i66 JOHN LINDLEY 



vegetable kingdom in general and of orchids in particular, 

 Lindley bore a conspicuous part ; and were these his only- 

 contributions to the advancement of botanical science, his bio- 

 grapher might find the task of writing his life one of no very 

 great difficulty. When however he discovers the many other 

 varied aspects of Lindley's activities, the biographer may well 

 despair of presenting a fair picture of the scientific life of this 

 remarkable man. Professor of Botany in University College, 

 London, " Praefectus Horti " to the Society of Apothecaries, 

 oflficially attached to the Royal Horticultural Society and re- 

 sponsible for the management of its gardens, and in no small 

 measure for its very existence, Lindley yet found time to 

 become easily the greatest scientific journalist of his age. For 

 nearly 25 years he edited the Gardeners Chronicle and did more 

 than any other man to keep the science and practice of horticul- 

 ture on good terms with one another. To those of us who know 

 how generally the cares of organisation give excuse for slackness 

 in research, Lindley's indomitable activity, both in administration 

 and in investigation, becomes indeed impressive and inspiring. 

 Lecturing, drawing and describing new genera and species, 

 revising the vegetable kingdom, writing memoirs, text-books, 

 articles, directing the gardens at Chiswick, fighting officialdom 

 and obstruction, building up a great herbarium and discharging 

 a dozen other duties would seem to have made up the daily 

 life of this man of amazing vigour. Till he was 50 years of 

 age Lindley never knew what it was to feel fatigue ; at 52 he 

 took his first holiday; but the continuous strain of half a century 

 had exhausted him beyond recuperation. He rallied, set to 

 work again, again broke down and died at the age of dj. 



To sketch in rapid outline and to admire to the full, John 

 Lindley's life is not difficult even to the modern botanist whose 

 life is passed in the cloistered calm of the laboratory ; but to 

 give a discriminating account of the chief of Lindley's services 

 to science is well-nigh impossible for any one man : certainly 

 I could not have undertaken it unaided. Good fortune and 

 friends however rendered the attempt unnecessary. In the first 

 place, Lord Lindley, when he knew of this project, put at my 

 disposal in the kindest manner possible an outline of John 



