lOO 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 
inflexibility of Dryander is referred to in an interesting letter to Sir 
J. E. Smith, infra, p. 113. 
Brown was not given to paying compliments; this is what he said 
on one occasion : 
To the invaluable herbarium and library of Sir Joseph Banks I have on this, 
as on all other occasions, enjoyed the freest access; an advantage which has 
been greatly enhanced by the opportunity it has given me of consulting my friend 
Mr. Dryander, both as to the formation of genera and respecting synonyms, on 
which points his sound judgment and unrivalled erudition so well enable him to 
decide. * * * § 
3. Brown. 
Robert Brown was the third and unquestionably the greatest of the 
Banksian botanist-librarians. 
He was born on December 21st, 1773, the son of a Scottish Episcop- 
alian minister (James Brown)| at Montrose, at a time when legal 
restrictions pressed severely on the Episcopalians in Scotland. MTien 
only eighteen he communicated to the Natural History Society of 
Edinburgh a list of additions made to the “Flora Scotica” of Lightfoot, 
accompanied by critical observations, j 
He went to Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1787, and his name 
appears in the register of students until 1790, in which year he went 
to Edinburgh to enter on the study of medicine. The early records 
of Marischal College throw little light on the progress of students in 
their classes, so that we find no information in them as to his progress ; 
but from other sources it is known that he early showed a marked 
love of science, and that while still engaged in his medical studies he 
made botanical excursions into the highlands of Aberdeenshire, For- 
farshire, and Perthshire, which yielded plants not previously known 
as British. From an early period he habitually examined and care- 
fully recorded the distinctive features of the new forms he met with, 
a method of great value to him in his later researches. (For further 
details of these early years, see Carruthers loc. cit.) In 1795 he entered 
the army, and accompanied the regiment of Fife Fencibles to Ireland, 
with the rank of Ensign and Assistant Surgeon. While in Ireland he 
continued his botanical studies, and occasional visits to London enabled 
him to make the personal acquaintance of others of similar tastes. 
Among these were Sir Joseph Banks, who formed a high opinion of 
his ability.§ 
The British Government at the close of the eighteenth century 
decided to make coastal surveys of New Holland, and also investiga- 
tions into the natural history of such parts of the country as could be 
• Op. cit.^ ii, 31. 
t For an interesting account of Brown’s remarkable ecclesiastical experiences see Carruthers 
i n Journ. Bot.^ 1896, p. 27. 
X Hooker’s Eulogy, in Proc. Linn. 5oc., 1887-8, pp. 54-67. 
§ See Prof. Trail in Gard. Chron., March 16th, 1901, p. 177. 
