February 26. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
327 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
FEB. 26 —MARCH 3, 1852. 
Weather near London in 1851. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
Year. 
L)| D 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind.jRain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
It. & S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
26 Th 
Clothes Moth seen. 
30.326 — 30.212 
44—23 
N.E. 
_ 
55 a. 6 
31 a. 5 
morn. 
6 
13 16 
57 
27 F 
Ring Dove.heard. 
30.363 — 30.334 
45—30 
N.E. 
— 
53 
33 
0 22 
7 
13 
6 
58 
28|S 
Frogs spawn. 
30.343 —30.24S 
41 — 26 
N.E. 
— 
51 
35 
1 30 
3 
12 55 
59 
29 Sun 
III 
l Sunday in Lent. 
49 
37 
2 36 
9 
12 43 
60 
David. 
30.233 —30.135 
44—31 
N.W. 
— 
47 
39 
3m 39 
10 
12 31 
61 
2 Tu 
Chad. 
30.379 — 30.323 
43—25 
N.E. 
— 
45 
40 
4 36 
11 
12 19 
62 
3 W 
Ember Week. 
30.230 — 30.200 
44—24 
W. 
— 
42 
42 
5 25 
12 
12 
6 
63 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-five years, the average highest and lowest tempera¬ 
tures of these days are 48./° and 35.1° respectively. The greatest heat, tiO°, occurred on the 3rd in 1826 ; and the lowest cold, 21° on the 3rd 
in 1845. During the period 98 days were fine, and on 77 rain fell. 
The science of natural history appears to have engaged the 
attention of men of the most gifted minds of all ages. Among 
the heathen philosophers there were those who studied it, 
and probably drew from it some of their noblest thoughts. 
Solomon, whose knowledge was proverbial, “ spake of trees, 
from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop 
that springetli out of the \ya!l; he spake also of beasts and 
of fowl, and of creeping tilings and of fishes.” And our 
Saviour, when discoursing with his followers, advised them 
to consider the lilies of the field, that they might thereby 
learn to trust in God. We make known our thoughts to 
each other by writing them upon paper, but the Almighty 
stamps his in indelible characters upon creation. Matter, 
says an ingenious waiter, is mind precipitated, and it is true 
philosophy to study the divine mind through his works. 
This is the highest department of the science ; and he who, 
in the pursuit of natural history, keeps this main object in 
view, cannot fail to profit largely. 
Such was the aim of the individual whom we have selected 
for our present biographical sketch—D r. John Fotiiergii.l. 
He was horn at Carr End, in Yorkshire, in the year 1712, 
and received his early education at a school in Sedbury, in 
the same county. At the age of 10 he was articled to Dr. 
Bartlett, an apothecary at Bradford. Here his genius, 
guided by the sound Christian principles implanted by his 
parents, unfolded itself; he was naturally of a mild and 
amiable disposition, and fond of study; he read much and 
carefully, ami proceeded methodically, taking care to digest 
what lie acquired, so as to make it his own; by this means 
he laid in a stock of valuable information that was of great 
service to him in his subsequent career. His assiduity and 
close habit of observation advanced him in the estimation 
of his preceptor, and induced the latter to place under his 
immediate charge a large class of his patients, by which 
means he became rapidly and practically skilled in the exer¬ 
cise of medical science, whilst his courteous and obliging 
manners gained for him the respect of all, and particularly 
of the poor, by whom he was never afterwards forgotten. 
At the expiration of his apprenticeship he went to London, 
and became a pupil of Dr. Wilrnot, at St. Thomas’s 
Hospital, and subsequently graduated and took his degree 
at Edinburgh. The university chairs were then filled 
by Drs. Munro, Alston, Rutherford, Sinclair, and Rummer, 
whose lectures he diligently attended. Here he scrupu¬ 
lously avoided the frivolities and dissipation too often 
attendant on academic life, and diversified his pursuits by 
the cultivation of general knowledge, selecting the useful 
and the ornamental. From Edinburgh he travelled to 
Leyden, and other parts of the continent, to complete his 
studies, and in 1740 betook up his residence in Lombard- 
street, and commenced practice as a physician. Here he 
found the good name which he had acquired among his 
friends at Grantham of signal service; it was a means of 
introducing him to several patients, and laid the foundation 
of a lucrative practice. 
j Few men have more honourably and successfully main¬ 
tained a well-merited reputation, and he did this during a 
j period of about forty years. He regarded the practice of 
j medicine, not as a trade to get money by, but as a valuable 
! talent with which he was intrusted for the good of mankind, 
and felt it to be his duty to exercise the talent, whether he 
received fees or not. Wealth, which too often narrows the 
mind, enlarged his, and evidenced the Christian principles 
by which his conduct was regulated. The gratuitous medi¬ 
cal aid he bestowed on the poor was great, but it was viewed 
by him as a profitable part of his practice, for it yielded to 
his benevolent mind a satisfaction that wealth could not | 
purchase—his reward was in his work, and he felt the value 
of it. With those patients whose pride or modesty led them 
to conceal their poverty, he would (that a gift might not 
offend them) suggest their performance of some little ser¬ 
vice, for which he took care liberally to reward them—thus 
making it to appear that it was their own act, and not his 
bounty, that contributed to their relief. With others in 
necessitous circumstances, and whose feelings were not so 
sensitive, it was usual with him, when paying his last visit, 
under appearance of feeling the pulse, to slip into their 
hands a sum of money, or a bank-note; by this mode of 
assistance he is said, in one instance, to have conveyed T150. 
Ho had the heart to feel for, as well as the skill to alleviate, 
the numerous patients who came under his care. 
In a few years liis professional duties, added to his public 
and philanthropic engagements, so increased, that Dr. Fo- 
thergill began to desire some rest and recreation from the 
daily bustle of London life, and accordingly fixed upon a 
spot on the Surrey side of the Thames, which appeared to 
him to offer the advantages he sought. He agreed with the 
owner for the purchase, but when about to complete the 
contract, he was informed that the loss of the place would 
involve the tenant and his young family in probable ruin, 
upon which the doctor observed, “ that that couhl never afford 
gratification to him which entailed misery on another;" and 
he made the poor man a present of the intended purchase 
money, and abandoned the project. 
Shortly after this, in 1762, he bought an estate of 30 
acres, at Upton, near Rlaistow, about five miles from 
London, and here carried out with zeal his various plans of 
horticulture and floriculture. The grounds which lay round 
the mansion were planted with ornamental trees and shrubs, 
chiefly of American growth, and procured from a Mr. Grays, 
at Fulham, who was then largely introducing them. To 
these he added others from different parts of the globe, 
altogether to the number of near 3000. Within the garden, 
which was walled round, and contained about five acres, was 
a crescent-shaped piece of water, nearly dividing it into two 
parts ; here the doctor shewed that he had taste to plan and 
energy to execute, and few things are impossible to genius 
and diligence. A line of plant-houses was erected 260 feet 
long, leading from the house, and these soon blazed with 
the rare and beautiful plants of the tropics. Through the 
agency of his numerous friends and patients they increased 
daily; scientific men in our colonies, and the captains of 
vessels going abroad, were enlisted into bis service. To the 
latter he frequently offered considerable sums to procure 
for him plants which were then unknown in this country ; 
for instance, he promised £100 each to two captains to bring 
him a plant in vegetation of the true Winter’s Bark, Win- 
ierana aromatica, from Patagonia. He also joined with two 
or three of his friends, who had similar tastes to his own, 
in sending out a collector to Africa. He had an agent in 
China, and his early associates, Dr. Russell, of Aleppo, and 
Dr. Kerr, of Calcutta, aided him by their contributions. But 
his mind turned most to those vegetable productions which 
contributed to our Materia medico, or were otherwise useful. 
The tea, coffee, cotton, bamboo, nutmeg, clove, Mimosa 
japonica, or tree producing the Terra japonica, scammony, 
and a host of others, all flourished in his garden at Upton ; 
and ho not only studied those himself, but employed artists 
No. CLXXVIIL, Vox. VII. 
