THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 1G3 



Outlines of Lectures on Materia Medica and Botany. 2 vols., 12mo, 

 Philadelphia, 1828. I : 240. II : 291. 



Syllabus of the Lectures Delivered ou Vegetable Materia Medica and 

 Botany in the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Printed for the 

 use of the classes. J. R. A. Skerrett, 1819. 



Letter to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, relative to 

 introducing the Professorship of Botany into the Medical Faculty. 



DAVID TOWNSEND. 



David Townsend,* son of Samuel and Priscilla 

 Townsend, was born in the village of Pughtown, Pennsyl- 

 vania, December 13, 1TS7. He was brought up as a farmer, 

 but in 1810 was appointed a clerk in the office of the Register 

 and Recorder of Chester County ; in 1817 was appointed 

 Cashier of the Bank of Chester County, and so continued 

 until 1849, when he was compelled to resign on account of 

 an accidental injury which he received on the head, and 

 which finally caused his death on December 6, 1858. He 

 belonged to the Society of Friends, and commanded the 

 respect of the community to a very large extent. He 

 became interested in the subject of botany in early life, and 

 in 1826 was one of the founders of the Chester County 

 Cabinet of Natural Sciences, and held the office of secretary 

 and treasury in that Society from its origin until his health 

 failed. He was a correspondent of some of the most 

 prominent botanists of the day, among them Sir William 

 J. Hooker, who declared to a friend that the specimens pre- 

 pared by David Townsend were the handsomest that he 

 had ever seen. In 1833 a genus of plants allied to the 

 Asters was named Townsendia, in compliment to David 



* This sketch was furnished by Edwin A. Barber, of West Chester, a grandson 

 of Townsend. See for an other account The Gardeners' Monthly (Meehan), I : p. Gl. 



