JOHN DUNCAN,. WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



then based. The Natural System of the Jussieus, though 

 established in 1789, did not make any practical way in this 

 conservative country till forced upon it ; " Hooker " not being 

 rearranged according to the new system till 1855. Both of 

 our botanists remained attached till the last to the system 

 of their early studies, from reverence for the name and 

 genius of its founder, and from the difficulty men old in 

 science and in years have of revolutionising the habits 

 and thoughts of a lifetime. 



With the ever ready and efficient assistance of John and 

 Mrs. Black, the great labour of selecting the best specimens 

 from the immense mass of materials accumulated for 

 years, and arranging them according to the twenty-four 

 Linnaean classes, was successfully accomplished during that 

 winter, though it took many months to do it. John was 

 freely presented with duplicates of such species as he did 

 not then possess, and his own herbarium was thus rendered 

 gradually more perfect. The joint working of these two 

 friends was that of a mutual-help society, each foraging for 

 the other and fairly dividing the spoils ; and John had 

 added, in no small degree, to Charles's herbarium, with his 

 wider wanderings and greater leisure. 



Their mode of working was this. As the Blacks had, in 

 winter, the use of the whole area flat of the mansion, they 

 did not require to do their botanical work in the kitchen, 

 the scene of former labours under the housekeeper's trying 

 regime. They carried out the classification in a large room 

 at the other end of the house. The floor of this room was 

 chalked into twenty-four divisions, numbered according to 

 the Linnaean system. Charles worked at one end of the 

 apartment, on the heterogeneous mass of plants which had 



