of William John Burchelh 55 



that others were contiimallj gauiing credit for work which 

 he had done but had not pubUshed. Thus he wrote to Sir 

 William Hooker on Sept. 3, 1832 : — 



" I am vexed almost to death at all my fine collections 

 being thus shut up from me while I am daily losing portions 

 of the only reward a traveller has — that of his discoveries. 

 .... 1 trust that [in] future my work will make more 

 show, at least to the world." 



A few years later the same kind friend seems to have made 

 a great and probably a final effort to induce Burchell to 

 publish his results. BurclielPs reply is dated June 25th, 

 1835 :— 



" From the manner in which you express yourself with 

 regard to my botanical collections you appear to be under 

 very erroneous impressions, for to say that 1 ' will not publish ' 

 is quite the opposite to wiiat has ever been my intention, and 

 the almost only pleasure I had in my travels to alleviate the 

 excessive toil of forming them was the anticipating of the 

 gratification of publishing them at my return to Europe, and 

 of obtaining the satisfaction of being useful to science, and of 

 securing the honor [spelt thus, according to his custom] due 

 to my discoveries ; and if I have been, and still am being, 

 robbed of those honors by others, who, having less on their 

 hands than I have, can run the publishing race with more 

 expedition, I feel most sensibly the injury I sustain. Many 

 circumstances have unfortunately concurred hitherto to tie up 

 my hands, but I do and shall ever look to Natural History as 

 a most delightful and congenial employment for my future 

 years." 



Probably owing to the combination of causes set forth 

 above and their deepening effect as years went on, Burchell 

 became more and more of a recluse, and kept his collections 

 more and more from the sight of other naturalists. The 

 climax was reached when he refused the request of his old 

 friend to allow his son, Sir Joseph Hooker, to see the collec- 

 tion of St. Helena plants, in order to help in the production 

 of a work upon the flora of that island. 



Towards the end of bis life Burchell must have come to 

 realize that his methods could lead to nothing. He committed 

 suicide on March 23rd, 1863, in his eightieth year. It is 

 stated by C. J. F^ret, in * Fulham Old and New ' (London, 

 1900), that he " shot himself under the large cedar tree in 

 front of Churchfield House. The wound not proving fatal, 

 he terminated his existence by hanging himself in a small 

 out-house at the back." 



Burchell's collections were not specially mentioned in his 



