38 THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT. 
of their gratitude for his valuable discoveries—the result of patient and laborious research in 
Vegetable Physiology—science having been his guide.” In 1826 the Massachusetts Agricultural 
Society sent him a Large Silver Medal “as a tribute to an eminent physiologist and a benefactor 
to the new world;” and in 1830 the Swedish Academy of Agriculture awarded to Mr. Knight 
its “ Grand Silver Medal.” 
It must also be added, to show how widely his fame had extended, that he was made 
Honorary Member of many Societies not only in Great Britain, but also in Canada, and the United 
States, in France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Sweden, and Australia. 
It would be out of place here to dwell on the'more personal details of Mr. Knight’s life : of 
his marriage and long domestic happiness: of his residences at Mary Knoll, at Elton, and at 
Downton Castle; all three places near each other in the wild and beautiful hilly country on the 
borders of Shropshire and Herefordshire ; nor yet of that terrible grief of his life—the sudden death 
from accident of his only son at 32 years of age ; an affliction that clouded with sorrow his later 
years; since all these facts have all been so well told in the memoir already mentioned. 
Thomas Andrew Knight was a man of genius. His mind was original, clear and essentially 
practical. His manner was unassuming and reserved, but it concealed an ardent spirit and a warm 
and feeling heart. His studies were not the aimless and fruitless pursuits of a mere amateur ; they 
were serious undertakings prosecuted with remarkable patience, industry and perseverance. He 
was as unselfish as he was generous, and endowed with a chivalrous sense of honour and truth. 
Mr. Knight was no technical botanist, but he devoted himself to the practical study of Vegetable 
Physiology. The one object of his life was to be useful to his generation. The great series of 
observations he made, were published with perfect candour, and were thus put at the service of 
others However much the conclusions he drew from them have been called in question—and 
modern microscopic research has shewn many of his views to be untenable—the perfect 
truthfulness of his facts, has never been challenged. His practical papers have been the source from 
which Lindley, and many ether writers on scientific horticulture, have borrowed largely. Much that 
Knight taught is now interwoven in daily practice ; and many of his new varieties of fruit retain 
their excellence of character in the appreciation of the public. The great services he rendered to 
his country are not however to be measured so much by the actual work he did himself, as by the 
work he originated for others to follow up. His name will ever live in the annals of British 
Horticulture, for it certainly owes to him the beginning of its scientific character. 
“ Je me suis etonne souvent de notre indifference pour la memoire de ceux de nos ancetres qui nous ont apporte des 
arbres utiles dont les fruits et les ombrages font aujourd’hui nos delices. Les noms de ces bienfaiteurs sont pour la plupart, 
totallement inconnus; cependant leur bienfaits se perpetuent pour nous d’age en age.” 
Bemardin St. Pierre. “ Etudes de la Nature I Tome III£-270. 
u I am often surprised at our forgetfulness of those ancestors, who have given us the useful trees, whose fruits and 
shade delight us so much. The names of these benefactors are for the most part completely forgotten, though their good 
deeds live from generation to generation.” ( Translation.) 
Henry G. Bull, M.D. 
[The Woolhope Club is indebted now, as it has often been before, to the kindness of the editor of the Gardeneds 
Chronicle , for the excellent likeness of Mr. Knight which accompanies this paper.] 
