262 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



blocked up in their outward passage. He would generally 

 conclude his observations, as on other occasions, by saying, 

 " I cu'd tell ye a great deal, a great deal," though little came 

 in spite of his sawing with his hands backwards and down- 

 wards, according to his custom when in vocal straits. To 

 illustrate his essays, he brought collections of dried 

 specimens, which he laboriously explained, and he was 

 -delighted to be questioned and listened to regarding them. 



John's first paper was "An essay, or short discourse, on 

 Botany," delivered on the i6th of August, 1850, very soon 

 after the formation of the society. Some extracts may be 

 interesting as showing our hero in a new phase. They are 

 reproduced as written, having evidently been prepared with 

 the greatest care, errors in spelling and punctuation only 

 being corrected. They were written in the dim light and 

 narrow bounds of " the philosopher." 



" Botany," he began, " is that science which teaches us to 

 distinguish one plant from another ; and consists in associ- 

 ating together into classes or groups, such plants as possess 

 certain permanent characters in common, and in separating 

 and distinguishing those that are dissimilar in character 

 and appearance by fixed rules correctly drawn from nature ; 

 thereby enabling us to distinguish the properties and uses 

 of the multifarious and variously organized bodies in the 

 vegetable kingdom. The purpose of this scheme, besides 

 giving the nomenclature of Botany, is to guide the student, 

 in the clearest and concisest manner, to an intimate 

 acquaintance with the anatomy of a plant and the 

 functions of its particular parts." 



"When a plant is taken up for examination, it is an 

 object to obtain several flowers, some of them fully 



