X 



In 1846 lie published the first edition of his ' Synopsis of British 

 Rubi,' and a much.- enlarged second edition in 1869. This was in- 

 tended to have been illustrated by a series of plates drawn by Mr. 

 J. W. Salter, but the preparation of these was stopped by Salter's 

 death, and they were riot published. 



In the "Ray Society," which was founded in 1844, as an enlarge- 

 ment of a "Hay Club," which was started in 1836, he took an active 

 interest, serving on its council and helping in the editing of some of 

 its publications, especially the volumes devoted to the memoirs and 

 correspondence of the great naturalist from whom the Society took 

 •its name. 



He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851, the same 

 year in which Huxley, Sir Janie.s Paget, and Lord Kelvin were also 

 elected, but he never took any active part in the affairs of the Society, 



In 1860 he published his ' Flora of Cambridgeshire,' in which the 

 distribution of the species through the different districts of the 

 county is traced out very carefully, and the changes in the vegetation 

 caused by the drainage of the fens are dwelt on. 



On the death of Professor Henslow in 1861, Babington succeeded 

 him as Professor of Botany at Cambridge, and held the Chair up 

 to the time of his death, on the 22nd of July, 1895. His lectures dealt 

 mainly with organography and systematic botany, and were not 

 accompanied by laboratory work. They were discontinued for 

 several years before his death, and as years went on the teaching 

 of botany in the University passed into the hands of the men of 

 a younger generation, with different ideals and different plans of 

 work. 



A very full biography, with a portrait, will be found in the Sep- 

 tember number of the ' Journal of Botany.' 



J. G. B. 



John Step, Btiistowe was born June 19, 1827, at Camberwell, where 

 his father was a general practitioner. He was educated at King's 

 College School, and subsequently entered St. Thomas's Hospital as a 

 medical student. He showed, however, a predilection for art and 

 literature, for at an early age he published a book of poems, and his 

 drawing showed considerable power. He nevertheless worked hard 

 in his destined career, and obtained prizes both in his own school and 

 -at the University of London, where he took his M.B. degree in the 

 year 1850, and the M.D. in 1852. He w-as occupied with various 

 minor positions in the medical school until he was appointed Assistant 

 Physician in 1854, and full Physician in 1860. He became Fellow of 

 the Royal College of Physicians in 1858, and a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society in 1881. The honorary title of LL.D. was also conferred 

 upon him by the University of Edinburgh. He devoted much of the 



