si 
Vol. V& No., 6.] Bauvetin oF THE Toracy Boranicat Cus. [New York, June, 1874. 
§ 92. Charles Frederick Meisner —as the announcement made by 
the bereaved members of his family inform us, died at Basle, on 
the second of May, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. 
For the details of the life of this excellent botanist and estimable 
man we must wait until the tributes to his memory arrive, which his 
associates in his native Switzerland and in thechiet centres of science 
in Europe are sure to offer, Our present information is scanty. 
Pritzel, in the new edition of his Thesaurus, usually records the date 
and place of birth of botanical authors, but they are omitted in the 
present instance, We believe, however, that he was a native of 
the Swiss Canton, in which his professional life was passed. The 
orthography of his name is somewhat ambiguous. In the title 
-pages of his works and in the signature to his letters, it is Meisner. 
In the family circular announcing his decease it is Mvissner. The 
interesting Melastomaceous genus dedicated to him by his friend 
and preceptor, De Candolle, is Meisneria. In the new Genera 
Plantarum of Bentham and Hooker, it takes the form of Meissneria. 
That he was a pupil of De Candolle, at Geneva, appears from the - 
preface to his earliest work, the Monograph of the Genus Polygo- 
num. This was published in the year 1826, and he had already 
taken his degree of Doctor in Medicine. Not long afterward he 
was called to the chair of Botany at Basle, which he had held for 
more than half a century. His largest and his main independent 
work is his Planturum Vaseularium Genera secundum Ordines . 
Naturales digesta, in two folio volumes, published between the 
years 1836 and 1843. In one volume the genera are tabulis diag- 
nosticis exposite ; the other volume is a commentary, with very 
copious references. His most important publications in systematic 
botany, however, were contributed to the periodicals of the day, 
such as the Linnea, and to the great works of his friends De Can- 
dolie and Von Martius, in which he was a most valued collaborator, _ 
For De Candolle’s Prodromus he elaborated his favorite order, Poly- 
gonacee (the Eri sgonew excepted), and the equally large orders 
Protacece, Thymeleucee, and Lauracee, as well as the small order 
Hernandiacee, For the Flora Braziliensis he worked up the same 
orders, also the Convolvulacee and the EHricacee. ith these — 
creditable and laborious productions his botanical career came to a — 
close, nearly adozen years ago, his héalth and powers having failed _ 
him. Yet in his declining years he was able to give attention to 
the very large and valuable herbarium which he had formed, and 
over which he lovingly lingered. As none of his children took to . 
botany, his herbarium naturally became a chief solicitude. He cor-_ 
responded with the writer of this notice and with Dr, Torrey upon 
tie subject, deploring the probable necessity of its being broken u 
and dispersed in detachments after his decease, in case it remain 
in Europe. His anxieties were promptly allayed, and his remaining 
_ years made happy, through the purchase of this important herba- 
rium, essentially upon the owner’s own terms, by a member of the 
Torrey Club, who generously added it to the Torrey Herbarium. ~ 
Dr. Torrey. lived to see a portion of this collection in its new home, 
and Prof, Meisner, a year later, had thé great satisfaction of kuow- 
