94 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 
Solander’s qualifications and influence upon science in the following 
words : — 
It ought nevertheless to be remembered, that if the talents and liberality of this 
eminent man were not so directly useful, in the way which might have been 
expected, any more than those of his great patron. Sir Josei)h Banks, whose loss, 
never perhaps to be compensated, we have now to deplore, they have, like his, 
been otherwise pre-eminently beneficial. They have proved the example and the 
spur of all that has been done for natural science, during half a century, in Britain ; 
perhaps in every quarter of the world. It was Solander who reduced our garden 
plants to order, and laid the foundation of the '■ Hortus Kewensis ”* * * § of his friend 
Aiton. His instructions made everybody correct and systematic, and introduced 
Linnsean learning and precision, in spite of opposition, which sometimes assumed 
considerable authority (see Vol. I, pp. 35, 3(5). No one ever came so near his 
great teacher in the specific discrimination of plants. In generic distinctions he 
was prone rather to combine than to separate ; in which he followed his master’s 
example. Natural orders or affinities .seem never to have entered into his con- 
templation. In nomenclature and terminology he was always classical and correct, 
never yielding to the fashions or corruptions of the day. Conchology eminently 
engaged his attention, and he laboured successfully, with Ellis, in that study; 
as also in the investigation of the more obscure tribes of marine vegetables as 
well as animals, t 
The greater portion of the writings of Solander are comprised in 
the manuscript volume of the botany of the voyage of the “ Endeavour,” 
enumerated by Mr. Britten, supra p. 35. 
Some of his letters, and he was evidently a good letter writer when 
in the vein, have been printed above. Not many of his letters appear 
to be in existence. 
Alleged Existence of a Journal by Solander. 
Solander’s writings being so few,J it became of special importance to 
inquire as to the existence of a journal alleged to have been kept by 
him. 
IMr. Fletcher j)ointed out that 5Ir. Maiden’s exhibit of the Banksian plants § 
suggested a matter of more than sentimental interest to Australian naturalists 
which needed ventilation, namely, the whereabouts of Dr. Solander’s Journal, 
and the prospects of its publication as a companion volume to Admiral 
Wharton’s “ Captain Cook’s Journal ” (1893), and Sir Joseph Hooker’s “ Journal 
of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks ” (1896). It was not generally known, perhaps, 
that Solander kept a journal, as very few published references to it can be found. 
The speaker had met with only two. In his preface to “ Cook’s Journal,” Admiral 
Wharton refers to it under the impression that Hawkesworth had actually made 
use of it in drawing up his well-known compilation. But neither Hawkesworth’s 
preface, nor a comparison of Hooker’s “ Banks” with Hawkesworth’s “ Cook” 
lends any countenance to this view. On the other hand. Captain P. P. King 
seems to be the only author who has anything definite to say about the Journal, 
and this apparently from personal knowledge. In his remarks upon Sting-ray 
Bay as the earlier name of Botany Bay, Captain King says — “ It is so called in 
charts of the “ Endeavour’s ” voyage, in the Hydrographical Office at the 
* The 1st edition owes its principal value to Solander. 
tCoriesp. : Linnseus, ii. 1-3. 
t I vTote to the librarian of the Royal University Library of Upsala, who says that “ So-ander 
went early to England and did not publish anything in Sweden.” 
§ See p. lo. 
