Stanisław Batys Gorski’s botanical research in the Białowieża Primeval Forest during the 1820s

The first scientific description of the flora of the Białowieża Primeval Forest (Puszcza Białowieska) was published in 1829 in Stanisław Batys Gorski’s paper “O roślinach żubrom upodobanych, jakoteż innych w puszczy Białowiezkiey [About preferred plants of the European bison and other plants from the Białowieża Primeval Forest]”. This publication comprised the first critical evaluation of the plant species present in the forest based on several field surveys during 1822, 1823 and 1826 by Gorski, and it dismissed the popular hypothesis that the European bison ( Bison bonasus) survived there because some of its preferred forage plants were exclusively found in the forest. To assess the importance of Gorski’s contribution to studies on the flora of the Białowieża Primeval Forest, we critically evaluated all his materials on the topic, including manuscripts, plant specimens collected by Gorski now preserved in Vilnius University Herbarium and his published works, and also traced all mentions and references to Gorski’s studies in later botanical works devoted to the Białowieża Primeval Forest.

The unusual printing and publishing arrangements of Hugh Miller (1802–1856)

John Johnstone was an Edinburgh printer and publisher, from 1849 in partnership with Robert Hunter. In 1839, Johnstone and the printer Robert Fairly established a separate firm, Johnstone & Fairly, to publish the Witness, a newspaper edited by the geologist Hugh Miller. The firm became Miller & Fairly in 1844 when Miller bought out Johnstone's share. The editorial office was in the High Street. The steam-powered printing office was in Horse Wynd, in the former gatehouse of Minto House and later also in the former house of the physician Dr John Clerk of Listonshiels. Johnstone's own publishing business specialized in religious and ecclesiastical works. Nevertheless, Miller chose that firm to publish The Old Red Sandstone (1841), and later books, until the firm ran into financial trouble in the mid-1850s, and Miller placed The testimony of the rocks (1857) with Shepherd & Elliot of Edinburgh. Miller's original choice of Johnstone was perhaps to protect the reputation of Miller and the Witness when geology was often regarded with suspicion on religious grounds. It may also have given Miller more creative freedom. Miller & Fairly printed many, but not all, impressions of Miller's books for Johnstone and other publishers. This was to Miller's, and Miller's heirs', presumed double profit as copyright holder and printer, with implications for his relationships with publishers. Miller's dual role may help explain his reluctance to resign the newspaper's editorship even at the cost of his health and life.