XXXViU PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



his truly valuable life ; for who can be considered a better judge 

 upon such subjects? 



John Forbes Iloyle, M.D., F.B.S. & L.S., Officer of the Legion 

 of Honour, and a Vice-President of the Boyal Society, was the son 

 of an officer in the Royal army, who had served in India. Ho was 

 born in that country and educated for the medical profession in 

 Edinburgh, where he obtained the diploma of Surgeon. He received 

 soon afterwards an appointment as Assistant Surgeon in the E.I.C. 

 Service, and in 1819 proceeded to Calcutta on the Medical Staff of 

 the Bengal Army, being first attached to the Artillery at Dum-Dum. 

 For two or three years afterwards he was moved from station to 

 station in Bengal and the North-Western Provinces, and whilst dis- 

 charging the medical duties, which the exigencies of the service 

 demanded from him, he availed himself of every opportunity afforded 

 by frequert change of locality to acquire a knowledge of the natural 

 productions of the country ; among which, Indian plants engrossed 

 the first place in his attention, and drew him into correspondence 

 with Dr. Wallich, the eminent Danish botanist, at that time Superin- 

 tendent of the Honourable Company's Botanical Gardens at Calcutta. 

 A vacancy having occurred in the charge of the Botanical Gardens 

 at Saharunpore, Dr. Boyle was, fortunately for science, selected by 

 Government as the best-qualified candidate, and appointed Superin- 

 tendent in 1823. No station in India is more happily situated than 

 Saharunpore for the cultivation of the natural sciences. Eastward 

 of Delhi, elevated 1000 feet above the level of the sea, near the ex- 

 treme northern limit of that part of the great plain of India which 

 is included in the valley of the Ganges, within a few miles of the 

 Sewalik Hills, and within easy range of the great chain of the Hima- 

 layas, the position commands alike the tropical flora and fauna of the 

 plains of India, and the temperate climate of the Snowy range, and 

 every variety between the two. Dr. Boyle possessed the acquire- 

 ments proceeding from education and self- culture,* — the energy of 

 character and the ardent love of science, which at once impelled and 

 enabled him to avail himself to the utmost of these advantages. 



The Public Garden, supported by a native endowment, and laid 

 out, after the simple native plan, with abundance of fruit-trees and 

 common flowering plants, was entirely remodelled by the new Super- 

 intendent, after the most approved plan of English landscape-gar- 

 dening ; a large addition was made to the number of species grown, 

 whether indigenous or exotic ; a scientific arrangement was adopted. 

 A conservatory was erected, an ample stream of running water was 

 introduced, which fell into an artificial lake; in short, by many 

 refined alterations a tame oriental garden was speedily converted 

 into a beautifully planned and useful scientific establishment, the 

 whole having been the creation of Dr. Boyle. To compensate as 

 much as possible for the restriction imposed upon his time by 

 the medical duties he was obliged to perform, he despatched par- 

 ties of plant-collectors in successive years to the various mountain- 

 provinces in the neighbourhood, across the Snowy Bange over the 

 Thibctian boundary, and as far westward as the valley of Cash- 



