

 (v. Park. Theat. 609). At the time of the publication of this book, Parkin- 

 son was seventy-three years old, and probably did not live long after ; he 

 was certainly dead before 1656. Though the Theatrum was in date of 

 publication seven years subsequent to the ' emaculate ' edition of Gerarde, 

 Parkinson's observations ought probably to be considered as antecedent to 

 those of Johnson. It is no doubt a more original work than the latter, as it 

 is certainly more extensive. The following are all the additions (13) to the 

 Middlesex flora made by Parkinson: Brassica polymorpha (Bapa), Dianthus 

 Armeria, Centaurea Calcitrapa, Car dims arvensis, Hieracium Pilosella, H.um- 

 heUatum, and H. boreale, Cuscuta Epithymum, Stachys sylvatica, Iris fceti- 

 dissima, Scilla autumnalis, Scirpus maritimus, and Calamagrostis Epigeios. 



The Phytologia Britannica of William How (commonly called Dr. How) 

 appeared without the author's name in 1650, and is the first attempt at 

 a Flora of England ; all previous works having been general systems of 

 botany, including all known plants. Few localities are given for Middle- 

 sex species ; the following are all the additions to our flora : Dianthus 

 proHfer, Silyhum Marianum, Vinca major, and Glyceriajiuitans. How died 

 in 1656, and was buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster. 



Dr. Christopher Merrett's Pinax Eerum Naturalium Britannicarum, which 

 was published first in 1666,t contains nearly 200 more names than How's 

 work, but there are not a few errors, and many varieties and exotics are 

 reckoned. It must be admitted that there was material existing at the time 

 for a better Flora of Great Britain than this. Merrett was born in 1614, 

 took his degree of M.D. at Oxford in 1642, was one of the earliest members 

 of the Royal Society founded in 1663, and died at his house in Hatton 

 Garden in 1695, his body being buried in St. Andrew's, Holborn. His 

 dried plants are preserved in vols. 14, 19, 29, 30, 33, 34 and 288 of the 

 Sloaue Herbarium and there are several MSS. notes by him in a copy of 

 the Pinax in the British Museum. 



Several (36) plants stand first vouched for in Middlesex by Merrett : 



* Parkinson had previously, in 1629, published his ' Paradisus terrestris or garden of 

 pleasant flowers,' one of the earliest horticultural treatises. 



t The date 1667 is much more common in copies. Perhaps, as the Kev. W. W. 

 Nowbould suggests, the greater part of the original stock was destroyed in the great fire 

 of London. The re-issue was printed without the author's sanction, as appears from the 

 first vol. of the Phil. Trans, p. 448 (in the number published April 8, 1867), where Dr. 

 Merrett informs the public ' that within the space of four moneths he shall republish his 

 Pinax , . . with many additions, and in his proposed new method ; and that he wholly 

 disclaims the Second Edition of that book, as being printed and published without his 

 knowledge.' 



