Inspired by Edward Stanley, future president of the Linnean Society, Hewett Watson developed a passion for botany. Following the failure of a career in the now discounted pseudo-science of phrenology, Watston changed path and took an interest in the geographical distribution of plants, perhaps influenced by the research of Alexander von Humboldt. His major work in the developing field of phytogeography was his 1832 survey Outlines of the Geographical Distribution of British Plants. He continued to revise and publish new editions, resulting in his landmark Cybele Britannica, a four-volume work, printed between 1847-59. Watson then began to supplement and summarise his data in the two-volume Topographical Botany of 1873-4. This second edition was published posthumously in 1883, completed by John Gilbert Baker (1834-1920) and William Williamson Newbould (1819-86).