Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists
History
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists
Botanists -- Great Britain -- Biography; Botany -- Great Britain -- History
"What a business it will be to settle the types of the families from
which the names must eventually be taken; this will never be done by
dried-plant botanists; but by examination of development, which I am
convinced will alone give the key."
As to Griffith's methods of work, we learn from a memorial notice
of him by Mr M'Clelland that whenever possible after the business
of the morning was finished the rest of the day was devoted "to the
examination and dissection of plants under the microscope, drawing and
describing all peculiarities presented." "Even on his death-bed his
microscope stood beside him with the unfinished drawings and papers
and dissections of plants on which he was engaged the day on which the
fatal symptoms of his disorder came on."
All his work shows the same characters of direct individual observation
and interpretation of the facts before him, repeated examination of
the same point, and almost a prodigality of labour in recording his
observations in drawings. At first under the influence of Robert
Brown, he used the simple microscope with triplet lenses, but later
he employed the compound microscope and in the year before his death
writes hopefully of ordering a first-rate microscope when he obtains
the arrears due to him from the Directors.
Griffith's high attainments were appreciated by the distinguished
circle of English botanists of his time with whom he corresponded. Mr
Solby, to whom he always sent home his papers for submission to the
Linnean Society; Robert Brown, to whose work he constantly recurs with
admiration, and whose judgment he trusted absolutely; Lindley; Sir
William Hooker, who looked forward to his being settled permanently in
charge of the Calcutta gardens, and Dr Wight may be named.
I may quote from a letter addressed to Griffith by von Martius of
Munich, since it couples his own opinion and that of Robert Brown. "He
(Brown) agrees with me in appreciating your spirited and enlightened
investigations, and I now more than ever look forward to you as his
successor--as the standard English botanist."
Only an outline of the nature of Griffith's scientific work with some
details on selected subjects can be attempted here. His published works
in the _Transactions_ of the Linnean Society and elsewhere, important
as they are, represent only a small fraction of his observations. But
the wisdom and liberality of the East India Company has put us in
possession of his unpublished notes and drawings (bequeathed with his
collections to the Company) in the posthumously published volumes of
_Notulae ad plantas Asiaticas_ with the accompanying sets of plates.
Though his papers were not ready or intended for publication in this
form and suffer from having had to be arranged by another hand,
they afford, together with his published work, a particularly good
picture of how the problems of morphology and classification presented
themselves to a keen investigator at this time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account