Ixxii A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
suppressed; and had at least contemplated the preparation of a | similar account = 
the vegetation of Mysore, which the publishers of the Mysore journal were unable 
to accept on the score of its expense. Whether he ever intended to do the same 
by Nepal is not clear, at all events he was relieved of this task owing to sis 
having undertaken it, But it is clear that Hamilton was fully alive to the fact 
that economic references to natural products are very unsatisfactory if they are not 
accompanied by a full systematic and scientific account of the species that yield 
them, and it is evident that he was determined to provide the necessary scientific 
foundation for the numerous economie references to the animals and plants that are 
mentioned in the Bengal survey reports. 
To meet the necessity he therefore published his account of the Gangetic fishes, 
which is the scientific basis of his rema:ks on the fishes and fisheries of Bengal, long 
afterwards edited by Day; and he prepared the still unpublished catalogue of plants, 
which is the scientific basis of his references to the vegetation of the various districts 
of Bengal that have never yet been adequately editei. That he never published the 
plant catalogue, or dealt sy:tematically with any zoological family save the fishes, 
was owing to the retention in India of the drawings which related to natural history 
made under his supervision during the Bengal survey, x 
Another circumstance which delayed any attempt by Hamilton himself to deal 
with the body of Біз Bengal Reports was his having devoted his energies to the 
much-needed critical examinations of the works of Rbeede and Rumphius, of which 
the first though completed was never published in full, while the second was possibly 
only partially completed at the time of his death. i 
On {һе whole perhaps it was unfortunate that Hamilton devoted his attention to 
the Hortus Malabaricus and the Herbarium Amboinense во seriously as he did. Had 
litersture. But this cannot now be helped and, however much we may regret that 
Hamilton’s botanical energics were diverted into the channel which they took, we 
cannot complain that the non-utilisation of his Bengal reports was due to any lack of 
energy on his part, Probably no one has ever given the whole of his life after 
retirement more persistently and single heartedly, and with less consideration for 
money or reputation, to the task of making his observations available to the public 
than Hamilton did. The pity of the situation, 
taries, does mt lie so much in their preparation as their fate, Тһе Herbarium 
ia mi 8 identifications 
are still available in the Calcutta copy of Rumphius, and because, since then, Hasskarl 
But the Hortus Malaboriens commentary, 
works of men who had the great advantage 
The mistake that Hamilton made, though it is 
one that was perfectly natural, was 
that he should have sent the Malabar manuscript to 
London and the Amboyna one to 
1 Hasskarl : Neuer Schluessel zu Rumph’s Herbarium Amboniense, 
1 vol. 4to, Cleve: 1864. 
