HERMANN, PAUL, a celebrated botanist, was born at Halle, in Saxony, and practised physic in the island of Ceylon, and the Cape of Good Hope, after which, in 1679, he was chosen professor of botany at Leyden, and superintendent of the botanical garden. In the science of plants he obtained the highest reputation, and died in the year 1695. His first publication, in 1687, was a catalogue of plants in the university garden, which he had much enriched with plants from the East and West Indies. His method of botanical classification is contained in his Flora Lugduno-Batava Flores, published in 1690. His Paradisi Batavus was published after his decease by William Sherard, and contains many rare, with some entirely new species, delineated in a very elegant manner. The rest of Hermann's works are, Musci Indici Catalogus, continens varia exotica animalia, insecta, vegetabilia, mineralia; and Lapis Lydius Materiae Medicæ, in which last his new characters of plants are made use of to illustrate their medical properties. At his death he left behind him four hundred and fifty fine drawings, and a numerous collection of dried plants, which served as the basis of the Flora Ceylanica.
of Linnæus, and also a Catalogue of Plants of the Cape of Good Hope. Dr Hannes addressed to him a beautiful Latin ode, which is still preserved; but many of the treasures of his industrious life were strangely neglected, and allowed to be dispersed.