250 Britain's Heritage of Science 



were Michael Foster, Ray Lankester, and Rutherford, and 

 later Newall Martin (who collaborated with his chief in the 

 production of the " Elementary Biology "), Thiselton-Dyer, 

 and Vines. The coming of the laboratory was slower at 

 the Universities, but with the arrival of Foster at Cambridge, 

 and the return for a time of the old Cambridge men, Martin 

 and Vines, laboratory instruction became part of the normal 

 course. 



The modern study of Cryptogamic Botany in England 

 may almost be said to begin with the works of Miles Joseph 

 Berkeley (1803-1889). Like so many English botanists he 

 was in Holy Orders. Coming from Oundle and Rugby to 

 Christ's College, Cambridge, he came under the influence of 

 Henslow, and took his degree in 1825. At first he worked 

 on the Algae, but in 1836 he published, in connexion with 

 Smith's " English Flora " the section which dealt with the 

 fungi, and this was the earliest of his many contributions 

 on this group. He was the first to throw light upon the 

 fungoid organism Phytophthera infestans, which caused the 

 potato disease connected with the appalling famine in Ireland 

 in 1846. 



Between 1844 and 1856 his " Decades of Fungi " were 

 published and were amongst the most conspicuous of con- 

 temporary publications on this subject. Berkeley paid 

 particular attention to the diseases of plants, and contributed 

 a series of articles to Lindley's newly-established " Gardener's 

 Chronicle." For many years he was the authority at Kew 

 on Cryptogamic Botany. He described the fungi collected 

 by his fellow-collegian, Darwin, on the Beagle, and his classical 

 knowledge was of great use to Bentham and Hooker in their 

 " Genera Plantarum." His large collections of algae were left 

 to Cambridge, whilst his fungi went to Kew. 



During his lifetime he was easily leader in the taxonomy 

 of the subject, and he may almost be said to have started 

 a new line of research. His most distinguished successor 

 was Marshall Ward, who will be dealt with more fully under 

 the Cambridge School. 



The great majority of the earlier botanists hitherto 

 mentioned li ved and worked in London, but a small minority 

 carried on their researches in country houses or, more often, 



