18 ADDRESS OF THE EDITOR, [January, 



motives which may induce him to embark in, or not to engage 

 in, a specific series of obligations of avokmtary nature. We are 

 not, and do not profess to be, able to adjudicate for any one in 

 such affairs ; we only laid before our readers what was suggested 

 to us, and which received our cordial approbation. 



We regret, as has been stated, that our good intentions could 

 not be realized for the reasons above stated, but we have not 

 abandoned the project. But on mature reflection we are con- 

 vinced that a list of the botanists who have authorized us to pub- 

 lish their names for the aforesaid purpose (see our Address for- 

 1860) would be, to use a proverbial simile, like taking coals 

 to Newcastle. The addresses in our possession, viz. those 

 which we have authority to publish, are about as notorious as 

 45, Frith Street, London, or 28, Upper ]\Ianor Street, Chelsea. 

 Sui'ely the merest tyro who has acquired but a smattering of the 

 literature of the science, knows that the author of the ' Manual of 

 British Botany ' lives at Cambridge, but who except his most inti- 

 mate or privileged friends would take the liberty of intruding on 

 his privacy, or of interrupting his scientific and learned labours ? 

 The eminent individuals who have consented to assist in this 

 movement are not exactly those who are earnestly and humbly 

 requested to suffer their names and addresses to appear in the 

 ' Phytologist.^ If the gentlemen who are anxious to promote the 

 knowledge of the plants of Britain, to ascertain their census, area, 

 habits, peculiarities, etc., are alone to be the subjects of such a 

 catalogue, containing more of detail than a mere list, — for exam- 

 ple, addresses, department of botanical science professed, etc., as 

 that originally intended, — we may state that there is one printed 

 and circulated with the annual volume of the ' Phytologist.' 

 Those who possess the four published volumes can draw up for 

 themselves a list of all the distinguished British botanists in 

 the kingdom. Their residences are generally known ; and their 

 particular address may be procured by a private application. 



The aim of the ' Phytologist,' for the last half-dozen years, 

 has been to introduce botany into the homes and houses of the 

 humbler ranks of society ; to encourage a taste for such elevating 

 recreations among those who have fewer objects of gratification, 

 than are within the reach of the so-called favourites of fortune ; 

 to afford means of indulgence in the pleasures of research, obser- 

 vation, and comparison, to a class which has been sometimes 



