BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



ALMOST all to whom the author of this 

 little " Flora " was personally known have 

 passed into the Silent Land. The home of 

 his birth has gone through a rapid and 

 startling progress, and is no longer removed 

 from all that goes to make up modern 

 civilization. 



When Thomas Edmondston was born (2Oth 

 September 1825) the Shetland Isles was a 

 terra incognita almost. Since then it has 

 become one of the principal fishing depots 

 of Britain. Scientists have exploited the 

 isles, literati have advertised them, commerce 

 has enriched them, and the touring fraternity 

 have robbed Shetland life of much that 

 gave it charm. 



The interest which now attaches to our 

 young botanist, and his remote homeland, 

 is not so much a personal interest as that 

 which is always created by the story of a 

 genius making its own way and setting its 



