THE PHILIPPINE 
Journal of Science ' 
C. Botany 
VOL. IX JUNE, 1914 No. 3 
CHARLES BUDD ROBINSON, Jr . 1 
By E. D. Merrill 
The devotees to the study of natural history can be numbered 
by thousands and tens of thousands, but in this day and age the 
thought of the possibility of violent death, in the pursuit of field 
work, comes to practically none of them. On June 17, 1913, Dr. 
C. B. Robinson left Manila for Singapore, en route to Java and 
Amboina, for the purpose of making a botanical exploration of 
the Island of Amboina. Among his many friends and associates 
in Manila, no one considered for a moment the question of 
personal danger in the undertaking, from the fact that Amboina 
was thoroughly known, entirely peaceful, for centuries under 
the control of the Portuguese and the Dutch, and was and is still 
thoroughly safe, so far as any country can be so considered. 
The news of the murder of Doctor Robinson, which flashed over 
the wires on the 22d of December, came as a distinct shock to 
all who had been in any way associated with him and to the 
scientific world at large. 
Charles Budd Robinson, jr., was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, 
October 26, 1871, and at the time of his death, December 5, 1913, 
was somewhat over 42 years of age. His early education was 
obtained in the public schools of Pictou and at Pictou Academy. 
In 1887 and again in 1889 he won bursaries at Dalhousie Univer- 
sity, Halifax, and received his master’s degree from this univer- 
sity in the year 1891. In 1897-98 he was a student at Cambridge 
University, and during the following year was a fellow of Christ’s 
1 Abstract of an address given at a memorial meeting of the Science 
Club at the Bureau of Science, February 21, 1914. 
126079 191 
