456 



and his fortune ; who while he adds, every season, some- 

 thing of novelty and beauty to our gardens, has given the 

 Bread-fruit to the West Indies, and is ever on the watch 

 to prompt, or to further, any scheme of public advantage. 

 With the recollection of such men must also be associated 

 the names of the learned Forsters, father and son, of 

 Sparrmann, and of Menzies, who have all accomplished 

 the same perilous course, and enriched their beloved 

 science. The cryptogamic acquisitions of the latter in 

 New Zealand, prove him to have attended to that branch 

 of botany with extraordinary success, and at the same 

 time evince the riches of that remote country. Indeed, 

 it appears that any country proves rich, under the inspec- 

 tion of a sufficiently careful investigator. The labours of 

 these botanists have all been conducted according- to the 

 principles and classification of Linnseus. Forster, under 

 Sparrinann's auspices, has judiciously pointed out, and 

 attempted to remedy, defects that their peculiar opportu- 

 nities enabled them to discover, but with no invidious 

 aim. They laboured, not to overthrow or undermine a 

 system, which they found on the whole to answer the pur- 

 pose of readily communicating their discoveries, but to 

 correct and strengthen it for the advantage of those who 

 might come after them. It is much to be lamented that, 

 except the Nova Genera Plant arum, we have as yet so 

 short and compendious an account of the acquisitions 

 made in their voyage. To the technical history of these, 

 however, the younger Forster has commendably added 

 whatever he could supply of practical utility, and has thus 

 given us all the information within the compass of his 

 means. 



Long since the voyages of these celebrated naturalists, 

 the same remote countries have been visited, in our own 

 days, by two learned botanists more especially; these are 

 M. La Billardiere, and Mr. Brown, Librarian of the Lin- 

 naean Society. The former has published an account of 

 the Plants of New Holland, in two volumes folio, with fine 



