30 HOURS WITH NATURE 



in cultivation in the Botanic garden and in the neighbour- 

 hood of Calcutta. Dr. Roxburgh continued to be Su- 

 perintendent of the Garden until 1813, when he was 

 obliged to proceed to the Cape on account of ill health. 

 From the Cape he went to St. Helena, and from thence 

 to Scotland ; where he died in 1815. He took the manu- 

 script of Flbra Indica when he left India, intending to 

 publish it during his residence in Scotland. His death 

 prevented the execution of this plan. In 1820, Dr. 

 Wallich and Carey printed, with some addition and in- 

 terpolation, the first volume in two parts. In 1832, the 

 remainder of the work was printed exactly as the author 

 had left it by his sons Captains James and Bruce Rox- 

 burgh. It is an admirable production : the descriptions 

 are accurate and graphic, and its authorship justly entitles 

 Roxburgh to his title of the " Father of Indian Botany. 71 

 It embraces descriptions and notices of most of the 

 Indian plants from the stateliest trees to the lowliest 

 herbs, and until the year 1872, when the publication of 

 the " Flora of British India " was begun by the distin- 

 guished botanist Sir Joseph Hooker, Roxburgh's was the 

 only single book through which a knowledge of Indian 

 plants could be acquired. With a view to place the 

 work within the reach of the poorest student, Mr. 

 C. B. Clarke issued in 1874, a second edition of 

 this excellent work at a nominal price of Rs. 5. So far, 

 however, as the Indian students are concerned, his pious 

 intention, it is greatly to be deplored, remains yet un 

 realised, as few, if any, have seriously taken up the study 



