by von Mohl some years before, but he had refrained from publishing his observations from over-cautiousness.
As a translator and editor Henfrey was responsible for the English edition of von Mohl's Principles of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Vegetable Cell, published in 1852, for two volumes of Reports on Botany in the Ray Society's publications, whilst he had a considerable share in Lankester's translation of Schleiden's famous Principles of Scientific Botany, 1847. In addition to these there were constant abstracts and critical reviews from his pen in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History—a journal of which he became botanical editor before the close of his life.
As a writer of text-books Henfrey was very prolific. First came his Outlines of Botany, 1847, followed by the Rudiments of Botany. Much more ambitious was his Elementary Course of Botany which became a standard text-book running through numerous editions after his death, under the editorship of the late Dr M. T. Masters. To these must be added, in conjunction with Griffith[1], the Micrographic Dictionary, a substantial volume dealing in innumerable special and general articles with the microscopic study of plants and animals. This work was no mere compilation, but embodied in its pages is a very large amount of independent observation. The illustrations covering nearly fifty plates were by Tuffen West, and reached a high degree of excellence. A well known botanist, a contributor to the present volume, has more than once assured me that it was to the Micrographic Dictionary that he owed his salvation!
Should anyone desire to get a vivid and accurate picture of the precise state of Botany in this country at the middle of the last century, he cannot do better than turn over the pages of The Botanical Gazette, a monthly journal of the progress of British botany, founded and conducted by Henfrey. It was about the size of our own New Phytologist, with which it had not a little in common. In one respect it differed; unlike the New Phytologist the Gazette was financially a failure and after carrying it on at his own expense for three years (1849—1851) Henfrey had to relinquish the undertaking.
- ↑ Not the William Griffith of the last chapter.
