MEMOIR OF THE LATE 
tion. In the first place it may, without 
technical language, be observed, regarding 
the present descriptions of plants, that in 
place of the usual method, wherein the 
strict characters of species are succeeded 
by a detailed account, or at least by any 
supplementary matter which appears ne- 
cessary, it has been endeavoured, in one 
brief description, to combine the charac- 
ters necessary for distinguishing the species 
om one another, with any other points 
Which may be deemed useful or interesting. 
There is also, for the most part, a para- 
graph, entitled * Observations," annexed 
to each genus, wherein the more tangible 
points of difference among its species are 
noticed, along with any other remarks ap- 
pearing to deserve attention, and which 
. ave suggested themselves. And when 
.. the genus is long, it is subdivided into 
= Sections or groupes, each of which is fol- 
lowed by the observations alluded to. It 
should also be mentioned that, when the 
name made use of by Linnæus, or in the 
more common of our British works, differs 
from the specific appellation which the au- 
thor has adopted, the corresponding syno- 
nym is mentioned." 
A BRIEF MEMOIR OF THE LIFE 
OF MR. DAVID DOUGLAS, WITH 
EXTRACTS FROM HIS LET- 
TERS. 
(Accompanied by a portrait. ) 
IT is not willingly that the following re- 
cord of the successful labours of Mr. Da- 
vid Douglas in the field of Natural History, 
and of his lamented death, has been so long 
withheld from the public: a circumstance 
the more to be regretted, because his me- 
lancholy and untimely fate excited a degree 
of interest in the scientific world, which 
been rarely equalled, especially to- 
wards one who had hitherto been almost 
public curiosity by the mention of 
_ Some further particulars than what related 
Merely. to Mr. Douglas’s botanical disco- 
MR. DAVID DOUGLAS. 79 
veries; and this could scarcely be done 
but through the medium of those friends 
whose personal acquaintance was of long 
standing, and especially such as knew some- 
thing of his early life. This has at length 
been accomplished, through the kindness 
of Mr. Douglas’s elder brother, Mr. John 
Douglas, and of Mr. Booth, the very skilful 
and scientific gardener at Carclew, the seat 
of Sir Charles Lemon, Bart. It is to Mr. 
Booth, indeed, that I am indebted for al- 
most all that relates to the subject of this 
memoir, previous to his entering the ser- 
vice of the Horticultural Society, and for 
the copies of some letters, as well as se- 
veral particulars relative to his future 
career. 
David Douglas was born at Scone, near 
Perth, in 1799, being the son of John 
Douglas and Jean Drummond,' his wife. 
His father was a stone-mason, possessed of 
good abilities, and a store of general in- 
formation, rarely surpassed by persons in 
his sphere of life. His family consisted 
of three daughters and as many sons, o 
whom the subject of this notice was the 
second. At about three years of age he 
was sent to a school in the village, where 
the good old dame, 
** Gentle of heart, nor knowing well to rule,” 
soon found herself mastered by her high- 
spirited little scholar, who 
“ Much had g d on that ill-fated morn, 
When he was first to school reluctant borne," 
and.took every opportunity of showing his 
dislike to the restraint, by playing truant, 
or defying the worthy lady's authority. At 
the parish-school of Kinnoul, kept by Mr. 
"Wilson, whither he was soon sent, David 
ouglas evinced a similar preference to 
fishing and bird-nesting over book-learn- 
1 It is not a little remarkable, that the mother of 
Mr. Douglas should have borne the same name with 
that of another enthusiastic Naturalist, who nearly at 
the same age, and after devoting a similar number of 
ears to scientific researches upon the same vast 
tinent of North America, met with an untimely grave, 
soon after arriving at a neighbouring island, almo 
at the very same period as the subject of this memoir. 
It will be at once seen that I allude to Mr. Thomas 
Drummond. 
