Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/37

Rh which would have arrested the progress of any person of less ardour and determination of character.

Mr. Joseph Sabine was educated in the University of Dublin, and devoted himself, from a very early period of life, to the study of botany, ornithology, and other branches of natural history, to the neglect of those professional studies which his friends designed him to pursue. One of his earliest labours was the formation of a col- lection of British birds of almost unrivalled extent and completeness. He became secretary to the Horticultural Society at the period of its first establishment; and though his connection with it was after- wards very abruptly and perhaps very harshly terminated, he must always be considered as the chief author of its successful and com- plete development. To the Horticultural Transactions he contri- buted 64 papers, the most important of which are those on the ge- nera Crocus, Dahlia, and Chrysanthemum; and he was also required to re-write the greatest part of the communications which were ad- dressed to the Society by gardeners and practical inen, which were rarely sent in a fit state for publication, but which frequently em bodied very important information on the various processes of hor- ticulture.

Mr. Sabine was likewise an active and valuable member of the Zoological Society, whose gardens are chiefly indebted to his taste and knowledge for the introduction and systematic arrangement of those splendid flowers and shrubs which have added so greatly to their beauty and interest.

Mr. Sabine held, for the greatest part of his life, the situation of Inspector-General of Taxes, and was called upon by his official du ties to make periodical visits to almost every part of the kingdom; he never omitted any opportunity which his various journies afforded him, of acquiring or of communicating practical knowledge of hor- ticulture and of botany; and few persons have contributed so much, by their personal exertions, to add to the decorations of the cottage and the park, to increase and improve the produce of our gardens, and thus greatly to extend the sphere of the innocent enjoyments and luxuries of all classes of society

The Rev. Dr. Joseph Hallett Batten was a native of Penzance in Cornwall, and was elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1801, after attaining very high academical honours. He was ap- pointed Classical Professor at the East India College at Hayleybury at the period of its first establishment, and became Principal of the college upon the retirement of Dr. Henley, a situation which he con- tinued to retain until within a month of his death. He was a man of cultivated taste and of very extensive attainments, both in theo- logy and general literature; and in every way worthy, by his intel- lectual powers and character, of presiding over an establishment which has been so justly distinguished by the very eminent men who have been, and now are, connected with it.

Dr. John Johnstone was the sixth son of the celebrated Dr. James Johnstone of Worcester, and received his education at Merton College, Oxford. He was for upwards of forty years a very distin-