244 Britain's Heritage of Science 



The result of these researches was the work " Prodromus 

 Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Dieman," a work 

 marked by singular accuracy of detail set forth in precise 

 and clear language ; it showed, moreover, a profound mastery 

 of the principles of classification. 



Another important publication of Brown was his mono- 

 graph on the Proteacece, which contained one of his first great 

 contributions to Histology, namely, that dealing with the 

 structure of the seed. Brown was also the first to recognize 

 the true nature of the seed in Gymnosperms. He paid 

 much attention to the structure of the flower arid the 

 methods of pollination, especially in the Natural Orders 

 Orchidece and Asclepiadece. In fact, so important did his 

 work appear to foreigners, that Humboldt dedicated his 

 " Synopsis Plantarum Orbis novi " to him in the following 

 words : " Roberto Brownio Britanniarium gloriae atque 

 ornamento." We have no space to follow further his tireless 

 work on classification. 



Brown, who had succeeded Dryander as librarian to 

 Sir Joseph Banks in 1810, at the latter's death in 1820 

 succeeded to the use and enjoyment of his collections and 

 library, together with the house in Soho Square, where 

 for nearly sixty years he had pursued his investigations. 

 More than once during his life he had been offered professor- 

 ships, but he was essentially a researcher, and preferred 

 the quiet of Soho Square, which has been so well described 

 by Dickens in the " Tale of Two Cities." Indeed, the 

 character of Dr. Manette might almost have been drawn 

 from Brown, for, as a friend wrote of him, " I loved him for 

 his truth, his simple modesty, and, above all, for his more 

 than woman's tenderness. Of all the persons I have known, 

 I have never known his equal in kindliness of nature." 



Before passing on, one must not omit to mention that 

 in his monograph on the Orchidece Brown first announced 

 the discovery of the nucleus in the vegetable cell. He is 

 also the discoverer of the so-called Brownian movement 

 an irregular trembling motion of very small particles sus- 

 pended in li quids which becomes visible under the micro- 

 scope, when high magnifying powers are applied. It is 

 connected with the thermal motion of the molecules of 



