CHAPTER IX 

 VARIOUS ADVENTURERS 



DY. Hope to Sir Joseph Banks. 



" EDINBURGH, August 22, 1786. 

 " DEAR SIR, 



1 PRESUME to introduce to you the bearer of this, 

 Mr. Archibald Menzies ; who was early acquainted 

 with the culture of plants, and acquired the prin- 

 ciples of Botany by attending my lectures. He 

 was particularly acquainted with the Scotch plants, of 

 the rarest of which some years ago he made a collection 

 for Doctors Fothergill and Pitcairn. He has been several 

 years on the Halifax Station in His Majesty's service as 

 a surgeon, where he has paid unremitting attention to his 

 favourite study of Botany, and through the indulgence 

 of the Commander-in-Chief had good opportunities 

 afforded him. I am," etc. 



This Mr. Menzies is one of the abler men to be brought 

 into these pages as a Botanical Collector. He was from 

 Perthshire, and was employed in the Edinburgh Botanic 

 Garden while he studied for the Medical Profession. 

 Dr. Hope is to be credited with a great deal of assistance 

 in his education. Hope, indeed, had many " favourite " 

 pupils during his Professorship, to the lasting honour of 

 his College. Even Edinburgh has rarely had a more 

 genial and painstaking teacher. He died in the autumn 

 of this year, leaving a memory of sweetness and goodness 

 in the breast of every one who knew him. 



