JOHNSTON; GEORGE, a distinguished naturalist. He was born in 179S, and having been destined for the medical profession, he was apprenticed to the celebrated Dr. Abercrombie of Edinburgh. Having gone through tho usnal medical training, ho graduated in Edinburgh in 1819. Ile subsequently settled as a general practitioner at Berwick upon-Tweed. At Edinburgh lie bad acquired a taste for natural history, which he diligently cultivated through the remainder of hie life. It is not often that a man so thoroughly and so largely employed in a laborious profession has occupied so prominent a position as an observer and writer as Dr. Johnston. At the time that he commenced his career at Berwick-upon-Tweed little was known of the lower forms of animal life to which lie so successfully devoted his attention. His History of British Zoophytes,' and his 'History of British Sponges and Lithophytes, published in 1838 and 1842, were amongst tho first syetematio works that were devoted to the classes of animals they describe. They not only included the descriptions of a large number of new species of these animals, but contained a great amount of matter altogether new to the British reader. It is true the habits of these creatures were not such as to command the same amount of attention as these described by White of Selhorne, but In their relation to the general study of scientific natural history they take a position second to none that have been published during tho present century. From the time of his first residence in Berwick he was an active contributor to the various natural history journals and the Transactions of natural history societies. Thus we find him pre paring for his great work on Zoophytes iu his 'Descriptive Catalogue of the recent Zoophytes found on the Coast of Durham,' in the second volume of the Transactions of the Natural History Society of New castle-upou-Tyne,' also in his 'Catalogue of the Zoophytes of Berwick shire,' in the ' Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club.' Of this club he was one of the founders, and an active member to the last.
Another class of animals almost as little known when be first began to work at them as the Zoophytes, were the dandifies. His papers ou ' British and Irish Annelides, with numerous notices of individual forms scattered through the pages of the 'Magazine of Zoology and Botany' and the 'Annals of Natural History,' attest the value of his labours in this department of zoology. At the time of his death he was occupied on a distinct work devoted to the description and illustration of the British Annelides.
From time to time all the forms of Invertebrate life engaged his attention, and although much greater attention had been paid to the Whom than to the other classes, his contributions to the natural history of these animals constitute some of his most valuable labours. His papers on the Molluscs; were numerous. The result of his study and observations on this class of animals was given in a large work entitled 'An Introduction to Conchology, or Elements of the Natural History of Molluscous Animals,' published in 1850. Dr. Johnston did not confine his attention to the Invertebrate animals : he loved the sea-side, and whatever the waves of the ocean brought to the shore he studied with diligence. Thus many of his papers embrace descriptions of fisb—Cetacca, and ether inhabitants of the set. Nor did he limit himself to the study of the animal kingdom. In his constant journeys in his laborious practice no plant of the district escaped his is shown in his interesting work entitled 'Botany of the Eastern Borders.' It was his observant eye that first detected the new water-weed (Anacharist alainastrum) in the lake at Dunce Castle in 1838, and again in the waters of the Whiteader in 1841. Few men have lived with higher claims to the name of a naturalist, and few have contributed more largely to the literature of the natural history of Great Britain. He took great interest in the spread of natural history literature, and was one of the founders of the Ray Society for the publication of works on natural history, and was one of the secretaries of the society till his death. He was a man of the most genial and kindly disposition, and greatly beloved in the circle of naturalists by whom he was surrounded, and whom he often met in the Naturalists' field club he had established. He was well read in the literature of natural history, and nothing delighted him more than imparting his copious stores of information to others. His correspondence was extensive, and many a living naturalist is indebted to him for encouragement in the prosecution of his earliest labours. In the latter part of his life he was not spared those trials which come upon the learned as well as the unlearned, and these acting upon a susceptible mind probably hastened the attack under which he sunk. He was seized with paralysis, and died on the 3rd of July 1855.