604 
Lamps,” by H. Smithson and E. R. Sharp; ‘‘ English and 
American Lathes,” by Joseph Horner ; ‘‘ Inspection of Railway 
Materials,” by G. R. Bodmer ; ‘‘ The Modern Safety Bicycle,” 
by H. A. Garratt ; ‘‘ Volumetric Chemical Analysis,” by J. B. 
Coppock ; ‘‘ Elementary Practical Chemistry,” by A. J. Cooper ; 
new and revised editions of ‘‘The Atlantic Ferry,” by A. J. 
Maginnis; ‘‘ British Locomotives,” by C. J. Bowen-Cooke ; 
‘© Electric Light Cables,” by Stuart A. Russell. 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
SECTION Kk. 
BOTANY. 
OPENING ADDRESS BY SIR GEORGE KING, K.C.LE., LL.D., 
F.R.S., PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 
Il. 
THE second period of our history begins with the arrival in 
India in 1848 of Sir (then Dr.) Joseph Hooker. This dis- 
tinguished botanist came out in the suite of Lord Dalhousie, who 
had been appointed Governor-General of India. The province to 
the exploration of which Sir Joseph directed his chief attention 
was that of Sikkim in the Eastern Himalaya, the higher and inner 
ranges of which had never previously been visited by a botanist, 
for Griffith’s explorations had been confined to the lower and 
outer spurs. The results of Sir Joseph’s labours in Sikkim were 
enormous. Towards the end of his exploration of Sikkim he 
was joined by Dr. Thomas Thomson, and the two friends sub- 
sequently explored the Khasia Hills (one of the richest collecting 
grounds in the world), and also to some extent the districts 
of Sylhet, Cachar and Chittagong. Dr. Thomson subsequently 
amalgamated the collections made by himself in the Western 
Himalaya with those made in Sikkim by Sir Joseph individually, 
and by them both conjointly in Eastern India ; and a distribu- 
tion of the duplicates after the fashion of the Wallichian issue, 
and second only to it in importance, was subsequently made 
from Kew. The number of species thus issued amounted to 
from 6000 to 7000, and the individuals were much more 
numerous than those of the Wallichian collection. The imme- 
diate literary results of Sir Joseph Hooker’s visit to Sikkim 
were (1) his superbly illustrated monograph of the new and 
magnificent species of Rhododendron which he had discovered ; 
(2) a similar splendid volume illustrated by plates founded on 
drawings of certain other prominent plants of the Eastern 
Himalaya which had been made for Mr. Cathcart, a member 
of the Civil Service of India, and (3) his classic ‘* Himalayan 
Journals ””—a book which remains until this day the richest 
repertory of information concerning the botany, geography and 
anthropology of the Eastern Himalaya. A remoter result was 
the appearance in 1855 of the first volume of a “‘ Flora Indica,” 
projected by himself and his friend Dr. Thomson. The first 
half of this volume is occupied by a masterly introductory essay 
on Indian botany, of which it is hardly possible to overrate the 
importance. This remarkable essay contains by far the most 
important contribution to the physico-geographical botany of 
India that has ever been made, and it abounds in sagacious 
observations on the limitation of species and on hybridisation, 
besides containing much information on the history of Indian 
botanical collections and collectors. The taxonomic part of the 
book was cast in a large mould, and the descriptions were 
written in Latin. Unfortunately, the condition of Dr. 
Thomson’s health and the pressure of Sir Joseph’s official 
duties at Kew made it impossible that’ the book should be 
continued on the magnificent scale on which it had been 
conceived. After a period of about twelve years Sir 
Joseph, however, returned to the task of preparing, with 
the aid of other botanists, a Flora of the Indian Empire, 
conceived on a smaller scale and written in the English 
language. THis proposals for this work were accepted and 
officially sanctioned by the Duke of Argyll while he was Secre- 
tary of State for India. The first part of this great work was 
published in 1872 and the last in 1897. In the execution of 
this great undertaking Sir Joseph had the assistance of Mr. C. 
B. Clarke, who elaborated various natural orders; of Mr. J. 
G. Baker, who worked out Legumznosae and Scztamzneae, and 
of Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer, Messrs. A. W, Bennett, Anderson, 
1 Continued from p. 584. 
NO. 1564, VOL. 60] 
NATURE 
[OcroBER 19, 1899 
Edgeworth, Hiern, Lawson, Maxwell Masters, Stapf and 
Gamble. The greater proportion, however, of the book is Sir 
Joseph’s own work, and a noble monument it forms of his 
devotion and genius. 
Since the date of Sir Joseph Hooker’s visit to India, by far 
the most important botanical work done in India has been that 
of Mr.C. B. Clarke. Rather than attempt to give any appreci- 
ation of my own of Mr. Clarke’s labours (which would be more 
or less of an impertinence), I may be allowed to quote from the 
preface to the concluding volume of the ‘‘ Flora of British 
India ”’ Sir Joseph’s Hooker’s estimate of them. Referring to 
all the collections received at Kew since the preparation of the 
“* Flora”? was begun, Sir Joseph writes: ‘* The first in import- 
ance amongst them are Mr. C. B. Clarke’s, whether for their 
extent, the knowledge and judgment with which the specimens 
were selected, ticketed, and preserved, and for the valuable 
observations which accompany them.” Mr. Clarke has pub- 
lished numerous papers on Indian botanical subjects in the 
journals of the Linnean and other societies. He has issued as 
independent books monographs of Indian Covfosttae and 
Cyrtandraceae, the former in octavo, the latter in folio, and 
illustrated by many plates ; and he is now engaged on his ofzas 
maxzmum, viz. a monograph of the Cyferaceae, not only of 
India, but of the whole world ; and to the completion and pub- 
lication of this every systematic botanist is looking forward with 
eager anxiety. 
During this second half of the century, Dr. Thomas Anderson, 
who was for ten years superintendent of the Calcutta Garden, 
collected much ; and he had just entered on what promised 
to be a brilliant career of botanical authorship when his 
life was cut short by disease of the liver, contracted during his 
labours to establish the cultivation in British India of the 
quinine-yielding species of cinchona. Dr. Anderson was also 
the earliest conservator of forests in Bengal. Sulpiz Kurz, 
for many years curator of the Calcutta Herbarium, also collected 
largely in Burma, and besides many excellent papers which he 
contributed to the J/ouznal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he 
prepared for Government an excellent manual entitled the 
“Forest Flora of Burma.” This was published in two volumes 
in 1877. Other collectors in Burma were Colonel Eyre (in 
Pegu), Mr. Burness (at Ava), and the Rev. Mr. Parish, to 
whom horticulturists are indebted for the introduction to Europe 
of the beautiful orchids of this rich province. And in this con- 
nection must be mentioned Mr, E. H. Man, C.I.E., who, 
although not himself a botanist, has given for many years past 
the greatest possible help in the botanical exploration of the 
Andaman and Nicobar groups of islands, our first knowledge of 
which was, by the way, derived from the collections made by 
the naturalists of the Austrian and Danish exploring expeditions. 
A large book on Burma, which contains a good deal of botany, 
was published by an American missionary named Mason, who 
resided for the greater part of his working life in that country. 
General Sir Henry Collett, who commanded a brigade during 
the last Burmese war, also made most interesting collections in 
that country, the novelties of which were described by himself 
in collaboration with Mr. W. Botting Hemsley, of the Kew 
Herbarium, in the Linnean Society’s /owsna/ some years agoc 
Sir Henry Collett also collected much in the Khasia and Naga 
hills, and in the portion of the North-western Himalaya of 
which Simla is the capital, and on these latter collections, 
together with the materials in Kew Herbarium, Sir Henry is 
now elaborating a local flora of Simla. The preparation of a 
local flora for an Indian district is an entirely new departure, 
and the publication of Sir Henry’s book, which is to be well illus- 
trated, is looked forward to with muchinterest. At ratheran earlier 
period, Dr. Aitchieson was a diligent collector of the plants of the 
Punjab and of the North-western Frontier. Some results of 
his work are to be found in his ‘* List of Punjab Plants,” which 
was published in 1867, and in various papers which he contri- 
buted (some of them in conjunction with Mr. Hemsley) to the 
Linnean Society and to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 
In Dr. G. Henderson’s book on Yarkand there are also de- 
scriptions of some plants of the extreme North western Hima- 
laya and of Western Tibet. Mr. (now Sir George) Birdwood 
also made some contributions to the botany of the Bombay 
Presidency. 
Five officers of the Indian Forest Department, viz. Dr. 
Lindsay Stewart, Colonel Beddome, Sir D. Brandis, and Messrs. 
Talbot and Gamble, have within the past thirty years made im- 
portant contributions to the systematic botany of India. Dr. 
