lii Proceedings of Eoyol Society of Edinhurgh. 
thereafter, for three or four years, led a life of constant marching 
and counter-marching with different regiments. He thus obtained 
many opportunities both of learning the native language and of 
extending his botanical knowledge, which, originally fostered by a 
diligent use of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, now began to bear 
fruit. His other duties consisted of the superintendence of a jail 
and the practice of vaccination, besides preparing a collection of 
native raw produce for the local museum. Following out a sugges- 
tion which he received from Sir William Hooker, he was in the 
habit of studying a few plants daily, and thus acquired an extensive 
knowledge of the medical and economic plants of India. He was 
further encouraged by letters from Sir Eobert Christison, with notes 
of iiiquirenda and desiderata relating to Indian drugs, such as 
gamboge and chiretta. 
His botanical tendencies, indeed, even then attracted considerable 
notice, especially his observations on the destruction of the forests, 
and he was appointed on the Mysore Commission, chiefly in 
connection with this subject. The labours entailed on Dr Cleg- 
horn at this time, however, told on his health, and, early in 1848, 
sick of Mysore fever, he was sent home. The voyage proved 
disastrous, for the ship was totally dismasted, lost five of her able- 
bodied seamen, and the passengers were with difficulty landed — 
without either luggage or money — at Cape Town. He reached 
England at the end of June, but was still in weak health, for an 
attack of pleurisy with cough had followed the Mysore fever. He 
recruited by botanising in Devonshire ; and thereafter, having 
attended the meeting of the British Association in Edinburgh in 
1850, he was appointed, with other eminent men, to report upon 
tropical forests, and the influence which they exerted on the 
climate and the resources of the country. Dr Cleghorn, who 
drew up this exhaustive report, had, indeed, early perceived the 
immense importance of the tropical forests. He had observed 
that, as the population spread out, the people were tempted to 
invade the forests and cultivate within them. More than thirty 
years ago, so impressed was he by the results of what was known 
as the “Kumri” cultivation, that he was instrumental in getting 
orders issued by the Government to stop the wasteful system in 
Mysore. As Sir Dietrich Brandis and Sir William Muir so clearly 
