COLLEGE LIFE. 57 



wherein the common herd are associated. My remarks upon 

 .botany are not, however, founded solely upon a priori conclu- 

 sions ; on the contrary, these thoughts have been awakened in me 

 by the great discoveries I have found buried in the writings of 

 the earliest botanists, and which have been confirmed in modern 

 times by expert chemists and technologists. Of what avail is 

 any discovery if there exist no means for its propagation ? But 

 I crave forgiveness, my dear friend, for wearying you with sub- 

 jects in which you can have but little interest. They are of 

 the highest importance to me, since I am collecting materials 

 for a work on the various properties of plants, medicinal pro- 

 perties excepted ; it is a work requiring such great research, 

 and such a profound knowledge of botany, as to be far beyond 

 my unassisted powers, and I am therefore endeavouring to enlist 

 the co-operation of several of my friends. Thus far I have 

 been working at it only for amusement, and in the course 

 of my researches I am constantly meeting with things which 

 (to speak familiarly) set me gaping with astonishment. I 

 will send you further particulars of all my plans in course of 

 time. Pray do not imagine that I am going to appear as an 

 author forthwith ; I do not intend that shall happen for the 

 next ten years, and by that time I trust I shall have discovered 

 something startlingly new and important.' 



Soon afterwards he writes again as follows : ' I am delighted ft S I ] 

 to hear that you are going to study botany in your hours of re- 

 creation. In your present loneliness you will find no more- 

 fascinating pursuit, nor one more capable of yielding you a 

 pure and inexpensive enjoyment. Without talking sentiment, 

 it may be said that plants become our friends, and among them 

 we naturally find some more worthy of notice than others. 

 Our walks are no longer solitary, since we are surrounded by 

 the acquaintances we have made. What a pleasure it is when 

 we occasionally meet several of our favourites together. The 

 most insignificant places become invested with a peculiar inte- 

 rest, because we here first discovered some plant which had 

 hitherto been unknown to us, because we there missed the 

 flowers which had but lately been in bloom. The study of 

 botany is a noble occupation for clergymen. An Englishman 

 of the name of Kay (Eaius), holding priest's orders in. the- 



