September 13, 1906] 



NA TURE 



495 



which several parts have appeared, and 1 understand 

 that some MSS. remain to be published. 



It is pleasant to reflect that so much yood work 

 was not allowed to pass unrecognised. In addition 

 to the distinctions already mentioned, many others 

 wore conferred upon him. Ward became a Fellow of 

 the Linncan Society in i8S6, and was elected a Fellow 

 of the Royal Society in 1888, receivin.g- a Royal medal 

 in 1893 ; he served on the council of the Linncan 

 Society, 1887-9, ^"d on that of the Royal Society, 

 1895-6. He was elected an honorary fellow of 

 Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1897, and in 1902 

 received the degree of D.Sc. honoris causa from his 

 first Alma Mater, the Victoria University, having 

 previously taken the same degree at Cambridge. He 

 was president of (he British Mycologicnl Society, 

 1900-2, and had received the honorary fellowship of 

 the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society 

 and of other societies. 



Beginning in 1S54 at Hereford, his life is a story of 

 unremitting and successful effort until its close at Tor- 

 quay on Sundav, August 26, 1906. I remember Ward 

 as a genial companion, a man of varied interests, de- 

 lighting especially in music; but the dominant 

 impression is that of his whole-hearted devotion to 

 liis science; all else counted with him as nothing in 

 comparison with that. No doubt this led him to 

 impose too severe a strain upon a constitution never 

 very robust : but such as he was, it could not have 

 been otherwise. He was laid to rest in the Hunting- 

 don Road Cemetery, Cambridge, on September 3, 

 attended by manv friends and colleagues, amid tokens 

 of regret from near and far. S. H. Vines. 



CHARLES BARON CLARKE. F.RS> 



THE death of Mr. Charles Baron Clarke on 

 August 25, in his seventy-fourth year, deprives 

 the botanical world of an able worker, and takes from 

 a wider circle still a friend endeared for his breadth 

 of sympathy and charm of manner. 



Born at .^ndover in 1S32, Clarke was educated at 

 King's College School, London, and at Trinity and 

 Queens' Colleges, Cambridge. He graduated in 1856. 

 being bracketed third wrangler. Elected a fellow of 

 Queens' in 1857, he was in 1858 called to the Bar 

 at Lincoln's Inn, and appointed mathematical lecturer 

 of his college. This position he held until 1865, when 

 he joined the Bengal Educational Department. 



While at Cambridge Clarke was one of a brilliant 

 group holding advanced economic views, which in- 

 cluded Henry Fawcett, Leslie Stephen, and John 

 Rigby. His interest in political economy continued 

 throughout his life, and found expression in occasional 

 pamphlets on economic subjects, which he treated in 

 a manner pleasing for its lucidity and freedom from 

 political bias. 



Before he left England, Clarke, as a recreation, 

 was interested in field botany. On reaching India he 

 printed at Calcutta, in 1866, a list of the plants of 

 .\ndover, his birthplace. Clarke began his Indian 

 career as a teacher in the Presidency College, 

 Calcutta, but soon became an inspector of schools. 

 His work as inspector involved touring within the 

 circle allotted to him. and gave him facilities for 

 botanical field work. Of these he made the utmost 

 use, and supplemented them by vacation visits to 

 districts outside his circle and provinces beyond 

 Bengal. He made extensive collections, and at the 

 same time found material for contributions to 

 ethnology and geography. From 1869 until 1871 

 Clarke was in charge of the Royal Botanic Garden 

 at Calcutta, with the use of a well-equipped 

 herbarium at his command. The administrative work 

 of these two years left little time for publication of 



NO. 1924, VOL. 74] 



results, but, on reverting to his own department, 

 Clarke, while as ardent a collector as ever, found 

 lime to commence the issue of his valuable contribu- 

 tions to Eastern botany. His monographs of the 

 Indian Cyrtandracea: and Commelynacea; were issued 

 in 1874; that of the Indian Composita; appeared in 

 1876. In the former year also, Clarke, at his own 

 risk and cost, issued a new and cheap edition of 

 Roxburgh's " Flora Indica," which h.id become 

 almost unprocurable. 



The extent and value of the field work done by 

 Clarke during the first ten years of his Indian service 

 may be bestnieasured by the character of the collec- 

 tion presented by him to'Kew in 1877. This included 

 25,060 numbers, representing some 5000 species. The 

 fulness of the notes, often accompanied by useful 

 analyses; the precise indication of localities and alti- 

 tudes; the excellence of the specimens themselves, 

 combine to render this contribution one of the most 

 munificent additions ever made to the Indian material 

 at.Kew. It represents journeys in the Bengal plain, 

 oa the Chutia Nagpur plateau, in Chittagong, in the 

 Khasia Hills, in Sikkim from the Terai to the 

 snows, in the Punjab Himalaya, in Kashmir and 

 thence to the Karakoram, in the Nilgiri Hills. Xo 

 botanist since Griffith had seen more of India; none 

 since Hooker had more fully examined the areas 

 visited. ... 



Early in 1879 Clarke was placed on special duty in 

 England, and for four vears was engaged at Kew 

 assisting Sir Joseph Hooker in the preparation of the 

 " Flora of British India"; for the second, third, and 

 fourth volumes of this work he prepared the accounts 

 of manv important natural families. While in 

 England' Clarke also published, in 1880, a review of 

 the "Ferns of Northe.n India." He returned to 

 India early in 1S83, and towards the close of 1884 he 

 was appointed to"^act as Director of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Bengal. In 1885 his services were transferred 

 from Bengal to Assam, a change of province which 

 admitted of his further exploration of the Surma and 

 Brahmaputra vallevs and of the Khasia and Jaintia 

 Hills, and enabled" him to make a botanical journey 

 in the Naga Hills and Manlpur, new ground even for 

 him, the' results of which were published in the 

 Journal of the Linnean Society. , 



In 1887 Clarke retired from the Indian Service and 

 settled at Kew, so as to be near the herbarium 

 there, in which he worked for nineteen years as a 

 volunteer. Earlv in his Indian career he appears to 

 have been particularlv attracted to the studv of the 

 Cyperacea, and one of the objects of his_ life was 

 the completion of a general monograph of this difficult 

 family, with regard to which Clarke became the 

 recognised authoritv to whom botanists in every 

 country sent their collections for identification and de- 

 scription. His devotion to this group, accounts of 

 which he prepared for the " Flora of British India," 

 the "Flora Capensis," and the "Flora of Tropical 

 Africa," was not, however, exclusive, for he elabor- 

 ated several important families for both the .African 

 " Floras " and for the " Flora of the Malay Penin- 

 sula," and communicated numerous botanical papers 

 to the Linnean and Royal Societies. 



Clarke joined the Linncan Society in 1867, when 

 his active botanical work in India first began. In 

 the society's fortunes he took the keenest interest, 

 being, while on special duty in England and again 

 since his retirement, one of the most trusted coun- 

 cillors of the society, over which he presided from 

 1S94 until 1896. He was elected a Fellow of_ the 

 Royal Society in 1882, and served on the council in 

 1S88-9. He was also a Fellow of the Geological and 

 of the Geographical .Societies. 



