THE BANKSIAN BOTANIST-LIBEARIAES. 
121 
Speaking of the “ amazing number of 4,200 species of plants belonging to all 
•orders,"’ dealt with in the •‘Prodromus,” the unaided work of one botanist, he re- 
marks “ This is a feat unexampled in the history of botanical science.” . . . . 
It established his reputation as the possessor of a greater grasp of scientific 
botany than any predecessor or contemporary, and it has been called in Germany 
his “ Opus aureum.” 
Humboldt gave him the title “ Botanicorum facile princeps.” Asa 
Gray* * * § says of him : — 
. . . . perhaps no naturalist ever taught so much in writing so little, or 
made so few statements that had to be recalled, or even recast; and of no one 
can there be a stronger regret that he did not publish more. 
His work was at first that of a descriptive botanist, but this very soon brought 
him face to face with problems that involved the most difficult questions in the 
science. In the endeavour to determine the relations of the little-known and 
very peculiar .Australian flora, he found it necessary to choose whether to accept 
the convenient artificial system of classification devised by Linnaeus, and which 
held almost unquestioned sway in Britain, or to seek to discover the natural 
affinities of the plants, and to base the classification upon these. To those trained 
in methods and in the results of tliscoveries largely due to his genius it is scarcely 
possible to realise the difficulties that he had to overcome. He recognised that 
to ascertain relationships the structure and development of plants must be known 
to an extent very far beyond that yet reached. The.se researches demanded 
new methods, and the instruments alone available were very defective when 
compared with the necessaries of every laboratory of the present daj'. But 
Brown overcame all difficulties, and, with instruments such that we can but 
marvel at the work done with them, he opened up new lines of research in structure, 
in development, and in functions of plants, and threw light on many points that 
had been darkness before he touched them, while he showed the way for others 
to advance, and may be said to have given form to many parts of the science. 
He was naturalist in the broad sense when attached to the “ Investi- 
gator,” and in other .Vustralian e.xplorations, but his botanical workt 
eclipsed that done by him in zoology and geology. His letters and 
notes bear frequent testimony to his industry in regard to zoological 
observations and collections. Many of his non-botanical collections 
met with the fate that Fletcher^ has shown fell to the lot of most of 
the early zoological specimens. Some of his birds were described in 
an unfinished work.S but probably most of his specimens are now 
beyond the reach of identification. 
As regards his personal characteristics, one record runs : — 
Those who knew him as a man will bear unanimou.s testimony to the unvarying 
simplicity, truthfulness and benevolence of his character. With an appearance 
of shyness and reserve in the presence of strangers, he combined an open-hearted- 
ne.ss in relation to his familiar friends, and a fund of agreeable humour, never 
bitter or caustic, but always ap[>ropriate to the occasion, the outpourings of which 
it was delightful to witness. But what distinguished him above all other traits 
was the singular uprightness of his judgment, which rendered him on all difficult 
* " Collected Works." ii, -25.3. 
+ For an account of Brown's services to botany, see chapter 3 of Sach’s " History of Botany." 
(fiarnscy and Balfour's translation. Clarendon Press.) 
J Froc. Aunt. Assoc. Adv. Science. (1900.) 
§ Vigors and Horsfleld, Trans. Linn. Soc., xv. 
