284 THE LIFE AND WoRK OF GEORGE DON. 
Potentilla _— but that is no reason why they should not yet 
sit requires a practised eye to be there at the very time 
of flow But many plants one extinct in localities where 
they were soy de found in abundanc 
Look at the life of my brother David in the Penny Cyclopzedia 
comporiaded by Dr. Lankester, there is hardly a word of truth in 
it. He makes him attend lectures ie Edinburgh when he could not 
have been more than 3 or 4 years old. Had he given data the 
thing would have looked ridiculou 
Believe me my Dear Sir Yours very truly, 
EORGE Don. 
P.S. Write and let me know whether you have been able to read 
this scroll. 
Dr. Neill must have written questioning some of the statements 
of the foregoing letter, for we have the following letter from Mr. 
George Don:— - 
Mr. George Don (son of the Fe rorfar Botanist) to Dr. Nevill. 
44 Bedford Place, Aenea Hill, Kensington, 
March 2ztst 1848. 
My Dear Sir,—It may be that my tee only learned the 
clockmaking and not the watch making business that mistake lies 
with me as I believed them to be the same, at least they are generally 
combined. It is also very possible that you are correct with regard 
to my father’s excursion to England, and that it was connected 
with gardening, and that his first profession was that of a gardener, 
and that getting tired of it after his Sara from England apprenticed 
himself to a clockmaker in Dumblane; however you might gain some 
information on this head from Mr. Tonle: Miller S.S.C. or ou 
to the Supreme Court in Edinburgh the son of Mr. Miller of 
Dupplin my father’s first master. All the information I have given 
on this head does not rest on my authority, it was derived from Mr. 
James Don my father’s cousin in London who probably may have 
been wrongly informed, had I written entirely from my own know- 
ledge without applying to him, the object of my fathers journey to 
England would have corresponded with what you have said on the 
subject. 
I think Mr. James M‘Nab can give you all the information required 
on the subject of my father’s unrediscovered pare robably as you 
say there are two or three more such as ace yilum agent 
and aureum, the former very distinct s sI ek 
wild myself near Arbroath, the latter is vary “difficult t to aistinoaish a 
at all from Ch. ae stre, it may be a variety; and poe 
