THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT,, ESQ. 11 



Mr. Andrew Knight was accordingly made known to Sir 

 Joseph^ who soon found that he was not only eminently 

 qualified to effect the immediate object in view, but that he had 

 made observations, and deduced theories from them, calculated 

 to throw much light on the more abstruse subject of vegetable 

 physiology ; and he strongly urged him to lay the result of his 

 researches before the public. Mr. Knight had not mixed a 

 great deal jn general society ; he had not had access to many 

 modern scientific works, and his information had been almost 

 wholly derived from the study of nature ; and it was not until he 

 was, by Sir Joseph Banks, brought into contact with many of the 

 most distinguished men in science and literature, who assem- 

 bled at the evening converzatione in Soho Square, that he was 

 himself aware that he had observed anything which had escaped 

 the scrutiny of other naturalists. 



In Sir Joseph, Mr. Knight had a friend always anxious to 

 draw him forth, and zealously alive to his success ; ever ready 

 to obtain information for him on any subject, or to give his 

 advice and assistance ; and his suggestions were always received 

 with the consideration they deserved and acknowledged with 

 gratitude. At Sir Joseph's house he had occasionally oppor- 

 tunities of comparing his own observations and theories 

 with those of many of the most celebrated naturalists of all 

 countries ; and it would probably have been advantageous to 

 him had those interchanges of information and opportunities 

 for discussion been more frequent, for it would have saved him 

 trouble in working out facts which cost all the labour and time 

 of original discoveries, and which labour would have been more 

 profitably employed in building on the sub-structure already 

 laid by other hands. He for some years purposely avoided 

 to read the works of his precursors in the field of vegetable 

 physiology, from an idea that, by the study of nature, unbiassed 

 by the opinions of others, he should be most likely to arrive at 

 truth ; but he was at length induced to deviate from this course 

 by the advice of his friend Sir Joseph. 



In the latter years of Mr. Knight's life, age and other causes 



