2 
Mr. Brown's Account oj a new Genus of Plants, 
“ It is impossible I can do justice to his memory by any, feeble 
encomiums I may pass on his character; he was in every thing 
what he should have been, devoted to science and the acquisition 
of knowledge, and aiming only at usefulness. 
“ I had hoped, instead of the melancholy event I have now 
to communicate, that we should have been able to send you an 
account of our many interesting discoveries from the hand of 
Dr. Arnold. At the period of his death he had not done much ; 
all w r as arrangement for extensive acquirement in every brancli 
of natural history. I shall go on with the collections as well as 
I can, and hereafter communicate w r ith you respecting them, and 
in the mean time content myself with giving you the best ac¬ 
count I can of the largest and most magnificent Flower which, as 
far as we know, has yet been described. Fortunately I have 
found part of a letter from poor Arnold to some unknown friend, 
written while he was on board ship, and a short time before his 
death, from which the following is an extract. 
“ After giving an account of our journey to Passummah, he 
thus proceeds: 
“ ‘ But here (at Pulo Lebbar on the Manna Piver, two days 
journey inland of Manna) I rejoice to tell you I happened to 
meet with what I consider as the greatest prodigy of the vege¬ 
table world. I had ventured some way from the part} r , w hen one 
of the Malay servants came running to me with wonder in his 
eyes, and said, “ Come with me, Sir, come ! a flower, very large, 
beautiful, wonderful! ” I immediately went wdth the man about 
a hundred yards in the jungle, and he pointed to a flower grow ing 
close to the ground under the bushes, which w as truly astonish¬ 
ing. My first impulse w r as to cut it up and carry it to the hut. 
I therefore seized the Malay's parang (a sort of instrument like 
a woodman's chopping-hook), and finding that it sprang from a 
small root which ran horizontally (about as large as two fingers, 
or 
