12 EAELY DAYS 
acquired as a natural consequence of the surroundings, 
and without effort entailed by study in later years. Sir 
Joseph once said to me : * You young men do not know 
your plants.' Certainly we did not in the way that he 
knew them. Few have ever known, few ever will know 
them in that way. Such knowledge comes only from 
growing up with them from earhest childhood, as he did. 
The influence of Sir William's teaching, with its personal 
stimulus, its wealth of illustration by specimens and diagrams, 
its fostering of accurate observation and its botanising excur- 
sions, is well described in his son's own words taken from the 
address delivered at the opening of the Botanical Laboratory 
in Glasgow 1901. We see the boy sharing in these excursions 
long before he was a regular student at his father's lectures. 
It was a bold venture for my Father to undertake so re- 
sponsible an office, for he had never lectured, or even attended 
a course of lectm'es. But he had resources that enabled him 
to overcome all obstacles — familiarity with his subject, 
devotion to its study, energy, eloquence, a commanding 
presence with m'banity of manners, and, above all, the 
art of making the student love the science he taught. But 
his energies were not confined to lectm^ing. Feehng the 
want of a manual on the Scottish Flora to put into the 
students' hands, he published, in time for use in his second 
com'se, the ' Flora Scotica,' in two volumes, the outcome 
mainly of his earlier Scottish expeditions ; and in readiness 
for his third com'se he produced, at his own cost, and from 
drawings made by himself, an oblong folio of twenty-one 
lithographed plates, mth descriptions of the organs, etc., 
of upwards of three hundred plants. A copy of this work 
was placed before every two students in the class during 
that portion of the day's lectm'e which was devoted to the 
analysis of plants, obtained from the garden and placed 
in the students' hands for this purpose. I should mention 
that every student was expected to provide himself with 
a pocket lens, knife, and pair of forceps, aided with which 
he followed the demonstrations of the professor. I think 
it may fairly be said that these early lectures heralded the 
dawn of scientific botanical teaching in Glasgow University. 
Another claim upon the professor's energies was due 
