JOHN CLAYTON 45 



named entered this life in Fulham, London. 

 Barton (Med. and Phys. Jour., vol. ii) says he 

 came to Virginia with his father when the latter 

 was Attorney-General of Virginia. Other biog- 

 raphers x state that he joined his father in 1705. 



Where he studied or whether he ever took his 

 M. D. degree seems not ascertainable, though 

 Thacher calls him " an eminent botanist and 

 physician " and Leslie Stephen says " he studied 

 medicine." He seemingly did not begin as a 

 doctor, but was put by his father in the office of 

 Peter Beverley, Prothonotary for Gloucester 

 County, Virginia. When Beverley died, Clay- 

 ton succeeded him and held the post for 51 years. 

 Apparently this work gave him leisure to make 

 excursions over the country, to continue his 

 chemistry, and do a little doctoring. Most scien- 

 tists of that time sent the results of their scientific 

 gleanings over to the Royal Society in London; 

 so, like the Observable* of the other John Clay- 

 ton, our botanist in 1739 sent his Experiments 

 concerning the Spirit of Coals, while his papers 

 on the flora of Virginia were published in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, London, vols. xvii, 

 xviii and xli. 



These writings led him into correspondence 

 with European naturalists, especially the Dutch- 

 men, John F. and Laurence Gronovius, who pub- 



1 Biographical Diet. Rose. 

 Diet. Nat. Bioff. Stephens. 



