The late Mr. William Griffith. 295 



upon the extreme frontier of our Eastern territory. In 1837 he ac- 

 companied Captain Pemberton on his mission to the wild countries of 

 Boutan. In 1839 he was sent, with the army of the Indus, to pro- 

 secute inquiries into the botany of AfFghanistan. In 1841 he was 

 appointed to the medical duties of Malacca. In 1842, upon Dr. 

 Wallich's absence, from illness, at the Cape, he was intrusted with 

 the superintendence of the Botanical Garden at Calcutta, and with 

 the duties of the Botanical Professor in the Medical College ; and, 

 upon the return of Dr. Wallich from the Cape, he resumed his place 

 at Malacca, where he was seized with disease of the liver, and died 

 at the early age of thirty-four, having already acquired a distin- 

 guished reputation, — having in every capacity in which he served 

 the Government received its approbation and its thanks ; and having 

 given a promise of such further services to botanical science as few 

 have had either the opportunity or the talent of affording. In all his 

 varied and extensive journeys, his courage and his energy never 

 failed him ; whether in the jungles of Assam, or the hills of Affgha- 

 nistan, he still pursued his researches, undeterred by danger, either 

 of disease or of violence ; and if disabled, as he was more than once 

 by fever and debility, his first convalescence found him ever ready 

 for fresh exertions. He had thus, by the application of extraordi- 

 nary powers of observation, and in perquisitions extending through 

 the vast regions which have been enumerated, formed large and 

 valuable collections, and brought together materials for a great bota- 

 nical work ; and he looked with impatience to a period of repose for 

 compiling a Scientific Flora of India, when he sunk under his last 

 fatal illness. Perhaps no more impressive picture of the energy of 

 this extraordinary man, and of his devotion to his favorite science, 

 can be given than that which may be drawn from the following ex- 

 tracts from a letter which was dictated by him on his death-bed, and 

 addressed to Dr. M'Clelland : — 



" I write this by deputy, being seriously ill of hepatitis ; the attack 

 has been very severe, and the treatment necessarily active, so that I 

 am reduced to an extreme state of weakness. Although my adviser 

 does not despair, still the issue is doubtful, and under this impression 

 I commence a few lines to you on business. 



" Mrs. Griffith (supposing the result of this illness to be fatal to 

 me) will bring up with her all the collections at Malacca, and they 



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