BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



BROWN AND HUMBOLDT. 1 



Beyond the immediate pale of science, and the circle of 

 its most devoted cultivators, the association of the names of 

 Humboldt and Brown may seem new and strange ; — the one 

 a name familiar to the whole civilized world ; the other, 

 hardly known to a large portion of his educated countrymen. 

 Yet these names stand together, in the highest place, upon 

 the rolls of almost every Academy of Science in the world ; 

 and the common judgment of those competent to pronounce it 

 will undoubtedly be, that although these vacant places upon 

 these honorable rolls may be occupied, they will not be filled, 

 in this, perhaps not in several generations. 



Upon the death of Robert Brown, which occurred on the 

 10th of June last, in his eighty-fifth year, it was remarked 

 that, next to Humboldt, his name adorned the list of a greater 

 number of scientific societies than that of any other naturalist 

 or philosopher. It was Humboldt himself who, many^years 

 ago, saluted Brown with the appellation of " Botanicarum 

 facile Princeps " ; and the universal consent of botanists re- 

 cognized and confirmed the title. However the meed of merit 

 in science should be divided between the most profound, and 

 the most active and prolific minds, — between those who di- 

 vine and those who elaborate, — it will probably be conceded 

 by all that no one since Linnaeus has brought such rare saga- 

 city to bear upon the structure, and especially upon the ordi- 

 nal characters and natural affinities of plants, as did Robert 



1 Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Science, iv. 229. 

 (1859.) 



