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although a certain reticence which Gray had already noticed in the 

 great English botanist struck him on other occasions, he more 

 than once acknowledges " much valuable information " from him. 

 " Brown came to the Museum this morning," he says later, "with 

 a copy of a curious late paper of Schleiden on the Development of 

 the Embryo, with a parcel of his own notes on the same subject 

 made in 1810, 1812, 1815, &c, which did not altogether correspond. 

 Brown thinks much of Schleiden as an observer. He read me many 

 of his old notes, and the subject took him to speak of his discoveries 

 with regard to the embryo of Finns." On another date he writes : 

 "Went up to Brown's house to spend the morning. We talked 

 profound botanical matters, and Brown not only amused and 

 interested me, but gave me much valuable information. He talks 

 of visiting America, and I have promised to plan him a route." 



On his second visit to Europe, in 1850, Gray found Brown 

 "looking older perhaps, but decidedly stronger — as healthy as 

 possible and very lively." "He is a singular-looking man, with 

 a very heavy lower lip and jaw, and generally carries his head 

 down; but it is curious to watch him, and see how he kindles 

 up, and what a satirical twinkle comes in the corner of his eyes 

 when he tells some story, for he has a good deal of satire." During 

 a short stay in England in 1855, Gray "made a long and interesting 

 call on Brown, who is very old, but full of interest. I shall not 

 again see this Nestor of botanists, as well as facile princeps, in this 

 world"— a foreboding which was fulfilled. One more reference we 

 find after Brown's death. "I send you back your Cavendish,"* 

 Gray writes to Torrey. "The old cock was much like Robert 

 Brown in many respects. Though there is nothing in him to love, 

 he calls out a sort of admiration, partly in the literal sense, that is, 

 wonder, mixed with pity, that he had no feelings. Brown had, and 

 besides he was very social and not so very queer, but he lived very 

 much in the same way, and I suppose had as little sense of religion." 

 Gray's memoir of Brown is a masterly appreciation of his work, but 

 the little touches above cited will help to make up that picture of our 

 great botanist for which adequate material has not been published. 



To English botanists, the biographical notes similar to the 

 above, which are freely scattered throughout the volumes, will 

 prove the most attractive features of the book, and we make no 

 apology for quoting more of them. Next to the Hookers, Gray's 

 greatest friend seems to have been Bentham. Those who knew the 

 great systematist only in the later years of his life were mainly 

 impressed by the reserve, which might almost have been termed 

 dryness, that characterised him ; and many were surprised at the 

 le presented by his earlier life, as detailed by Mr. Daydon 

 Jackson in these pages.t From the first, however, Bentham was 

 one of Gray's warmest friends; and these volumes abound in 

 references showing him in this capacity. "Found Bentham an 

 exceedingly pleasant and amiable man," Gray writes on his first 



* Probably Wilson's life of Henry Cavendish, the natural philosopher. 



