30 



The South AusiraUan Naturalist. 



i893-4-5~(i . . Dr. K. II. Perks ^\v. W. 11. Sehvay. 



1896-7-8 .. Mr. W. Symonds Clark .. „ 



1898-1900 .. Mr. Edwin Ashbv „ 



1900-1-2 . . Mr. S. Smeatou „ 



1902-n . . Dr. E. Angas Johnson . . „ 



1903-4-5 . . Mr. E. H. Lock „ 



1905-6 . . Dr. R. S. Eogers Mr. E. H. Lock. 



1906-7-v . . Mr. J. M. Black „ 



1908-9-10 . . Mr. W. H. Selwav „ 



1910-11-12 . . Dr. R. H. Piilleine „ 



1912-.''.-4 . . Mr. E. H. Lock Mr. P H. E. Range. 



1914-5-e; . . Captain S. A. White .... „ 



1916-7 .. Prof. T. G. B. Osborn .. Mr. Wm. Ham (1916-8). 



1917-S-9 . . Mr. W. J. Kimber 



1919-20-1 .. Dr. C. Fenner Mr. E. H. Ising (1918-21), 



GEORGE BENTHAM, AUTHOR OF FLORA 

 AUSTRALIENSIS. 



By B. S. Roach. 



Hard-working' field botanists, ^^•ho spend active days in the 

 open air making observations on plants and their environment, 

 have ponred forth words of scorn on those whom they designate 

 as chamber-botanists — viz., those scientists who in the comfort- 

 able precincts of their homes examine and classify at leisure the 

 dried s])ecimens collected for them. It is the old conflict be- 

 tween the man of action and the man of contemplation ; maybe, 

 between the doer and the dreamer. This article deals with the 

 career of one of these chamber-botanists, or, as we may more 

 respectfully term him, a systematic botanist, probably the most 

 eminent of his class that ever lived in England or elsewhere, 

 and, although he never set eyes on our land, one who rendered 

 high and distinguished services to Australian botany. 



George Bentham came from famous stock. His father was 

 Sir Samuel Bentham, and Jeremy Bentham was his uncle. 

 During the lifetime of Jeremy his name had spread to the most 

 remote parts of the civilized world. He was the founder of the 

 Utilitarian S3^stem of philosophy (''the greatest good for the 

 greatest luimber"), a great logician, and a notable jurist. At 

 his death it was found that he had bequeathed his skeleton to 

 University College, London, and to this day it may be seen 

 there by anyone interested in such a gruesome sight as the bony 

 framework of a philosopher. 



