1912-13.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 159 



his meridian ? I have read in a respectable work, that if 

 snuff be thrown upon the back of a toad or frog it will 

 instantly die : is this actually the case ; and if so, what is 

 the reason why ''. " 



I am not sure the answers given would altogether com- 

 mend themselves to modern scientific knowledge. It is 

 pleasant, however, to think of these humble "Gleaners" 

 wrestling with such questions, and then to find, as their 

 minute book quaintly puts it. that " highly satisfied with 

 the proceedings of the evening, the members harmoniously 

 retired." 



In '■ The Flora of Forfarshire," Gardiner gives the habitats 

 of some of the rarer plants on the authority of his father, 

 while many references are made to his knowledge in the 

 manuscript magazines, of which I shall speak further on. 

 One plant is interesting, because when Gardiner, senior, 

 came across it " on the banks of the River Dean, near 

 Drumkilbo," his companion was " the poet Hedderwick." 

 There were two brothers of that name with whom the 

 elder Gardiner was intimate, and to whom he addressed 

 poetical " epistles." 



These poets and their works are forgotten now. although 

 they appear in Alan Reid s " Bards of Angus and Mearns." 

 They are notable, however, as the ancestors of a family 

 which has done much for Scottish poetry and literature in 

 the western metropolis of Scotland — I refer to the Hedder- 

 wicks of the " Glasgow Citizen." 



Gardiner, senior, loved both the men and their verses, and 

 tells them : 



" I soon shall break loose from tliis gaol that I lodge in, 

 To breathe the fresh air in the How of Strathmore, 

 And soon o'er Kinpurnie 1 ye'll see me come trudgin'. 

 To gie ye my hand and my heart as before." 



Two small collections of poems were published by 

 William Gardiner, senior; one of forty pages in 1815, and 



1 Kinpurnie, a hill to the south-east of Newtyle, on the summit of 

 which are the remains of a tower built by the Hon. James Mackenzie 

 of Belmont, Lord Privy Seal, in the last quarter of the eighteenth 

 century. Using it as an observatory, his lordship spent much time here 

 in astronomical researches, in which he took great interest. His 

 frequent companion was Dr James Playfair, the parish minister of New- 

 tyle and Aleigle, afterwards (1799) Principal of the United College of 

 St Andrews. 



