42 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
Mr. Shaw did not propose to devote his whole life to mere 
money-making. He had higher aspirations. His retire- 
ment from business afforded leisure for reading, foreign 
travel, and studious observation. His improvement of 
every opportunity for self-culture did much to supply the 
deficiencies of his early education. 
But it is not for his scholarly attainments, nor yet for his 
sterling integrity and unaffected simplicity of character, that 
this community chiefly cherishes the memory of Henry 
Shaw. His distinctive and highest title to our gratitude is 
his princely munificence to St. Louis. 
Mr. Shaw was imbued with a strong love of nature. It 
was the delight of his earliest years 
‘* To revel in life’s springtide glow 
Of sun and flowers.”’ 
To his passionate fondness for floral beauty, the Botanical 
Garden, Tower Grove Park, and the School of Botany owe 
their origin ; and to his nobly unselfish desire to admit his 
fellow-citizens to a participation in enjoyments which he so 
highly prized, is to be ascribed the transfer of his flower- 
grounds to the city. He distinctly recognized the impor- 
tance of public resorts where every object will cultivate and 
gratify a refined taste. 
In the comprehensive School of Botany which Mr. Shaw 
established, the course of study is not restricted to the 
known facts of botanical science, but ample provision is 
made for original investigation. Mr. Shaw fully apprecia- 
ted the economic importance of applied botany, and sought 
to extend the bounds of scientific discovery. In every 
land, able investigators are now studying the problems of 
practical botany. The future is full of brilliant possibili- 
ties. Successful endeavors to improve the variety and 
beauty of plants, to preserve trees and timber, to arrest 
the ravages of insects, to ascertain the food, habits, and 
medicinal virtues of plants, to naturalize useful exotics, to 
define the processes and laws of vegetable growth, and to 
