Bibliographical Notices. 213 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Plantce Javanicai Rariores, descriptce Iconibusque illustratce, quas in 

 Insula Java, annis 1802-18, legit et investigavit Thomas Hors- 

 FiELD, M.D. ; e siccis Descriptiones et Characteres plurimarum 

 elaboravit Joannes J. Bennett ; Observationes Structuram et 

 Affinitates prcesertim respicientes passim adjecit Robertus 

 Brown. Fol. Lond. Part 4, 1852. 



We are glad to announce the publication of the fourth and conclu- 

 ding part of this valuable work, the earlier parts of which are noticed 

 in the second and fourteenth volumes of our ' Annals.' 



The acknowledgements there made to Dr. Horsfield for his emi- 

 nent services in science, and to the Hon. Court of Directors for their 

 liberal patronage of them, render it unnecessary for us to say more 

 than that the ' Plantse Javanicse Rariores ' will ever be considered a 

 record cei'e perennius of the merits of the one (associated as he here 

 is with his friends Mr. Brown and Mr. Bennett, to whom the pre- 

 sent work owes its existence), and, among other splendid publications 

 equally due to the liberality of the East India Company, of the mu- 

 nificent character of the other. 



To this concluding part Dr. Horsfield has added a very valuable 

 map of Java, on which the routes in his different journeys are traced, 

 a geographical preface illustrating the map, and a very interesting 

 postscript, in which he gives a rapid sketch of his excursions, with 

 observations, especially on the volcanos of the island. 



Dr. Horsfield' s labours in Java began and ended under the pro- 

 tection of the Dutch Government, to the officers of which he grate- 

 fully acknowledges his obligations. His first visit to Java was in 1800, 

 ;is a surgeon on board a vessel from Philadelphia, and it was during 

 this voyage that he was so struck with the beauty of the island, that 

 lie felt an irresistible desire to study its productions. In the next year 

 lie therefore returned to Java, and entered the Dutch service, re- 

 ceiving the appointment of surgeon in the Colonial Army. His first 

 Report to the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences led to a more 

 liberal appointment, which enabled him to extend his researches. 

 From 1800 to 1811 Java was in the possession of Holland, and it 

 was restored in 1816. It was in the five intervening years that 

 Dr. Horsfield enjoyed the patronage of Sir Stamford Raffles, and 

 f'jrmed that friendship which ever after constituted the pride and 

 charm of his life. It was through the influence of this eminent man 

 that his labours were made known to Sir Joseph Banks : and a col- 

 lection of plants sent to him in 1814 was the occasion of the first 

 communication from Mr. Brovra, who eventually, on Dr. Horsfield's 

 arrival in England in 1819, examined and arranged the herbarium, 

 routaining 2196 species. The present work is the joint production of 

 I hat great botanist, and of his friend and associate Mr. Bennett, and 

 imst be considered the most important contribution to our botanical 

 < uowlcdge that has been made in this country of late years. 



