John Lindley 245 



the liquids, and has gained some importance in recent 

 years. 



Although Brown did much to undermine the Linnaean 

 system, it was not by a frontal attack so much as by 

 courteously and consistently ignoring it. 



John Lindley (1799-1865) took more direct action. Lind- 

 ley was born near Norwich, where he was educated. His 

 father was a nurseryman, and throughout his life Lindley 

 showed a particular interest in all horticultural matters. In 

 1819 he went to London, and shortly afterwards was 

 appointed Garden Assistant Secretary to the Horticultural 

 Society, and in 1830 Secretary to the Society. It was his 

 efforts, combined with those of Bentham, which rescued the 

 Society from financial disaster, and organised the very 

 successful series of exhibitions of flowers and vegetables, 

 the first " flower-shows " recorded in Great Britain. 



In 1829 he was elected Professor of Botany at University 

 College, London, and was the first occupant of that Chair. 

 His lectures were singularly concise and clear, and attracted 

 large classes. Throughout his life he was a constant advocate 

 of a natural system of classification as opposed to the 

 artificial one of Linnaeus, and in 1829 he published a " Synopsis 

 of the British Flora," which was one of the first attempts 

 to arrange British plants on a basis of natural affinity. The 

 following year, in an Introduction to the " Natural System 

 of Botany," he put forward, tentatively, his natural classifi- 

 cation. He helped Loudon to bring out his " Encyclopaedia 

 of Gardening," wrote much for the " Penny Encyclopaedia," 

 collaborated with Hutton in the " Fossil Flora of Great 

 Britain," and with Sir Joseph Paxton in a work entitled 

 " Paxton's Flower Garden," and in 1821 started the well- 

 known " Gardener's Chronicle," which he edited for twenty- 

 five years. 



Although experts do not admit that Lindley achieved 

 any permanent success in framing his classification, he was 

 undoubtedly a great taxonomist. He was celebrated for the 

 completeness of his descriptions of the several Natural Orders 

 and valued for his clear discussions on their inter-relation- 

 ships. He was an extremely hard worker, and took a large 

 share in administrative work; towards the end of his life 



