A YORKSHIRE NATURALIST 79 



whose names are well known to me as leaders in 

 these botanical circles, and with some of whom I 

 was personally well acquainted. They and their 

 hundreds of companions constituted the true workers 

 in the botanical field of Lancashire. To show the 

 spirit which pervaded them I will quote a few 

 lines from Buxton's introduction relative to the 

 societies to which I have referred above. Buxton 

 says, "As specific discrimination and accuracy 

 " in botanical nomenclature are the chief objects 

 "sought to be obtained by the aid of these meet- 

 " ings ; all persons who attend are hereby re- 

 " spectfully solicited to bring with them such speci- 

 "mens of plants, either indigenous or exotic, but 

 " particularly the former, as they can conveniently 

 11 procure." The above quotation is an extract from 

 a printed list circulated among the members. But 

 Buxton goes on to say, "The specimens are sub- 

 " mitted to the President, who describes them, and 

 " then discussions upon them take place. The num- 

 " ber of meetings held generally amounted to about 

 " thirty in the course of the year, and the audience 

 " consists almost entirely of working men. No one 

 " knows anything of the origin of this Society, but 

 "its meetings must have been held for near a 

 "century back." 



The above was written in 1849, and I believe the 

 same Society is still in existence, if not, there are 

 many others like it. 



An incident in the life of Sir Edward Smith illus- 



