THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
[Joly, 193 
is often the case, was derived from a combination of those view points. It 
was like the sudden disappearance of a good Stand-by to which one got 
used in the course of time, and on whose readiness one looked almost as a 
matter of course. Although approaching the end of the proverbial span of 
life, he had not yet shown any flagging, and a fruitful future to be counted 
by many years seemed still to lie before him. That was certainly his own 
outlook, as it was the impression which his friends and colleagues derived 
from his healthy look, the vigour of his carriage and the undiminished zest 
which his special work held for him. When he fell ill everything pointed to- 
a passing indisposition, and even when the symptons grew graver it seemed 
more a question how much longer he could be withheld from his usual 
sphere of activity than whether he would have to leave it altogether. It came 
differently. An insiduous malady had worked its- way, and the final collapse 
came as we now know it had to come in the circumstances. For the readers 
andfnends of this journal his^passingaway^hdd a doubly^serious sigfnificande. 
For was it not his own creation and almost his personification ? For 
twenty-eight years it had lived through him a remarkably regular, sober and 
useful life, he the soul, the heart, and the main feeder of it. When his heart 
stood still, it seemed as if the life of this, his spoiled child, must come to 
an end too; but souls live on and they long for reincarnation. The soul 
that lived in Robert Allen Rolfe, and spoke year after year out of the leaves 
of this journal, is the same soul which revels in the study of the marvellous 
diversity and ingenuity of an organic structure, simple in its ground plan, 
but capable of endless modifications; feasts on the beauty of shapes and 
colours ; is ever anew stimulated by the problem of wresting from nature 
the secret of the life of her children and bringing them to our homes to 
nurse them into asquiescence with their exile ; and last, not least, has also 
a healthy appreciation for the material realities of human life. This soul 
will always be with usj and to cater for it is well worth the labour of a 
good-man, as Robert Allen Rolfe was. He was essentially a self-made and 
self-taught man. He rose from the ranks. His luck took him to Kew. He 
climbed into a position of scientific standing by sheer industry and 
perseverance. Once more luck came to his aid. Joseph Dalton Hooker 
recognized the metal young Rolfe was made of. He encouraged him, and 
with his blessing he started on the way to the mastery he was to win in the 
field of “ Orchidology.” Again the sterling qualities of his character, a 
stubborn pertinacity, untiring devotion, accuracy and honesty, stood him in 
good stead. The Herbarium and its magnificent library were an inexhaustible 
mine fpr him, from which grew his academic knowledge, whilst the treasures 
of the Gardens kept him in constant and enlivening contact with the living 
material. On this twofold basis his authority as an expert was gradually 
built up. But this accounted only for a part of his activity. The official 
