LINNAIAN SOCIETY.—The East India Company have presented to the Linmean
Society their magnificent Herbarium, containing the plants collected between long. 73° to 114° E. and lat. 32° N. to the equator, by Ki:mig, Roxburgh, Riittler, Russell, Klein, Hamilton, Heyne, Wight, Finlayson, and Wallich. It includes about 1,300 genera, more than 8,000 species ; and amounts, in duplicates, to at least 70,000 specimens,—the labours of half a century. For many years a large portion of these vegetable riches were stored on the shelves of the India House, without any- one sufficiently conversant in Indian botany to arrange and render them subservient to the cause of science. On the arrival in this country of Dr. %Rich, the distin- guished superintendent of the Company's Garden at Calcutta, in the year 1828,—who brought with him an immense accession to the Her- barium from various parts of India, especially Nipal and the Burmese Empire,—the Court of Directors instructed him to make a catalogue of the aggregate collection, and to distribute duplicate specimens to the more eminent Societies and naturalists throughout Europe and Ame- rica. This immense labour has occupied Dr. 1Vallich for the last four years ; and it is the chief selection from these various Herbaria, destined for the museum of the India House, which the Court of Directors have, with princely munificence, presented to the Linnman Society. The liberality of the East India Company has been duly appreciated throughout the wide circle of science. It has been ac- knowledged by letters and addresses from the different Societies and individuals honoured by their patronage ; and this last act of their bounty will endear them still more to the promoters of botany, by placing the treasures they possessed along with those of Linnaeus and Smith. The Linmean Society purchased, two years ago, at an ex- pense of 3,0001., the collections of Linnxus and of the late excellent Sir J. E. Smith ; and since that the Herbarium of the Society has been further enriched by the treasures of the East, it forms col- lectively one of the most interesting and important in Europe. The East India Company have set an example of a wise and liberal policy, which will be followed throughout the world, not only by Societies, but by those enterprising individuals who have, to their own honour, made large collections of the objects of natural history; and it is it source of national congratulation, that at this moment the naturalists of Europe feel indebted to this country for the most extensive con- tribution that was ever made to their botanical collections. We owe this general feeling of respect towards us to the enlightened conduct of the Court of Directors, who have done more to diffuse a knowledge of botany than was ever done by any government or association of persons on the globe. A deputation from the Council of the Linnwan So- ciety, beaded by the President, Lord Stanley, waited on the Chairman of the Court of Directors, on the 26th instant, with an address expres- sive of the high sense the Society entertains of the honour conferred upon it by the liberality of the East India Company.—From the Phi. losophieal Magazine. .. •
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