46 
Excyclopedie, the claffical fyftem of Tourne- 
fort was either unknown or little appre- 
ciated in that country; and he knows, 
almoft to a certainty, that fo late as the 
year 1780, not ten perfons there were 
acquainted with the beautiful and unri- 
valied method of Juffieu. A city, like 
Naples, which ranks the third in. Europe 
for population and wealth, is condemned 
to be without a public botanic garden! 
And to have done with this difeuftng pié 
ture, let us only {nbjoin that no perfon 
ever told his Sicilian majefty that, in his 
capacity of a powerful monarch, he is 
not allcwed to have, in his, royal domi- 
nions, any thing like what his anceftors 
already poficfied, in the mere capacity of 
Roman princes the celebrated Hertus 
Farnefianus ! 
It is no wonder that, in the circum- 
fiances of this national blindnefs, and of 
the predominant fpirit of the age, Mr. 
Cirillo fhould obtain the chair of botany, 
i1 the univerfity of Naples, when he was 
{carcely 30 yeais old; and if we were to 
judge of his ideas at that time, by his 
fubfequent performances, we fhould think 
that he already intended to prefent the 
public with feveral performances in the 
different branches of his profeffion. In 
the year 1761, (if we recolleét rightly) 
he publifhed his fir work, Introduétio ad 
Botanicam, ina {mall volume in quarto. 
The book was in itfelf of no great confe- 
quence, nor perhaps could it bear any 
weight in the European fcale. Owing, 
however, to the fame circumftances, it 
was received with applaufe by his country- 
men, and we incline-to think that it really 
proved of confiderable benefit to his ftu- 
dents, and to the generality of young peo- 
ple of his own nation. 
Many obftacles arifing from the practice 
of medicine prevented Mr. Cirillo from 
indulging 10 his botanical purfui's, for 
the fubfequent twenty years of his life. 
Having the advantage of {peaking the 
Englifh language tclerably well, he was 
the exclufive phyfician to all the indivi- 
duals of the nobility aud gentry of Great 
Britain who occafionally refided in Naples. 
He was introduced, in this capacity, to 
Lady Walpole, who having no prefpeé&t 
of {oon recovering her health in Naples, 
and being anxious to return to her native 
country, engaged Mr. Cirillo to attend 
her, in her journey to England. The Jat- 
ter availed himielf of the opportunity to 
live for fome time in London, to improve 
ftill more in the medical fcience, and to 
‘get acquainted with fume of the eminent 
eharacier of that tuna, He regularly 
Memoirs of Mr. Cirillo. 
[Aug. 1, 
attended the leétures of the late celebrated 
Dr. Hunter, of whom he conftantly {poke, 
in the rema:nder of his life, with the deepeft 
fentiments of admiration, honour, and gra- 
titude. It was during this journey (we 
fuppofe) that he was appointed a fellow 
of the Society of Natural Hiftory in Paris, 
and (if we are not miftaken,) of the Italian 
Society, at Verona. 
Not long after his return to Naples, 
Mr. Cirillo happened to have a difagreea- 
ble difcuflion with his colleagues in the 
univerity. In virtue of the bye-laws of 
that literary efiabithment, the profeffors 
are divided into primary and fecondary: a 
diitin€tion which is far from being merely 
honorific ; as, befides the corfiderable dif- 
ference in the falary, the primary profef- - 
fors alone enjoy the right of giving their 
votes for the admiffion cf the candidates 
to the vacant chairs. According to the 
fame bye-laws, no newly-eleéted profeffor 
is allowed a primary chair; a gradual 
afcent muft take place among the veterans, 
and the appoinded candidate is only to fill 
the laft inferior place which, in the ulti- 
mate refult of gradation, happens to be 
vacant. This practice caufed no incon- 
venience, as long as the univerfily con- 
tained only the old f{cttled faculties. But 
as, in proceis of time, fome new chaits 
(and botany among them) were eftablifhed 
in it, without a previous decifion to which. 
of the ancient faculties each of them 
fhould be aggregated ; it was obvious that 
the profeflors filling them would be ex- 
cluded from the benefit of a gradual afcent, 
and cenfequently doomed to be, in fome re- 
fpect, out of the ranks. Mr. Cirillo raifed 
the ftandard of rebellion againit this abfurd 
fy fiem : he vigoroufly aflei ted that the chair 
of botany fhould be aggregated to the 
medical faculty, and infifted that a fuperior © 
place, actually vacant in that depariment, 
fhould be filled by him, in the order of 
priority. He alfo eandidly declared that, 
in thefe exertions towards the abolition of 
the exifting abufe, he felt an additional 
impulfion frcm his owa perfonal concerns ; 
as it was neceffary for his fortune, faid he, 
that he fhould acquire the reputation of an 
able phyfician as he had already obtained 
the fame of a good botanift. ‘The oppo- 
fition made againft him on the occafion 
was fuch, that he was near giving in his 
refignation to the pniverfity. At jength 
he came off victorious, and was attuaily 
promoted to one of the higheft chairs in 
the medica] faculty. We have been ra- 
ther particular in relating thefe details, 
as they were neceflary to bring eur readers 
to believe that the defire of eftablifhing a 
; great 
