an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society. Between 1786 and 1788 Smith made the grand tour through the Netherlands, France, Italy and Switzerland visiting botanists, picture galleries and herbaria. He founded the Linnean Society of London in 1788, becoming its first President, a post he held until his death. Smith spent the remaining thirty years of his life writing books and articles on botany. He contributed 3,348 botanical articles to Rees's Cyclopædia between 1808 and 1819, following the death of Rev. William Wood, who had started the work. In addition, he contributed 57 biographies of botanists. He also contributed seven volumes to the only major botanical publication of the eighteenth century
