548 



In 1837, on the retirement of Dr. Paris as Professor of Materia 

 Medica in King's College, London, Dr. Royle was elected to the 

 vacant chair ; on this occasion he published " An Essay on the An- 

 tiquity of Hindoo Medicine," a work of much research, and one alike 

 valuable to the medical man, the antiquary, and the philologist. In 

 1845 he brought out a " Manual of Materia Medica," as a text-book 

 for the students attending his lectures at the College, which rapidly 

 passed through several editions both at home and abroad. 



A special department of correspondence, relating to vegetable pro- 

 ductions, was founded at the East India House in 1838, and confided 

 to Dr. Royle, and to the duties of this office his best energies were 

 devoted for nearly twenty years ; it was an occupation peculiarly 

 congenial to his taste and to the bent of his mind, as he was, to some 

 extent, able practically to carry out those views, which in the earlier 

 part of his life he had gradually deduced from scientific observations 

 and theoretical considerations. In connexion with this office he pub- 

 lished three valuable technical works on India; namely, in 1840, 

 " An Essay on the Productive Resources of India;" in 1851, " An 

 Essay on the Cultivation of Cotton;" and in 1855, "An Essay on 

 the Cordage-Plants and Vegetable Fibres of India;" besides nu- 

 merous smaller works and pamphlets on similar subjects. 



Dr. Royle was a warm and active supporter of industrial exhi- 

 bitions. Fully alive to their vast value and importance in a commercial 

 point of view, he was mainly instrumental in obtaining from India 

 those extensive and valuable illustrations of Eastern arts and produce, 

 which excited so much interest at the great International Exhibitions 

 of 1851 and 1855 ; and at the time of his death he had just completed 

 the formation and arrangement of a technical museum at the East 

 India House, designed especially to exhibit the arts and productions 

 of India, and to illustrate its boundless capabilities and resources. 



Though chiefly known as a botanist, Dr. Royle was well-skilled in 

 other branches of natural history, and was an active member of most 

 of the societies devoted to them ; at different periods he filled the 

 duties of Secretary to the Geological and Horticultural Societies, and 

 repeatedly served on the Councils of the Royal and Linnean Societies. 

 As a botanist, his careful and laborious habits, and accuracy of ob- 

 servation, give authority to his writings and weight to his opinions ; 

 as a technical writer his works possess a peculiar value, from the 



