GEORGE BENTHAM, F.R.S. 
( With Portrait .) 
The following account of the life and labours of George 
Bentham is based on an obituary notice which I communi- 
cated to Nature (Vol. XXX, October 1884, p. 359). In 
reproducing it in the present form, I have enlarged it con- 
siderably, and further availed myself of four subsequent 
accounts, namely, of Mr. Thiselton-Dyer’s Eulogium, read 
before the Linnean Society (Proceedings, Sessions 1887-1889); 
of Prof. Gray’s Memorial, presented to the American Academy 
of Arts and Sciences (Journal, Vol. XXIX, February, 1885) ; 
of Prof. Oliver’s Obituary notice (Proc. Royal Society, 1885), 
and of Mr. Daydon Jackson’s notice (Proc. Linn. Soc., Session 
1884-5). The reminiscences of his very early life are taken 
from an autobiography which he commenced very shortly 
before his death, but which he was unable to continue. 
The life of George Bentham presents such variety, such 
startling changes of conditions, and a combination of so 
many natural and acquired mental powers of a high order, 
that it cannot be perused without the question arising, how 
far heredity and environments had influenced his career. 
Such being the case, I think no apology is needed for com- 
mencing this sketch with some account of his parentage. 
He was born on September 22, 1800, in the village of 
Stoke, near Portsmouth. His father, afterwards Sir Samuel 
Bentham, who was the son of a wealthy scrivener in the 
Minories, and the only brother of Jeremy Bentham the 
publicist, devoted himself as a youth to the study of Naval 
Architecture, and at the age of 22, at the suggestion of Lord 
Howe, went to Russia with the view of further instructing 
