Robert Brown, whom Humboldt has designated as the "Prince of Botanists," was the second and only surviving son of the Rev. James Brown, Episcopalian Minister, of Montrose. Several generations of his maternal ancestors were, like his father, ministers of the Scottish Episcopalian Church, and from them he appears to have inherited a strong attachment to logical and metaphysical studies, the effects of which are so strikingly manifested in the philosophical character of his botanical investigations. At an early age he was sent to the grammar-school of his native town, and in 1787 entered at Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he immediately obtained a Ramsay Bursary in philosophy. About two years afterwards, on his father quitting Montrose to reside in Edinburgh, he was removed to the University of that city, in which he continued his studies for several years; but without taking a degree, although destined for the medical profession. In the year 1791, at the age of seventeen, Brown laid before the Natural History Society, of which he was a member, his earliest paper, which contained, together with critical notes and observations, an enumeration of such plants as had been discovered in North Britain subsequent to the publication of Lightfoot's "Flora Scotica." Although this paper was not intended for publication, it brought the young botanist into communication with Dr. Withering, and laid the foundation of a warm and intimate friendship between them. In the year 1795, soon after the embodiment of the Fifeshire Regiment of Fencible Infantry, Brown obtained in it the double commission of ensign and assistant surgeon, proceeding with the regiment to the north of Ireland, in various parts of which he was stationed until the summer of 1798, when he was detached to England on recruiting service. Fortunately for himself and for science, this service enabled him to pass some time in London, where his already established botanical reputation secured him a cordial reception from Sir Joseph Banks, of whose library and collections he availed himself to the utmost. In 1799 he returned to his regimental duties in Ireland, from which he was finally recalled, in December of the following year, by a letter from Sir Joseph Banks, proposing for his acceptance the post of naturalist in the expedition for surveying the coasts of New Holland, then fitting out under the command of Captain Flinders.