DON, DAVID, was born at Forfar in Scotland, in 1800. His father was proprietor of a nursery and botanic garden in this place, and is well known as having been an acute practical botanist, and one who cultivated the botany of his native country with great success. When David was still a young man his father was appointed to the charge of the botanic garden at Edinburgh, aud the knowledge which David then possessed of botany attracted the notice of Mr. Patrick Neill, and other gentlemen connected with the garden, and they pro cured for him the means of attending ou some of the classes iu the university. His father however soon quitted Edinburgh, and again opened his garden in Forfar. David afterwards procured a situation in the establishment of Messrs. Dickson of Broughton, near Edinburgh, where he had the care of the finest collection of plants in Scotland. In 1819 be came to London, and was recommended to Mr. Lambert, who had at that time a large collection of plants. He was soon appointed by Mr. Lambert to be his librarian and curator, and lived entirely in his house.
One of his earliest publications was the description of a number of species of plants which were either entirely new, or had only been found in a few localities where they had been collected by his father and others in Scotland. It was entitled 'Descriptions of several Now or Rare Native Plants, found in Scotland chiefly by the late 3Ir. George Don of Forfar,' aud was published in vol. iii. of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh. He shortly after published in the ' Transactions of the Linnsean Society,' voL xiii. A Monograph of the genus Saxifrage ;' this attempt at describing the various species of the genus gained for him a reputation as around botanist. In 1822 the office of librarian to the Linnman Society became vacant, and he was appointed to that post. In this position he had great opportunities
of improving his knowledge of botany. The collections of plants from India in the Linnvean Museum turned his attention to that part of the world, and in 1825 he published descriptions of species of plants in Nepaul under the title Prodromus Morse Nepaleusis,' 12mo. Almost every volume of the Transactions of the Linnscau Society ' after his appointment as librarian contains papers by him on various depart ments of systematic botany.
Or the death of Professor Burnett, in 1836, he was appointed to the chair of botany at King's College, Loudon, a position which he held with great credit to himself and advantage to the institution, till his decease. His numerous papers descriptive of various new genera aud species, and on various points in the physiology of plants, which are contained in every volume of the Transactions of the Linuscan Society,' from vol. to vol. xviii. ; in the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh,' vols. iii.-v.; and in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,' vols. ii.-xix., are sufficient proof of his industry : and they have a real value. Don's knowledge of plants was most extensive, and his appreciatiou of species ready and exact. He was not however fully alive to the importance of studying plants in their morphological relations, and many of his papers are open to criticism on this ground. His constitution was robust and strong, but at the end of 1840 a malignant tumour appeared on his lip, which, although removed at first, speedily reappeared, and terminated his existence on tlie 8th of December of the same year.
(Proceedings of the Linniecin Society.—Don's Works.)