1912-13.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDIXBUBGH 175 



much prefer your sending them when you are more at 

 leisure." 



On the occasion of Queen Victoria's visit to Dundee in 

 1844. some officers on board the royal yacht were very 

 desirous of meeting Gardiner, and were quite surprised that 

 no one seemed to know him. They were very soon put in 

 communication with him. however, when they came upon 

 Mr. Frederick Shaw, an old Reform Street bookseller. One 

 of the old school. " Freddy " was a man who knew the insides 

 of the books he sold, and his shop was quite a " howtf " for 

 the reading and thinking public of Dundee. 



Gardiner was always actively connected with the Dundee 

 Watt Institution. 1 and had been elected a Life Member as 

 some acknowledgment of the services he rendered to it. 

 He contributed largely to its excellent museum, catalogued 

 its library, and lectured frequently to its members. For 

 many years the name of William Gardiner, umbrella-maker. 

 was in the list of the Directors of the Institution. He had 

 benefited by the institute in his earlier years, and gladly 

 gave his aid to make it helpful to others. 



A little booklet. " Botanical Rambles in Braemar in 

 1844." was his first publication in 1845. In 1846 appeared 

 his " Twenty Lessons on British Mosses. " a second series of 

 which was issued in 1849. In these handy volumes dried 

 specimens of the mosses were mounted at the head of each 

 lesson given. In 1848 " The Flora of Forfarshire " was 

 published, and this, his last and principal work, found a 

 ready welcome, being, however, more appreciated in the 



1 This institution, founded in 1S24 in memory of James Watt for the 

 " instruction of young tradesmen in the useful branches of arts and 

 sciences," was a most important factor in the educational life of Dundee. 

 Lecturers of eminence in science and literature were secured for its 

 lecture courses, in which also townsmen like Macviear. Gilfillan, J. B. 

 Lindsay, Gardiner, and others took a helpful part. Classes were formed 

 for the study of natural history and the physical sciences, public 

 exhibitions were arranged, a library and reading-room established, and 

 an extensive and varied museum gradually gathered together. For 

 many years the institution had a vigorous and useful existence. 

 Latterly it fell on evil times, and financial difficulties hampered its 

 activity. The buildings raised to accommodate classes, lrctures, and 

 museum on which money had been borrowed fell into the hands of the 

 bond-holders The organisation was carried on in a less pretentious 

 manner, until in 1868 it ceased to exist, and the library and museum 

 were handed over to the Dundee Free Library, the outcome of the 

 town's adoption of the "Free Libraries Act " in 1S66. 



