MEMOIR OF DR* LINDLEY* 
439 
Dr. Lindley’s first communication to the Botanical "Register was in August, 
1819, when he furnished the Editor with a long technical description of the 
structure of Maranta zebrina. The nest was in the following October, when the 
natural order Calycanthaceee was for the first time distinguished and defined. 
We believe this juvenile attempt was by some considered little less than an 
impertinence on the part of one who could not be supposed to know much of 
such high matters. It has, however, turned out that our author was right, for 
no one has ever in print expressed a doubt of the goodness of the order. Since 
that time he continued to contribute occasional articles to the Botanical 
Register until 1825, when he became sole Editor, on the retirement of Mr. 
Bellender Ker. 
Nor has the attention of Dr. Bindley been confined to the present Flora of our 
globe, for he has lent the aid of his great knowledge of the recent forms of plants 
in order to elucidate the character of that vegetation which has left its impressions 
in the strata of a former world. The results of his investigations have been 
given to the world in the Fossil Flora of Great Britain, which, in conjunction 
with Mr. Hutton, he commenced in 1833. 
Early in the present year Dr. Lindley presented to the public another work, 
called School Botany . The design of this book originated in the regulations of 
the new London University, which wisely require that the student shall be 
examined in ** the characters and differences of the principal natural classes and 
orders of plants belonging to the Flora of Europe, in the botanical classification 
of De Candolle.” In this work the principal natural orders are illustrated by 
genera and species, and the whole is arranged according to De Candolle’s system. 
In the preceding remarks we have followed the principal labours of Dr. Lindley 
as an author; we shall now advert to him in another department of labour—that 
of a public teacher. In 1829 he was appointed to the Chair of Botany in the 
London University, now “ University College.” At this time little attention 
had been paid to the study of Botany as a branch of education in London ; and 
although looked upon principally as a part of medical education, it did not as an 
especial subject enter into the curriculum of requirements of any of the bodies 
in London which examined candidates for practising the various branches of 
Medicine. When this appointment was made, the success of the chair was 
looked upon as doubtful, Botany having previously been only taught in connection 
with Materia Medica, and being as a science far from popular. However, 
Dr. Lindley commenced, with that energy which attends a man who is aware of 
the importance and interest of the subject he undertakes, and his efforts were 
soon crowned with success. There was a strong disposition manifested on the 
part of the students of Medicine to cultivate the science of Botany; and on the 
offering of prizes to those most proficient in Botany by the University and the 
