Anniversary Address. 421 



science to which it belongs, giving a new impulse and direc- 

 tion to all subsequent enquiries. 



A still more attractive book is the " Flora of the Eastern 

 Borders," familiar to us all, in which Dr Johnston's whole 

 powers as a writer and a Naturalist appear to the best ad- 

 vantage. In addition to many of those scientific details in 

 which the systematic Botanist delights, it sparkles all over 

 with the attractions of his literary style. Every poet who 

 has sung the beauties of our native plants is laid under con- 

 tribution, but better than all are the descriptions which 

 flowed from his own pen. To the reader who turns over the 

 pages, it almost seems as if he felt the fresh breezes blowing 

 over the scenery of this fair Border land amidst which our 

 rarer native plants are found, and which Dr. Johnston loved 

 so well to describe. It is a dehght to read, what it evidently 

 was for him a delight to write. 



Of the other scientific work which he did for the Club, 

 I must not speak. At the time when I knew him, it was a 

 wonder to me that one who had so many demands on his 

 time could do so much as he did in the pursuit of Natural 

 Science. On one occasion when I sent him some plants from 

 Langton, he mentioned in his reply that he was engaged in 

 professional work, eleven to twelve hours daily, but that did 

 not prevent him giving the information I asked. And med- 

 ical practice to him was no mere routine. No one, as I had 

 occasion to see, could be more tenderly alive to the respon- 

 sibilities of an anxious profession, but my belief is that, like 

 many hard-worked men, he found relief and refreshment in 

 the pursuits of Natural Science. He could not be idle. Some 

 new investigation was always on hand, or he was recording 

 the results already obtained. On various occasions it hap- 

 pened to me to be sitting in the same room in which he was 

 at work, and I have a vivid recollection of the enthusiasm 

 with which he went on — ever and anon some exclamation 

 of surprise bursting from him as he summoned you to his 

 side, to admire along with him the new wonders which his 

 microscope had brought into view. It was impossible to 

 come thus in contact with him, without feeling the fascin- 



