45 



A YORKSHIRE BOTANIST. 



RICHARD SPRUCE (1817-1893). 



Had Spruce been consulted, he could not have desked a more 

 fitting monum?nt to his memory, than the two handsome 

 volumes* now before us. And 'tis a great compliment to this 

 Yorkshire bo.anist, and to Yorkshire, that a record of his life 

 and work should be given to the world by Dr. Alfred Russel 

 Wallace. 



This memorial, though late in its appearance, is not the 

 less welcome. It has a charm about it which recalls the sub- 

 stantial volumes of natural history travel of thirty or forty 

 years ago. 



Besides being a keen botanist. Spruce was a good ' all round ' 

 man, and recorded many interesting observations in other 

 branches of knowledge. He also had a fine literary style, 

 which makes a perusal of his notes a pleasure. 



In his preface. Dr. Wallace writes : ' Shortly after Spruce's 

 death, I offered to do what I could to put together a narrative 

 of his travels from his journals and letters, if, on examination 

 of the materials, it seemed possible to do so. His executor, 

 Mr. M. B. Slater, was anxious that I should undertake the 

 duties of a literary executor ; but, partly owing to both of us 

 being fully occupied by our own affairs, it was only after a delay 

 of eleven years that I was able to begin the preparation of the 

 present volumes.' Since then. Dr. Wallace has spent three 

 years in preparing the work for the press. 



It is thus pleasing to find that another well-known and 

 respected Yorkshire botanist, Mr. M. B. Slater (happily still 

 with us), has had a hand in the preparation of this work. 

 Spruce was Mr. Slater's first master, and Mr. Slater wrote : 

 ' From him I got to know how to use a microscope, and thus got 

 my first knowledge of the beauties of the mosses, and I can truly 

 say their examination and study has been a source of great 

 pleasure to me through life.' f Mr. Slater was fortunate in 

 being a pupil of Spruce, and for some years previous to 1846. 

 paid him weekly visits. Mr. Slater has favoured the writer 



* Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes, by Richard Spruce, 

 edited by Alfred Russel Wallace, O.M., F.R.S., with a Biographical 

 Introduction, Portrait, seventy-one illustrations, and seven maps. ^ 2 

 Vols., 518 and 542 pages. London : MacMillan & Co. 21/- net. 



t In the ' Introduction ' to ' The Mosses and Hepatica; of North 

 Yorkshire,' in J. G. Baker's ' North Yorkshire,' 2nd ed., 1906, pp.*424-5. 



1^09 February i. 



