50 



FLORA INDICA. 



Flora. This is not the place to dwell on the extraordinary 

 exertions in the cause of science of the author of these great 

 works. They are themselves the best proof of his wonderful 

 energy, and show what can be accomplished by perseverance 

 under apparently insurmountable obstacles. At the period 

 of the publication of the earlier numbers the art of litho- 

 graphy was in a very rude state in India, and the plates are 

 consequently very imperfect; but in the later volumes the 

 improvement is great, and the outline drawings are admira- 

 bly reproduced. The volumes form the most important con- 

 tributions, not only to botany, but to natural science, which 

 have ever been published in India, and they have been of the 

 greatest service to us throughout our labours. 



Besides these great works, Dr. Wight has published many 

 minor papers in the various periodicals of the day, particu- 

 larly in the € Madras Journal of Science/ and in M'Clelland's 

 1 Calcutta Journal of Natural History/ 



Mr. Bentham's eminent services to Indian botany demand 

 especial notice here; and while recording our sense of the 

 value of his labours and our admiration of his writings, we 

 would most strongly recommend fo the student of Indian bo- 

 tany the careful study of his works, as those of the most in- 

 dustrious, able, useful, and philosophical systematic botanist of 

 the age, who, for correct appreciation of the value and limits 

 of genera especially, is not surpassed by any systematise His 

 connection with Indian botany commenced by his taking a 

 large share of the labour of distributing the Wallichian col- 

 lection in 1829, in conjunction with Dr. Wallich, and he again 

 volunteered his services to assist that eminent botanist in the 

 second distribution, that of 1849 ; he has also been actively 

 engaged in the arrangement and naming of the extensive 

 collections sent by Major Jenkins to Sir William Hooker, 

 by Mr. Griffith to Dr. Lemann and Sir William Hooker, 

 as well as by Dr. Stocks and Mr. Edge worth to his own her- 

 barium. Of his published works, the monographs of Scro- 

 phularinea and Labiatce are of standard excellence, and have 



