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Brown (ROBERT a Scotch botanist)
ROBERT, a Scotch botanist, ceived his education at Marischal College, Aberdeen, and afterward studied medi- Aberdeen, and afterward studied medicine at Edinburgh. In 1800 he was appointed naturalist to Flinders' surveying expedition to Australia. He returned with nearly 4,000 species of plants, and was shortly after appointed librarian to the Linnæan Society. In 1810 he published the first volume of his great work, "Prodromus Floræ Novæ Hollandæ et Insulæ Van Diemen." He was the first English writer on botany who adopted the natural system of classification, which has since entirely superseded that of Linnæus. In 1814 he published a botanical appendix to Flinders' account of his voyage, and in 1828 "A Brief Account of Microscopical Observations on Observations the Particles Contained in the on the Particles Contained in the Pollen of Plants, and on the General ganic and Inorganic Bodies." He also wrote botanical appendices for the can exploration of Denham and Clapperton, and others. In 1810 he received the charge of the collections and library of Sir Joseph Banks. He transferred them in 1827 to the British Museum, and was appointed keeper of botany in that institution. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1811, D. C. L., Oxford, in 1832, a Foreign Associate of the French Academy of Sciences in 1833.
President of the Linnæan Society in 1849. He died in London, June 10, 1858. As a naturalist Brown occupied the very highest rank among men of science.