BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 



Vol. IX.l New York, July, 1882. [No. 7 



William Henry Leggett, 



The decease of the late Editor of the Bulletin calls for 

 more than the passing ncJtice which it has received in its columns. 

 ■^^- Leggett was born February 24th, 1816, and died on the 

 morning of the nth of April, 1882. Always a hard student, he 

 graduated from Columbia College in 1837. Previous to that event 

 he had already devoted himself to teaching — -a calling which he pur- 

 sued throughout life. By means of the kindliness of his disposition he 

 endeared himself to his pupils and led them on to regard the pursuit 

 of kno^vledge as a pleasure instead of a task, and to aim at the attain- 

 ments in classical knowledge which he himself possessed. 



The following extract from a letter of one of his former pupils 

 fitly illustrates the thoroughness which he always endeavored to instil 

 into the minds of those committed to his charge : *^How many there 

 are of us all over the country who took from him our first lessons in 



accurate scholarship !'* 



He early became enamored with the study of botany, and the 

 same feeling of thoroughness in his investigations of plant life ex 

 hibited itself in this as in his other studies. He was one of the 

 founders of the Torrey Botanical Club, whose resolutions passed on 

 ^the event of his decease express their sense of his scientific attain- 

 ments and of his efficiency as a leader and co-laborer with them. 

 His labors as the first Editor of the Bulletin which was started 

 by him as a private enterprise in 1870, and conducted as such until 

 the year 1880, can, perhaps, only be fully appreciated by those who 

 have had to perform similar work in the midst of other pressing 

 duties. Day by day, following his occupation as an instructor with 

 conscientious fidelity, he yet found time, too oft,en taken from hours 

 of needed rest, to write, collate and arrange for the press the matter 

 of his journal- His success in the performance of his work was com- 

 plete, but the harassing nature of his daily duties, and his failing 

 strength finally compelled the relinquishment of its charge to other 



hands. 



His private character was above reproach. Upright, conscien- 

 tious and fearless, he was prompt to denounce wrong in every shape; 



yet was always considerate an4 charitable towards the short-commgs 

 of others. In his social relations, his purity of character, his self- 

 sacrificing spirit, his integrity and kindliness of disposition endeared 



him to all. 



The following extracts from letters written by those who had en- 

 joyed his society for years show the cordial esteem in which they 

 held him. One says : " 1 can hardly call to mind a single man that 

 I have known with whom all my intercourse was so sweet and de- 

 lightfnl as with him ; * * * he was so sincere and guileless, so 

 cheerful and bright." From another: "My botanical tramps with 



