October ji, [918 



NATURE 



ears, in the hopi thai ii might noi onlj advam ■ 



1 u-;il learning among otu fellow-citizens, bul also 



help forward intell iperation between Ameri- 



can and British scholars. Hi would onlj stipulate 



that >■■■ delivered annuallj , 



named after Raleigh. 



\i the Devon a ! - bi ation "I tl j held al 



1 sidi hi "i the 01 ganising 



committee, thai he had received from Mr. 



Wall, r Pe; th I >u< by oi I lomwall, 



to r to the rllr, 1 tli. 11 he was sure the pro 



elehrate the tercentenan would commend itself to 



the I'm 1 Wales and his Council, ami suggesting 



that the proposed new University oi thi South-West 

 should I"- styled the Raleigh b'niversit) as a monu- 

 ment worthy of the man. Resolutions were carried 

 ih.i; funds should be invited to this end, and a widely 

 representative committee was appointed to co-operati 

 with the existing committee for the furtherance of 

 univensit) education in the South-Westi 



Born of Devon parentage aboul the year 1552, 

 Raleigh was the half-brothei ol Sii Humphrey Gilbert, 

 another famous adventurer. In early life he served as 

 a soldier in Ireland, but -nun conceived plans for form- 

 settlements in America, animated largelj by hos- 

 tility toward- the Spaniards. \n expedition sent by 

 Raleigh to New foiincll.mil in [583 resulted in the death 

 - 1 Humphrey Gilbert. Raleigh then received from 

 Elizabeth the patent granted five years befon 

 1 .illicit to take possession 'ol ,m\ remote bar- 

 ns and heathen lands noi possessed by anj Chris- 

 ban prince or people." Quick to take advantagi ol 

 hi- opportunity, he -eni an expedition to America 1 (i< 

 Thi- expedition made a landfall in 

 Florida and follow. -d the caasl northward to Pamlico 

 Siiund in North Carolina. A large trad oi country 

 which be did net reach Raleigh named Virginia in 

 honour of Queen Elizabeth. In 1585 colonists were 

 -1 in i" Roanoke Island, fan they -non had difficulties 

 with the Indian-, and the settlement proved a failure. 

 attempts; in 1586 and 1587, met with no better 

 success; and in 1589 Raleigh sold his rights in Vir- 

 ginia. Raleigh's nexl voyage of exploration was to 

 South America in 1505. where, fired by stories of F.I 

 lo, hi hoped to find gold-mines. Hi- "Discoverie 

 i.in.i " gave an account of this expedition. Sol- 

 diering occupied Raleigh for some years, and, though 

 high in Court favour, he was disliked in England for 

 his arrogance and reputed greed. Soon alter the acces- 

 >f Janus I. In was accused of conspiracy and 



sent to the Tower. Main years later he was liberated 

 in order to make a voyage to Guiana on the promise 

 that the discovery of gold would obtain his freedom. 

 The expedition achieved little, and Raleigh returned 

 homi and was beheaded in 1618. Gain and the hope 

 of plunder were large!) Raleigh's motives in his 

 colonising enterprises, for he was in reality a pira'te 

 tturer, hut his work was of gnat importance in 

 preparing the way for others and in helping to lav 

 the foundations of Britain beyond the seas 



In connection with the tercen lebrations it 



is natural that s,,nie allusion should be made to the 

 services Rali m monli bi lii vi d to have rendered 

 to his country l>v introducing the potato. In the 

 aggregate the literature of this plant would form a 

 long series of volumes, and thai dealing with its intro- 

 duction into Europe and the British Isles is so copious 

 that onl\ thi patient and leisured would care to Study 

 it thoroughly. This copiousm ss ari — . no douht, from 

 the fart that, in spite ( if ihe reiterated -tatement thai 

 Raleigh brought the potato from Virginia-, there is 

 ample ground for controversy, and controversj then 

 ha- been, leaving us very much shaken in our faith 

 in tin- general!] at in1 ol it- introduction 



NO. 2557, VOL. I02] 



by him. The appearand ol the potato in the British 



is supposed to dat n [586, and the bero n 



ten. ,,- N ,,f it- introduction was celebrated in 1886. But 

 the tii-t evidenci we po hat the tuber 



was in cultivation in this country is that afforded by 

 the catalogue ol the plants G ard's garden in 

 ■01 n, published in 1596. Gen d, i lis "Herbal!" 

 ol 1507. describes and figures it und 



Batatas Virginiana sive Virginianorum & Pap- 

 pus, Potatoes oi Virginia," and tells us that "it 

 groweth naturally in America, where ii was first dis- 



I. a- reporteth C. Clusius, since which til 1 



have received rootes hereof from Virginia." 



We learn from Clusius that the potato was culti- 

 vated in Italy in or about the year 1585, having 

 probably been obtained from some Spanish soi 

 It was taken to Belgium in 158b, and some tuber- 

 came into the hands of Philippe de Sivrv, the prefect 

 of Mens, who cultivated them, and sent, early in 

 1588, two tubers to Clusius at Vienna. It is thought 

 that Gerard did not obtain the potato from Clusius, 

 but, if the former may be trusted, it was obtained direct 

 by him from Virginia. Gerard, however, is known to 

 have handled the truth at least carelessly, and if he did 

 noi deliberateK make a misstatement with regard to 

 the origin of the plant, he was indifferent about it. 

 and possibly wilfully suppressed information that 

 would have elucidated the point. Introducers of plants 

 of commercial value in later days have not always 

 been quite candid as to their source. Gerard was 

 probably proud of his possession of the potato, for 

 his portrait, published in the " Herball," represents 

 him as holding a flowering branch of the plant in his 

 hand, and, for some reason obscure to us, may not 

 have been disposed to divulge its origin. The late 

 Sir James Murray, with his usual thoroughness, in- 

 vestigated the question of the introduction of the potato 

 in connection with his article on the word in the New- 

 Oxford Dictionary. He savs that Gerard "was in 

 inn in his statement that he obtained it from Vir- 

 ginia. In 1693 its introduction into Ireland was attri- 

 buted to Sir Walter Raleigh after his return from 

 Virginia (where he never was) ; but no contemporary 

 -tatement associating Raleigh'- name with the potato 

 has been found." 



It appears probable that the potato first reached this 

 country as a result of one of Drake's expedition- to 

 the New World, and it may have been brought on the 

 vessel which, in 1586, conveyed to Plymouth the sur- 

 vivors of the ill-fated British colony in Virginia, and 

 in the course of the voyage was probably taken with 

 other bootv from some Spanish ship. Drake as the 

 introducer of the potato is so far accepted that a 

 monument to him in commemoration of this was 

 elected at Offenburg, in Germany, in 1854. It is 

 extremely doubtful whether Raleigh had really any 

 direct part in the introduction of the plant, but, 

 according to Dr. Brushfield's painstaking researches, 

 published in the Transactions of the Devonshire Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science (vol. xxx., 

 pp. 158-97, [898), it would appear that he was instru- 

 mental in extending its cultivation in this country 

 and in popularising the tuber as a valuable food. He 

 even says: 'That Ralegh was the direct cause of 

 the potato being brought to this land of ours can now 

 scarce!} bi gainsaid; and to him must certainly b< 

 attributed the honour of promoting its cultivation in 

 Ireland, from whence it was subsequently transmitted 

 to England." 



\n int. ie-ting and able article on the subject, " 

 l.\ Dr. B. Daydon fnckson, appeared in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle in 1000 (vol. xxvii., pp. [61 1 rid 178-80). 



It is certainly as a populariser of the practice of 

 ng, ^n^ not as the introduce! ol the plant, that 



