Obituary: — Francis Bauer. 187 



botanical painter to the Royal Gardens, which were then rapidlj' advancing to 

 a high state of perfection. The munificence of Sir Joseph enabled Mr. Bauer 

 to pursue the bent of his genius, independent of the public and of booksellers ; 

 and numberless beautiful illustrations of the rare plants introduced in rapid 

 succession at Kew, by the many travellers and navigators of the reign of 

 George the Third, were the result, works now deposited with Sir Joseph 

 Banks's library at the British Museum, and which all who have examined 

 must acknowledge to be, for accuracy of delineation and colouring, elegance 

 of execution, as well as for physiological and anatomical truth, unexampled 

 at that period. Mr. Bauer was also appointed drawing-master to the Princess 

 Elizabeth : but he was a better philosopher than courtier, and his services, 

 which were given gratuitously, were soon dispensed with. At that time he 

 was occupied on the heath tribe, then in course of introduction, chiefly from 

 the Cape, by Menzies. Engravings were made from these drawings, and 

 Queen Charlotte and the princess used to colour them under his superin- 

 tendence. The engravings so coloured were afterwards sold by public auction, 

 with other of Her Majesty's effects. Towards the end of the last century, 

 Mr. Bauer commenced his illustrations of orchideous plants, since published 

 by Dr. Lindley. He subsequently turned his attention to the diseases in 

 corn, in which, from his skill in the us6 of the microscope, he made discoveries 

 of great importance to agriculture, and therefore to mankind; and we may 

 here state, that the only money which he received during his long life, beyond 

 the above-mentioned income, was fifteen guineas, which the editor of one of 

 the cheap publications of the present day sent to him for some short papers 

 on the smut in wheat. 



In 1816, the late Sir Everard Home, being engaged in some researches 

 respecting the anatomical structure of the foot of the common house-fly, com- 

 municated the difficulties he experienced to Sir Joseph Banks, who im- 

 mediately introduced him to Mr. Bauer. This led to an intimacy of the most 

 lasting and most useful kind. Mr. Bauer solved every difficulty, and, at the 

 suggestion of Sir Everard, entered on a number of other anatomical enquiries, 

 the results of which were published by Sir Everard in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Society. The most remarkable of these were his dissections and 

 drawings of the common red earthworm, the lampreys, conger eel, Mexican 

 Proteus, metamorphosis of the tadpole, generations of oysters and muscles, 

 process of incubation from the egg to the perfect chicken, the eye, structure 

 of brain, nerves, blood, lungs, urethra, and muscular fibre; some of M'hich 

 labours have led to great improvements in the treatment of diseases, and con- 

 sequent alleviation of human suffering ; and all display an unrivalled degree of 

 skill, perseverance, and philosophical acumen, sufRcient to have conferred on 

 him the highest fame, had such been his aim. At the suggestion of Sir 

 Everard Home, George the Fourth resolved to establish a botanical museum 

 at Kew, which was to be intrusted to Mr. Bauer. The house now belonging 

 to the King of Hanover was purchased for this purpose ; the shelves were 

 prepared, all the botanical books in the king's library were to be removed 

 there, and some had, in, fact, been sent down, when, unfortunatel}', a dispute 

 arose respecting the land, to which the Woods and Forests laid claim ; and 

 some artillery waggons driving off with the bookcases gave Mr. Bauer the 

 first intimation that the plan had been abandoned. About this period, Mr. 

 Bauer made his superb drawings of the Rafflesia ArnoldM (the plant of which 

 a model in wax is preserved at the rooms of the Horticultural Society.) He 

 still continued his delineations of Kew plants, and, latterly, more especially of 

 the ferns published by Sir William Hooker. He, at the same time, directed 

 his attention to many microscopical researches, such as the structure of 

 cotton, flax, and wool, the hairs of the various races of men, as well as of many 

 animals, the red snow of Sir John Ross ; and, though little known to the 

 pnblic, he had so well established his reputation amongst the select in every 

 walk of science, that rarely, indeed, would any man of science or any traveller 

 of eminence pass through London without visiting him, and no one returned 



