xii Obituary. — Henry Harold Welch Pearson . 
botanical exploration, the cultivation of indigenous plants, and experimental 
work. He dwelt on the neglect of the native plants and stated that more 
South African species are cultivated in European gardens than at the Cape. 
The Garden should include a National Herbarium, a Museum of Economic 
Botany, a Library, and Research laboratories. He emphasized the impor- 
tance of grasping the fundamental truth that the true springs of South 
African development are within and not oversea. The Garden should also 
be an * expression of the intellectual and artistic aspirations of the new nation 
whose duty it is to foster the study of the country which it occupies, to 
encourage a proper appreciation of the rare and beautiful with which nature 
has so lavishly endowed it In an article on a 4 State Botanic Garden 
while advocating the importance of economic questions, Pearson urged the 
importance of pure science : 4 problems which appear to be of merely 
academic interest to-day may be of unmeasured practical importance 
to-morrow.’ 
In reply to a request for a statement as to his share in the foundation 
of the Garden, Pearson wrote on March 18, 1914: 4 1 do not really think 
I can say what has been my share in the formation of these Gardens. 
I dare say they would not have been in existence just now but for my address 
to the South African Association in 1910. But since then a good many 
people have been prominent in the movement. . . . Having been fairly con- 
stantly in the fray for three years, I do not think I am well able to judge how 
much each of us contributed towards the result, and I fear that I should be 
more likely to exaggerate the importance of my own efforts than those of 
any one else.’ On April 16, 1912, he wrote : 4 1 have got the Botanic Garden 
movement going strong just now. We have [to send] a deputation to the 
Prime Minister and he asks for a minutely detailed scheme. The site I have 
chosen (and which the Committee has approved) is a fine estate, 321 acres 
in extent, belonging to the Government (a part of the Rhodes estate), and 
now for many years derelict and unused. For the purpose of a Botanic 
Garden it could hardly be better suited.’ 
On October 6, 1912, after referring to a projected expedition, he adds : 
* I am longing to get away for a time from this teaching grind, which is 
gradually wearing away my soul — this expression probably reflects but 
a passing mood. In any case, the top of the Karasberg cannot but be 
delightful.’ 
On May 22, 1913, he reported further progress with the Garden : 
4 I sent you a paper containing an account of the Botanic Garden debate 
[in the House of Assembly]. Since then Sir Lionel Phillips has kept 
things going, and to-day the end has been gained. . . . The success is 
entirely due to Phillips — a man of extraordinary energy and enthusiasm. . . . 
I am therefore to some extent identified with the scheme. A botanist 
must run it from the beginning if it is to be a success. At first it will be 
