55 



grew on his hands, and, after ten years of preparation, collecting of 

 materials and teaching from the manuscript, the " Class Book of 

 Botany " was put into the hands of the printer. The work, being an 

 experiment, was not stereotyped, and only 1,200 copies were printed. 

 An unexpectedly great demand soon exhausted this edition. In pre- 

 paring for a new edition, the author passed the spring and summer of 

 1846 in the Western States (whither his parents had then removed), 

 botanizing on prairies and in barrens,in order to extend the limits of his 

 flora as far west as the Mississippi River. Having impaired his health 

 by close attention to his duties. Prof. Wood was advised by his_ phy- 

 sician to seek some active out-door employment Acting on this ad- 

 vice he resigned his professorship in the Kimbal Union Academy, 

 and sought and obtained the position of chief engineer in the con- 

 struction of a railway from Rutland. Vt., to Albany, N. Y. On the 

 completion of this road, in 1852, he removed with his family to 

 Cleveland, Ohio, where, in the Cleveland Female Seminary he re- 

 sumed his profession as a teacher. Two years afterwards he disposed 

 of his interest in the school and removed to College Hill, near Cincin- 

 nati, where he became professor in the Ohio Female College, and after- 

 wards president of that institution. Here he passed six years ; the 

 College buildings in the meantime having been destroyed by fire, 

 were rebuilt under his own supervision and restored to prosperity. 

 In 1858, having transferred to others his interest in the College he 

 resigned the presidency, and established, in connection with a friend, 

 the Terre Haute Female College, an institution which in a very short 

 time rose under his administration to great prosperity and usefulness. 

 In the fall of i860, in order to facilitate the reprinting of his books, 

 Prof. Wood removed with his family to Brooklyn, N. Y. Previous to 

 this time, in the year 1857, he had, for the purpose of coUectmg ma- 

 terial for an enlargement of his " Class-Book," made an exploration 

 of the Southern States, lasting six months, and another shorter one 

 in his own carriage. Having completed the thrrd reprint of the 

 •' Class-Book," he again resumed the profession of instruction, open- 

 ing in 1 86 1 the Brooklyn Female Academy, which, m spite of the 

 war, proved a great success. But the love of his favorite science 

 again enticed him away ; and, in 1865, after placing his affairs m 

 irooklyn in trusty hands, Prof. Wood, leaving his wife at Freeho d N. 

 J., and his son at the New York University, set out alone for Califor- 

 nia. In this excursion he spent more than a year, traveling from ban 

 Diego to Puget's Sound, and returning by the way of the Isthmus in 

 November, i866.- Much of this journey was done on horseback, and 

 a part of it on foot and alone, and amid many hardships, dangers and 

 privations. Prof. Wood loved to bear testimony in after years to the 

 hospitality which was everywhere accorded him in this excursion. If 

 night overtook him at the door of the trapper's hut, the miner^s 

 shanty, the stockade of the herdsman's ranche, or the Governor s 

 mansion, the same kind greeting met him in each case. Among the 

 rough trappers and miners he not unfrequently found educated, 

 cultured men, who rendered him no little assistance in his pursuits. 



Arriving at his home in Brooklyn, in 1867, he disposed of his in- 

 terests there and collected his family into a new home in the village 



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