JET. 68.] TO A. DE CANDOLLE. 685 



pled by lumbago. I took with me your pleasant 

 letter of the 29th December, intending to write to 

 you from there, but I found no time. The present 

 moment is opportune, as I cannot well move about as 

 I must do in my ordinary work. . . . 



I have sent for Saporta's book, and shall study it 

 with interest. Glad I am that your " Phytographie ' 

 is in hand. I wish I had it now before me ; for I have 

 now to write something on the subject for a new edi- 

 tion of my " Botanical Text-Book," now in hand. 



How well Bentham still writes and works ! Notice 

 his essay on Euphorbiacea3. You and Bentham have 

 kept orthodox views of nomenclature at the fore in 

 Europe, and I have seconded them here, so that, ex- 

 cept among crypt ogamists, heterodoxy makes no 

 headway. 



I have some ideas about the best form for Latin 

 specific characters, as distinguished from descriptions, 

 as to punctuation, etc., which I wish to present to you. 

 Perhaps I can best, and soon, do so by sending you 

 proof-sheets. 



The link which connected us with a former gener- 

 ation of botanists is broken. Jacob Bigelow, the cor- 

 respondent of Muhlenberg l and of J. E. Smith, as 

 well as your father, died on the 10th inst., at the age 

 of ninety-two. Up to three or four years ago he pre- 

 served all his facidties. But sight and hearing gradu- 

 ally failed, and for two years he has been merely alive ; 

 at length the candle burned out. 



o 



House of Representatives, January 16, 1879, Dr. Gray read a Bio- 

 graphical Memorial of Joseph Henry, in behalf of the Board of Re- 

 gents. 



1 Heinrich Ludwig Muhlenberg, 1756-1817 ; a Lutheran preacher 

 in Lancaster, Penn. ; published a Catalogue of North American Plants, 

 and a Description of North American Grasses. 



