ARTHUR HENFREY 



1819 1859 



By F. W. OLIVER 



Narrative-i-state of Botany dawn of the Golden Age sexuality of Angio- 

 sperms Schleiden's elucidation of fern life-history Nageli, Suminski 

 and Hofmeister recognition by Henfrey original work publications 

 the Mi orographic Dictionary The Botanical Gazette its features 

 Henfrey's labours not immediately productive. 



The claim of Henfrey to rank among the founders of botany 

 in this country depends less on his own original contributions than 

 on a whole-hearted devotion to the propagation and diffusion of 

 the newer methods and results which marked an epoch during the 

 forties and fifties of last century. The outset of Henfrey's career 

 coincided with a great turning point in the history of botany, 

 and to Henfrey will always belong the credit of being the first 

 Englishman to recognise the full significance of the movement. 

 From that moment he unceasingly made known and diffused 

 in this country the results of the German renaissance. That 

 Henfrey should have failed to establish the newer botany in 

 England was the result of a variety of circumstances, one of 

 which was his early death. 



The available biographical material of Henfrey being ex- 

 tremely meagre, it has been necessary in preparing the present 

 account to rely almost entirely on his published writings. In 

 some ways this lack of personal details is no disadvantage as 

 our present interest in Henfrey depends essentially on the 

 movement in botany with which he was identified. 



Arthur Henfrey was born at Aberdeen, in 18 19, of English 

 parents. He underwent the usual course of training for the 

 medical profession at St Bartholomew's Hospital becoming 



