ensitive nature, and that his manner was pleasing
and dignified appears from Darwin's brief mention of the interview. He
must have been almost morbidly modest, for Darwin wrote to Hooker (January
24th, 1864): "Remember my URGENT wish to be able to send the poor fellow a
word of praise from any one. I have had hard work to get him to allow me
to send the [Primula] paper to the Linn. Soc., even after it was written
out!" And this was after the obviously genuine appreciation of the paper
given in Darwin's letters. Sir George King writes:--
"He had taught himself a little Latin and a good deal of French, and he had
read a good deal of English literature. He was certainly one of the most
remarkable self-taught men I ever met, and I often regret that I did not
see more of him...Scott's manner was shy and modest almost to being
apologetic; and the condition of nervous tension in which he seemed to live
was indicated by frequent nervous gestures with his hands and by the
restless twisting of his long beard in which he continuously indulged. He
was grave and reserved; but when he became interested in any matter he
talked freely, although always deliberately, and he was always ready to
deafen his opinions with much spirit. He had, moreover, a considerable
sense of humour. What struck me most about Scott was the great acuteness
of his powers of observing natural phenomena, and especially of such as had
any bearing on variation, natural selection or hybridity. While most
attentive to the ordinary duties of the chief of a large garden, Scott
always continued to find leisure for private study, and especially for the
conduct of experiments in hybridization. For the latter his position in
the Calcutta garden afforded him many facilities.
After obtaining a post in the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, Scott continued to
work and to correspond with Darwin, but his work was hardly on a level with
the promise of his earlier years. According to the "Journal of Botany," he
was attacked by an affection of the spleen at Darjeeling, where he had been
sent to report on the coffee disease. He returned to Edinburgh in the
spring of 1880, and died in the June of that year.
At the time of his death many experiments were in hand, but his records of
these were too imperfect to admit of their being taken up and continued
after his death. In temper Scott was most gentle and loveable, and to his
friends he was loyal a