Obituary Notices. 
liii 
pointed out* some years ago, he was just the man who could best 
carry out forestry measures amongst the people of India — without 
appearing tyrannical. “ He was,” says his colleague. Sir Dietrich 
Brandis, “ known to be a true friend to the natives, and had made 
himself familiar with their modes of life and systems of husbandry. 
As a medical man his name was also widely known, and he had 
acquired much influence amongst the native population ; and, 
indeed. Dr Cleghorn’s single-minded desire to promote the welfare 
of the people had become evident, not only to the natives, hut also 
to leading Government offlcials in Madras, and the confidence they 
placed in him was the secret of his subsequent success in this 
important matter.” f 
About this time Dr Cleghorn contemplated retiring from the 
service, and, indeed, his papers were drawn up, when he met Prof. 
Forbes Boyle, of King’s College, London, who asked and obtained 
his aid in preparing a Catalogue of the Eaw Products in the great 
Exhibition of 1851, a task which occupied him ninety days. Forbes 
Boyle was very thankful for the valuable help given him by the 
young Indian surgeon, for his own health had become somewhat 
feeble. He, moreover, gave him letters to the India Office, to Sir 
Henry Pottinger, Governor of Madras, and to others. This, and an 
improvement in health, led to Dr Cleghorn’s return to India in 
1851, and he lost no time in calling on the Governor of Madras, 
who took a deep interest in him. He was then given orders to 
proceed with a wing of a Queen’s regiment to Tricliinopoly ; but 
he had only been there three weeks when he was recalled, and 
offered the post of Professor of Botany and Materia Medica in 
Madras. Shortly after settling in this congenial office, he was also 
put in charge of a number of young forest-olflcers, and no one with 
greater aptitude could have been selected, for he was not only 
familiar with Indian life and its dangers, but had always been 
characterised by his kindly interest in young men, and still more 
by his high moral tone and his strictly temperate habits. Thus his 
income was increased and his botanical tastes were given free play. 
Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society, 7th Aug. 1888 ; Trans. xii. 
pp. 87-93. 
t Sir Dietrich Brandis, Trans. Scot. Arhoric. Soc., xii. p. 90. A generous 
tribute to his fellow-labourer, Dr Cleghorn. 
