Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/237

Rh where he led a life of austere mortification and devotion, which, however, was soon terminated; for he died there about a year after, and his body was buried in the church of St. Mains, while his heart was carried to Douglas, to the resting-place of many of his ancestry. His death occurred about the sixty-first or sixty-second year of his age.

.—It seldom happens in the present day, when the path of knowledge is accompanied with the comforts and facilities of a railway, that the pursuit of science is closed with the honours of martyrdom. In this case, however, the subject of the present memoir forms a rare and mournful exception.

David Douglas was born at Scone, in Perthshire, in the year 1708, and was the son of a working mason. After having received a common education at the parish school of Kinnoul, he was, at an early period, placed as an apprentice in the garden of the Earl of Mansfield, at Scone Palace. In this occupation his favourite pursuit had full scope and development, so that he soon became remarkable in the neighbourhood for his love of reading during the winter, and his researches in quest of wild plants during the months of summer. Thus he continued till his twentieth year, when a still more favourable opportunity of improvement presented itself at Valleyfield, the seat of Sir Robert Preston, in whose garden, famous for its store of rich exotics, he became a workman; and the head gardener of the establishment, Mr. Stewart, having observed the ardour of his young assistant in the study of botany as a science, procured him access to Sir Robert Preston's rich botanical library. From Valleyfield, David Douglas removed to Glasgow, where he was employed as gardener in the Botanic Garden of the university; and here the valuable knowledge he had acquired was so highly estimated by Dr., afterwards Sir William Hooker, the professor of Botany at Glasgow, that he made him the companion of his professional explorations while collecting materials for his "Flora Scotica." In this way Douglas had ample opportunity of improving his knowledge of plants in the Western Highlands, over which these scientific tours extended, as well as recommending himself to the favourable notice of one who could well appreciate his acquirements. The result was, that Professor Hooker recommended his talented assistant as a botanical collector to the Horticultural Society of London, by whom he was sent in 1823 to the United States, for the purpose of enriching our home collection in botany with choice transatlantic specimens; and this he successfully accomplished, by bringing home before the close of the year many fine plants, as well as a valuable collection of fruit trees, by which the store of the society in the latter important production was materially augmented.

The zeal and ability which Douglas had shown on this occasion soon procured his employment in a wider field of enterprise. This was to explore the botanical resources of the country adjoining the Columbia River, and southwards towards California, and ascertain its multifarious productions. He left England for this purpose in July 1824, and as soon as the vessel touched the shore he commenced his operations. This was at Rio-de-Janeiro, where a large collection of rare orchidaceous plants and bulbs rewarded his labours. Among these bulbs was a new species of gesneria, hitherto unknown to the botanists of England, and which Mr. Sabine, the secretary of the Horticultural Society, named the G. Douglassii, in honour of its discoverer. So rich was the soil, and so plentiful the productions of this part of South America, that Douglas, who could here have increased his scientific treasures to an indefinite extent, was obliged to V.