THE MEDICO - BOTANICAL SOCIETY AND THE EX - DIRECTOR.
MR. nom. and the Medico-Botanical Society! there is nausea in the words—a plague on both their houses; quackery andfoolery have pos7 sessed them entirely. Mr. FROST will not suffer himself to be quietly dismissed. He seems to hold that he himself is the Society. The members, on the other hand; appear to consider themselves as constituent and essential to it. The dispute is without an object, and their wiser course will be to dissolve ; in which case, they may rest assured, science will lose nothing by the demise of an association founded and conducted as theirs has been. The sooner it is broken up and forgotten, the more creditable to all parties concerned. At the meeting held by Mr. FROST at the Crown and Anchor, lie delivered himself of this whimsically characteristic remark :— " He must congratulate the Society upon its ejection of Mr. Brown ; for although he was the best botanist in Europe, and had been addressed by Hum- boldt as ' Gloria Britanniarum,' he was an unworthy member of the Botanical Society."
The best botanist in Europe was an unworthy member of the Bo- tanical Society ! His science was doubtless his disqualification. Had he been a booby noble, he would have been a perfectly fit person, but preeminence in botany was no sufficient ground of pretension to a place in the Medico-Botanical Society. At the opposition meeting, Mr. FROST'S method of selecting and making members is stated, and the narrative can hardly fail to amuse. It will be seen, that as the best botanist was unworthy of the asso- ciation, so no botanist was eligible to the Presidency.
" Mr. Frost applied to his RoyalHighness the Duke of Cumberland to accept the office of President of this Society. In reply, his Royal Highness said, that though feeling a warm interest in the promotion of science, yet, as he was not a scientific man, lie did not conceive himself a fit person to be put in nomination for the office of President; and that, besides, the pressure of other business did not leave him sufficient time to devote to the business of the Society. To this Mr. Frost replied, that it would not at all encroach upon the time of his Royal Highness; that all he would have to do would be to sign a few papers once a year, and appoint Vice-Presidents; for that he (Mr. F.) would take all the business off his hands [a laugh]. Still that illustrious personage was unwilling to undertake the duties of that office which, by your favour, I now unworthily hold. Mr. Frost was still nothing daunted; he addressed to his Royal Highness a long letter of four folio pages, pressing upon his attention every topic which could induce him to consent. He as- sured his Royal Highness that it was the wish of all the members that he should be offered the Presidency, and inclosed a resolution, under the seal of the Society, to that effect; and added, that the late Duke of York had filled the office of President. At length the Royal Duke began. to think that it would be ungracious to persist in his refusal, and he was induced to give a reluctant consent. Thereupon, Mr. Frost waits on him with three papers, 'and obtains his signature to them—one accepting the office of President, another appointing him (Mr. Frost) a Vice-President, in conjunction with others, who were well known to be men not likely to attend. Thus the Into Director expected to be able always to fill the chair, and by that and other means render himself the perpetual Dictator of the Society. This was fol- lowed by an application to his Majesty for his approval of the acceptance of this office by his Royal Brother."
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