246 Britain's Heritage of Science 



he acted for the Government in the preparation for the 

 Great Exhibition of 1851, and undertook the entire charge 

 of the Colonial Department in the following Exhibition of 

 1862. Lindley's only son is the present Lord Lindley. 



Born in the same neighbourhood and educated at the 

 same school a few years before Lindley, Sir William Jackson 

 Hooker (1785-1865) was another example of a biologist 

 who commenced his scientific life as a traveller. In 1809, 

 on the advice of Sir Joseph Banks, he visited Iceland, but 

 unfortunately lost his collections by the burning of the ship 

 on the return voyage. He wished to accompany Sir Robert 

 Brownrigg, the recently appointed Governor of Ceylon, but 

 the disturbed state of the Island prevented his carrying 

 out his intentions. 



In 1820 he accepted the Professorship of Botany at 

 Glasgow, where he was singularly successful as a teacher. 

 In 1841 he was appointed Director of the Koyal Gardens at 

 Kew, and we shall have to consider later his work there. 

 He had always been a great collector, and his herbarium, 

 which was far the richest ever accumulated in his lifetime by 

 any one man, was bought by the nation after his death. 

 Though much engaged in official duties, he was, neverthe- 

 less, a great writer, and produced over one hundred memoirs 

 and volumes on Economic and Systematic Botany. He was 

 particularly happy in his relations with the officials in the 

 Greater Britain beyond the seas, and inaugurated a series 

 of Colonial floras, which have proved of great value. He 

 was one of those men always anxious to help others, and he 

 readily placed his knowledge and his collections at the 

 disposal of younger men. So busy a life left little time 

 for society, but Darwin records " his remarkably cordial, 

 courteous, and frank bearing." 



Another contemporary was George Bentham (1800-1884), 

 a nephew of Jeremy Bentham. He was brought up abroad, 

 and had a wide acquaintance with the flora of Southern 

 France. In 1821 he returned to England, and at once made 

 the acquaintance of the leading botanists of the time, and 

 very soon took a prominent position himself as a systematic 

 botanist. He contributed the " Flora of Hong Kong " and 

 the " Flora Australiensis " to Sir William J. Hooker's 



