D I L L E N I U S. 



743 



Dillenius. covered his partiality to the investigation of the tribes 

 V»«i",-"iiiJ f minute plants, now known by the general title of 

 Cryptogamia ; particularly the Musci, which he first 

 subdivided into the well-known genera Bryum, Hyp- 

 sum, Minum, &c. He added twenty-four figures of 

 rare plants, drawn and etched by himself. This edi- 

 tion of the Synopsis continued to be the principal guide 

 to English botany, till the publication of Hudson's 

 Flora Anglica ; which again was in some measui'e su- 

 perseded by Withering's Arrangement ; while this last 

 has been succeeded by Smith's Flora Brilannica, a work 

 the most perfect of its kind that has appeared in any 

 country. The Dillenian edition of Ray's Synopsis, is 

 still held in esteem by botanists, and has now become 

 a very scarce book. 



The consul Sherard already mentioned, who died in 

 1728, having left a considerable sum of money towards 

 endowing a botanical professorship at Oxford, on condi- 

 tion that Dillenius should be the first professor ; this 

 appointment was accordingly carried into effect, and 

 Dillenius was enabled to dedicate the rest of his life ex- 

 clusively to botanical pursuits. The real object of the 

 founder was the continuation of Caspar Bauhin's Pinax ; 

 a work in which he himself had laboured for some 

 years. To this duty of the Sherardian professor, Lin- 

 naeus long afterwards alluded, in dedicating to him his 

 ^Critica Botanica ; but the continuation of the Pinax, 

 although understood to be in an advanced state of pre- 

 paration, never was given to the public, owing entirely 

 to the expence exceeding the means of Dillenius. 



Dr Sherard, the brother of the consul, possessing an 

 excellent botanic garden at Eltham, about eight miles 

 from London, Dillenius, while resident in the capital, 

 had been a frequent visitant ; and had been led to un- 

 dertake the describing and figuring of the plants in this 

 collection. After many years labour, the Hortus Eltha- 

 mensis came out in 1732, in two large volumes folio. 

 In this splendid book, 417 plants are described and fi- 

 gured ; and, as usual, the figures were not only drawn, 

 but etched by Dillenius himself. While these engra- 

 vings are certainly not to be compared with the match- 

 less productions of Bauer and Hooker, in our days, 

 they must be admitted to possess very great merit ; and 

 it was not without reason, that Linnaeus pronounced the 

 book, at the time of its publication, to be " opus bo- 

 tanicum quo absolutius mundum non vidit." 



In 1736, the Swedish naturalist paid a visit to Dil- 

 lenius at Oxford. He was not able to persuade the Pro- 

 fessor to renounce the method of Ray, and adopt his 

 sexual system ; but these great botanists agreed so well, 

 that Dillenius was even desirous to associate Linnaeus 

 with him in his labours, — a plan, which, it is said, 



t failed, through the opposition, or at least the indiffe- 



rence, of Sir Hans Sloane. 



About this time, Dillenius assisted the learned orien- 

 talist Dr Shaw, in describing and figuring the new or 

 rare plants which he had collected abroad; and the Spe- 

 cimen Phytographim Africance, subjoined to the Doctor's 

 Travels in Barbary and the Levant, may be considered 

 as the work of Dillenius. 



For many years, Dillenius had attached himself prin- 

 cipally to the investigation of the great family of the 

 Mosses, including under this title not only the fron- 

 dose mosses, but jungermannia?, lichens, confervas, bys- 

 si, and others. In 1741, he brought out, in one large 

 volume 4to, illustrated with 85 plates, his Historia 

 Muscorum. In this admirable work he describes and 

 gives representations of aboj.it 6'00 species, many of 



them before unknown or undistinguished. By this 

 treatise, the fame of Dillenius was firmly established. 

 The perspicuity of his descriptions, and the general ac- 

 curacy of his figures, have ensured him the praises Of 

 all succeeding botanical writers. Willdenow pronounces 

 it an " incomparable work." When Linnaeus after- 

 wards published his System, he did little more, in the fa- 

 milies of Mosses and Lichens, than arrange the Dillenian 

 species, and reduce the copious specific characters into 

 his own short and technical style. Both Dillenius and 

 Linnaeus, it may be remarked, were in the dark as to 

 the nature of the fructification of the musci frondosi, 

 which was first discovered by the celebrated Hedwig. 

 But while Hedwig has illustrated the musci, and Acha- 

 rius the lichens, the Hutoria of Dillenius continues to 

 be a standard work of reference to this day. No more 

 than 250 copies were printed; and yet so limited was 

 the demand at first, that the author was a considerable 

 loser by the publication. In less than thirty years, 

 however, it became a rare book. In 1 763, the plates 

 were republished without the letter-press ; and from 

 this time a copy of the original edition, with the letter- 

 press, bore the most extravagant price. 



In 1811, a new edition of this splendid and expen- 

 sive book was imdertaken at the University press of 

 Edinburgh, by Mr Charles Stewart, — a gentleman who 

 has been long known as a keen naturalist, and as the 

 author of an excellent elementary book, entitled, Ele- 

 ments of Natural History, published at Edinburgh in 

 1801. In order to save the original copy from being 

 soiled in the course of reprinting, it was enclosed in a 

 glass case; which was unlocked only when the compo- 

 sitor needed to turn a leaf. This new edition was print- 

 ed page for page with the original, so that the refe- 

 rences of authors might apply to it. No freedom what- 

 ever was taken with the original, except correcting some 

 typographical errors which had escaped the author. 

 Even the spelling of his English words was respected. 

 To the synonymes given by Dillenius himself, Mr Stew- 

 art has very properly added, in an appendix, a bst of 

 modern synonymes. The plates were re-engraved with 

 great care, the original plates having been destroyed 

 many years ago. The whole work is in a style of ele- 

 gance highly creditable to the Edinburgh press. 



After his publication on Mosses, Dillenius, it is un- 

 derstood, turned his attention particularly to the illus- 

 tration of English/tt»g7, of many of which he prepar- 

 ed drawings and descriptions ; but these he did not 

 live to publish. He was of a corpulent habit, and was 

 cut off by apoplexy in 1747, in his 60th year. A por- 

 trait of him is preserved at Oxford, but no tombstone 

 marks his place of sepulture, the only monument to 

 his memory being one strictly botanical, — the naming 

 after him, by his friend Linnaeus, of a genus (DilleniaJ, 

 including several lofty and beautiful Asiatic trees. See 

 Pulteney's Sketdies of the Progress of Botany, vol. ii. ; 

 and Biog. Brit, in loco. (p. n.) 



DILLlNGEN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom 

 of Bavaria. It was formerly in the circle of Suabia, 

 and was the ordinary place of residence of the Prince 

 Bishop of Augsburg, to whom it belonged. 



It is situated on the Danube, and contains an epis- 

 copal palace, a Catholic university founded in 1 552, a 

 college of secular canons, a convent of capuchins, and 

 two convents of religious. It is 12 miles north west of 

 Augsburg. East Long. 10° 20' 29", and North Lat. 

 48° 34' 17", according to trigonometrical observations. 

 O) 



Dillenius, 

 Dillingcn. 



