254 



will prompt you to every exertion on my account. Asking God's 

 blessing on you and your wife, I bid you good bye." 



" Thus far," continues Dr. Moorhead, his medical attendant, " was 

 written at Mr. Griffith's dictation ; but I grieve to say the fatal result 

 came to pass yesterday evening, Sunday, 9th February, at half-past 

 seven o'clock." 



Memoranda on the above by Dr. McClelland. — "To the above 

 details, furnished by Dr. Moorhead, I may add that Mr. Griffith's con- 

 stitution for the last two or three years seemed greatly shattered, his 

 energies alone remaining unchanged. Exposure during his former 

 journeys and travels laid the seeds of a fatal malady in his constitution, 

 while his anxiety about his pursuits and his zeal increased ; he be- 

 came care-worn and haggard in his looks, often complaining of ano- 

 malous symptoms marked by an extreme rapidity of pulse, in conse- 

 quence of which he had left off wine for some years, and was obliged 

 to observe great care and attention in his diet. In Affghanistan he was 

 very nearly carried off by fever, to which he had been subject on his 

 former travels in Assam. No government ever had a more devoted or 

 zealous servant, and I impute much of the evil consequences to his 

 health, to his attempting more than the means at his disposal enabled 

 him to accomplish with justice to himself." 



Although Mr. Griffith's researches were directed primarily to Botany, 

 he neglected no opportunity, during his visits to various parts of India, 

 of attending also to other departments of Natural History. Of his 

 zeal and success in Zoology, his collections afford abundant proof; 

 they consist chiefly of Mammalia, birds, fishes, and insects. While 

 attached to the army of the Indus, he made, on account of Govern- 

 ment, large collections of Mammalia and birds, which have been trans- 

 mitted to the Honourable Court of Directors, and constitute a valua- 

 ble addition to the museum at the India House. In Mammology he 

 collected a considerable number of the smaller animals of Affghanistan, 

 among which are several new to science ; but his ornithological col- 

 lections are still more extensive, having brought together about six 

 hundred specimens, not only from the route of the army, but from se- 

 veral separate excursions to the ranges of mountains north of Cabul. 

 Besides the discovery of a considerable number of new species, the 

 interest of these collections consists in their affording, perhaps, the 

 most extensive and instructive illustration of the geographical distri- 

 bution of the several species of birds found in India, which has as yet 

 been attempted. 



Mr. Griffith has also been zealous and successful as a collector of 



