46 
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE HERBARIUM. 
The Rev. W. Hincks was born at Cork, 1794, anc ^ ^ ie left York 
in 1839 to take up his duties as Professor of Natural History, 
Queen’s College, Cork. From the latter place he went to Toronto 
(1854), where he niade important contributions to Canadian botany. 
He died in Toronto, September, 1871. 
Oswald Allen Moore was appointed in 1840 as honorary 
curator. He devoted much time and energy to the gardens, and 
his lectures on botany were much appreciated. Mr. Moore was a 
grandson of Oswald Allen, a well-known Surgeon in York, and in 
1841 was one of the successful candidates for the office of Surgeon 
at the York Dispensary. He died in 1862. 
William Matterson, M.D., succeeded Mr. Moore in 1862 as 
honorary curator, and the cultivation of ornamental plants in the 
gardens interested him more than the dried specimens in the 
herbarium. He was born in 1815, and died April 23, 1890. 
The following extract from the Yorkshire Herald, April 24th, 1890, 
records “that York has lost a loyal and honourable citizen, and 
many of its inhabitants have lost a generous and steadfast friend.” 
Henry J. Wilkinson, the present honorary curator, was 
appointed by the Council in 1892. 
The specimens in the herbarium required careful examination 
and attention, and the Council provided a cabinet in the Keeper’s 
room in which to place them. The work of arranging the three 
thousand specimens which Mr. Hincks left (in 1839) was at once 
commenced, and it may be of interest to the members of the society 
to know that these specimens have been mounted and labelled, 
and are now (1906) in excellent preservation. 
HERBARIUM CATALOGUE. In this catalogue a con¬ 
secutive number is attached to the name of the plant, and a record 
made, denoting the locality, date, and name of collector, and 
indicating the name of the donor. 
The following works have been used for the nomenclature and 
distribution of plants :— 
“ The Student’s Flora of the British Islands,” by Sir J. D. 
Hooker, 3rd Edition, 1884. 
“ Topographical Botany,” by H. C. Watson, 2nd Edit., 1883. 
“ The London Catalogue of British Plants,” 8th Edition (18S6- 
90) and 9th Edition, 1895. 
