HIS BOTANICAL STUDIES IN" OLD AGE. 317 



old man, but would be all the more impressed with the 

 strong will that had not been deterred by the terrible 

 technicalities that crowded his chosen science. There were 

 exceptions, however, when bran-new classicists from college 

 made fun of the old man's blunders certainly not at his 

 expense. 



Trusting to his remarkable memory, he had never written 

 down the localities or dates when he discovered his plants 

 a great loss in regard to the rarer ones, only partially made 

 up through John Taylor's labours. When asked why he 

 had not done so, he said, " I didna need ; I ken brawly whar 

 they a' cam' frae." Certainly he could recall the times and 

 places with remarkable ease, and, no doubt, correctly. 

 He could also tell the circumstances under which most of 

 the plants were discovered, and any special experiences he 

 had in obtaining them. Indeed, this was one very good 

 means of getting at John's past life, which he could 

 latterly give chiefly by way of reminiscences suggested by 

 his plants. Each one had become to him the centre of many 

 happy, humorous or hard memories ; and thus, dry and 

 dead and broken, as they were in their worm-eaten re- 

 ceptacles, they were all living to him, and were surrounded 

 by him with the sunshine and the shower of his past life. In 

 taking a walk with him, you had merely to direct his atten- 

 tion to the plants you passed, and at once you opened 

 springs of living memory which flowed without stint 

 from the old man's heart. In this way, his past life 

 latterly was greatly linked with the wild flowers, and a 

 stranger could get at his history mainly through their 

 companionship. 



John's interest in flowers continued intense to the very 



