Vol. IV, No. 8.] BULLETIN OF THE ToRREY BotanicaLCus. [New York, Aug,, 1873. 
words of the surviving associate. In an address before the Ameri- 
can Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which Dr. Torrey was a 
member, Dr. Gray, now its President, said: 
“Early in his career Dr. Torrey had resolved to undertake a 
- general Flora of North America, or at least of the United States, 
arranged upon the natural system, and had asked Mr, Nuttall 
to join him, who, however, did not consent. At that time, when 
little was known of the regions west of the valley of the Mississip- 
pi, the ground to be covered and the materials at hand were of 
comparatively moderate compass; and in aid of the northern part 
of it, Sir William Hooker’s Flora of British America—founded 
upon the rich collections of the Arctic explorers, of the Hudson’s 
Bay Company’s intelligent officers, and of such hardy and enter- 
prising pioneers as Drummond and Douglas,—was already in prog- 
ress. At the actual inception of the enterprise, the botany of 
- Eastern Texas was opened by Drummond’s collections, as well as 
that of the coast of California by those of Douglas, and afterward 
those of Nuttall. As they clearly belonged to our own phyto- 
geographical province, Texas and California were accordingly 
annexed botanically, before they became so politically. ; 
“ While the field of botanical operations was thus enlarging, the 
time which could be devoted to it was restricted. In addition to 
his chair in the Medical College, Dr. Torrey had felt obliged to 
accept a similar one at Princeton College, and to all was now 
added, as we have seen, the onerous post of State Botanist. Tt was 
in the year 1836 or 1837 that he invited the writer of this notice— 
then pursuing botanical studies under his auspices and direction— 
to become his associate in the Flora of North America. Jn July 
and in October, 1838, the first two parts, making half of the first 
volume, were published. The great need of a full study of the 
sources and originals of the earlier-published species was now ap- 
parent; so, during the following year, his associate occupied him- 
self with this work inthe principal herbaria of Europe. The 
remaining half of the first volume appeared in June, 1840. | The , 
first part of the second volume followed in 1841; the second in the 
Spring of 1842; and in February, 1843, camé the third and last ; 
for Dr, Torrey’s associate was also immersed in professorial duties 
and in the consequent preparation of the works and collections 
which were necessary for their prosecution. 
“From that time to the present the scientific exploration of the 
vast interior of the continent has been actively carried on, and in 
consequence new plants have poured in year by year mm such 
numbers as to overtask the powers of the few working botanists of 
the country, nearly all of them weighted with professional engage- 
ments, The most they could do has been to put collections into 
order in special reports, revise here and there a family or a genus 
monographically, and incorporate new materials into older parts of 
the fabric, or rough-hew them for portions of the edifice yet to 
constructed. In all this Dr. Torrey took a prominent part, down 
almost to the last days.of his life.” gir ig 6) 
